Job Seeker Ends Interview After Recruiter Calls His Salary Expectations 'Cute'

Turning to Reddit to express his frustration, a job seeker shared that he abruptly ended his interview with a recruiter after he called the salary range he anticipated for the role "cute." Now he's worried that he may have made a mistake because of the current job market.

Every job seeker has expectations going into an interview, especially when it comes to salary. It's why the lack of transparency in job listings is so frustrating. No one wants to waste time refining their resume and researching a company if they're basically going to be laughed out of negotiations. Sadly, the state of the economy and limited job availability have him questioning whether he might've been "overreacting" to the recruiter's response. READ MORE

An Early Look at the Highest-Paid CEOs in 2025

CEO compensation is on a strong upward trajectory. The 2026 edition of the Equilar 100 study shows median CEO compensation reached $29.4 million in 2025, up 23.2% from the previous year. The surge in compensation is the sharpest rise since 2021, when boards rewarded their CEOs with lucrative pay packages for navigating the turbulence and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE

GM CEO Mary Barra Tops Big Three Pay as Compensation Gap Widens

CEO compensation in American companies continues to climb relative to average worker pay, a trend seen as necessary for attracting top talent and aligning management incentives with shareholder value. According to a recent report, General Motors CEO Mary Barra has become the highest-paid chief executive among the Big Three automakers.

Barra received total compensation of $29.9 million last year, a modest 1.4% increase over the prior year, as disclosed in a company filing. The slight rise was driven by an 11% jump in stock awards to $21.6 million, which formed the bulk of her package, while nonequity incentive plan compensation fell 26% to roughly $5 million. Her base salary remained unchanged at $2.1 million for several years. READ MORE

The Location of Your First Job Could Matter More Than Your Salary

College students graduating this year may want to relocate to these cities to increase their chances of earning a good income and becoming homeowners.

A recent report from Glassdoor and Redfin ranks the top big, mid-sized, and small United States cities for recent college graduates. Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Springfield, Ill., ranked as the top cities in the respective categories. READ MORE

ChatGPT Tells Us What a 'Good Salary' Is at Age 30

Are millennials ahead or behind where they should be by now in life?

By age 30, many millennials have been working for a good decade and may have put in the time and effort to increase their job prospects and salary. Yet as the definition of the middle class changes and cost of living remains high, has a “good salary” changed for the 30-something crowd? With the last millennials hitting 30 and the first zoomers staring down that magic number, it's worth examining.

To find out, I did a deep dive with ChatGPT. Here’s what it said. READ MORE

‘Salaries Are for Suckers’

You’re Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Congratulations. Thank you. What kind of taxes do you pay? What don’t you pay? How do you end up not paying income taxes when you’re Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk? What are you talking about? So first of all, let’s focus on Jeff Bezos because he’s much more of a classic case. He started his own business. He owns a dominant amount of the stock. And over the course of the years, he has taken a salary that is no higher than $82,000. It’s been over 20 years now. And that’s his salary, it’s always capped at $82,000. And you might say, well, why would it be? He started the company. He’s the man. Why isn’t he taking a huge salary to reflect all that he put into the company? And the reason is because salaries are for suckers. When people take a salary, they are subject to high income taxes and payroll taxes. And Jeff Bezos and a lot of our other multi-, centibillionaires have no interest in paying those taxes. So instead, they take their benefits through the growing value of their stock. And their stock has grown enormously. And that massive growth of stock happens entirely tax-free, with no time frame under our current system in which that stock will ever be subject to tax. And that is because we only impose a tax if the stock is sold. And Bezos never has to sell the stock because he can simply borrow against the stock and use that money to support his lifestyle and to pay any interest that’s due on the loan. READ MORE

Executives Are Deferring Unlimited Compensation Tax-Free, but HR Won’t Explain the Bankruptcy Risk

Most executives who get access to a nonqualified deferred compensation plan treat it like a bonus perk. They sign the enrollment form, pick a deferral percentage, and move on. That is a mistake that can cost tens of thousands of dollars in unnecessary taxes — or, in the worst case, everything.

