[ryan-c]

Re asking recruiters about salary - it's about not wasting everyone's time. If someone's happy with their current job and would need a substantial pay increase to consider leaving it, then it is a waste of both their time and the recruiters time if the salary requirements can't be met. I would change that field's description to include "approximate", though.

The most negative reaction I've ever gotten to something like "I'm happy with my job, and it would take a salary somewhere in the ballpark of $X to tempt me away, is that feasible?" was "If you're making anywhere near $X now I'm impressed.". The number I give for $X varies a little depending on their pitch - for example it goes up by at least $100k if they mention that they're looking for someone manage compliance for PCI-DSS, HIPPA, SOX or similar.

[Kevin_S]

Can you tell me more about the last part? I am interning currently with an information security consulting company and most of what I will be doing is working on PCI-DSS audits. Accounting/Econ degree, I am having trouble finding salary ranges for professionals in this area.

[ryan-c]

There's a lot less people in security than in software engineering, and paranoia comes with the field, so the data really isn't very good. I'm also not entry level. I don't want to do compliance stuff because none of the people I've talked to seem happy with it - the salary range I quote for being willing to do that sort of work is fairly far beyond what I expect to get.