An NQDC plan is one of the only legal mechanisms that lets a high-earning executive defer an essentially unlimited amount of compensation, compound it tax-deferred, and potentially distribute it in a lower tax bracket. The upside is real, and so is the risk hiding in the fine print. READ MORE

Fixing the 'mess' that is college sports compensation

Now that the college basketball season has ended with its March Madness extending into early April this year, for both men and women, the largest revenue-raising college sports are over for the year and the less lucrative and watched spring sports are in progress, including baseball, which has a strong foothold here in Florida. 

As the major seasons come to an end, college teams are throwing open transfer portals for basketball and football to welcome new players and watch as the flow of money goes to college athletes (and their agents) under the rubric of Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) and other related forms of compensation. READ MORE

Beyond the paycheck

In 2025, personal income in the United States totaled around $26 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Strikingly, only about 60 percent of that income came from wages, salaries, and benefits workers receive from employers. The other 40 percent came from the myriad sources that make up nonwage income.

At $11 trillion, nonwage income likely contributes importantly to household finances and the overall economy. But wage and salary income tends to be the star of the show when it comes to assessing Americans’ economic well-being. Nonwage income, a more eclectic category, receives less discussion. READ MORE

For a more representative NC legislature, raise lawmakers’ $14K salary

As North Carolina gets ready to enter short session on April 21, it is time to confront a longstanding flaw in the North Carolina General Assembly. The legislators in 2026 make the exact same $13,951 as the legislators did in 1995.

North Carolina’s General Assembly is considered a hybrid state legislature by the National Conference of State Legislatures. This means that members spend about two thirds of a full-time job being legislators and usually need another source of income to live on. Among fellow hybrid states, North Carolina pays its legislators one of the lowest base salaries. This time commitment paired with a low salary limits the ideas and perspectives that are shared in the North Carolina General Assembly, since only the retired or wealthy can afford to make ends meet considering what’s provided. READ MORE

Iowa Launches Comprehensive State Worker Salary Database

The state of Iowa has unveiled a comprehensive online database detailing the salaries of all state government employees, providing the public with unprecedented transparency into public sector compensation. The database, which covers over 400,000 members of the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS), allows users to search by job title, agency, and other criteria to see how much individual state workers earn. READ MORE

2025–2026 Lawyer Salary Report You Need to See

Attorney salaries are rising again, but the story is more complex than headline numbers suggest. The Attorney Compensation Report 2025–2026 offers one of the most detailed looks at what lawyers earn across the United States.

Learn more from this report: The Complete Attorney Compensation Report 2025-2026 – Definitive U.S. Legal Salary Guide

For legal professionals, this report isn’t just about numbers. Instead, it reveals how law firms compete, how talent moves, and where opportunities are growing. Law students, recruiters, and practicing attorneys can all use this data to make smarter career decisions.

  So, what’s really happening in the legal salary market right now? READ MORE

‘How much money do you make?’: Etiquette experts share what to say when someone asks your salary

I talk and write about money all day. So it’s rare that someone comes to me with a money question that makes me uncomfortable or that I find hard to answer.

But a couple of weeks ago, I was at a party with someone who had just gotten into journalism. He asked me about my career trajectory and my current gig. Do I get assignments or pitch my own stuff? How do I balance frequent deadlines with in-depth reporting? Then, suddenly: How much money do I make? READ MORE

2026 CISO Annual Compensation Averages $350K, Tops $1M For Some

According to Glassdoor data, the median annual pay range for a CISO is $321,000, while Salary.com puts the figure at $385,000. Lower tier estimates, provided by Zippia, bottom out at $144,000.

CSO reports that CISO pay at the largest US enterprises is closer to $500,000, with some CISOs receiving seven-figure annual compensation packages, and a few even hauling in $5 million a year. Fortune 100 CISOs often far exceed reported averages.  READ MORE