NYC worker saw her job title advertised at up to $90K more than her pay—what to do if it happens to you

At their best, laws where pay ranges are required on job ads can help you figure out whether a role is worth your time to apply.

In a worst-case scenario, though, salary transparency laws can be a wake-up call that you’re being severely underpaid compared to other people in the same role.

That’s what happened to Kimberly Nguyen in March: The NYC worker went viral on Twitter when she saw an opening for her job title was being advertised with a pay range up to $90,000 higher than her own salary. The 25-year-old told CNBC Make It she earned $85,000 as a contract user experience writer for Citi, but the LinkedIn posting called for a full-time UX writer with a salary of $117,200 to $175,800 per year.

Nguyen says she applied for the job, but ultimately the discovery prompted her to start looking for a new one.

As salary transparency laws gain steam across the country — they’re already in effect in Colorado, New York City, California and elsewhere — employers will have to be more forthcoming about how they set pay ranges for job-seekers as well as for existing employees, experts say. A slim minority, 45%, of companies currently include pay ranges in job postings, according to a 2023 Payscale report.

If you find your own job title online listed at a higher salary, here are some things you can do.

Experts say the first thing to do is raise the issue with your manager, who can help you understand why the job and its listed pay range may be different from your own. For example, Nguyen says she was told by Citi HR that they had no control over her salary as a contractor, and that the open position was intended as a full-time role with commensurate pay and benefits.

There are some good reasons why similar job titles could have different pay ranges, says Ruth Thomas, a pay equity strategist at Payscale. Online job ads could be for a multi-location role, so the posting could include a broader range for all potential geographical markets.

“Sometimes employees also misunderstand where they should fall on a pay range — unless you have been in the same role for many years, the middle of the pay range is where a proficient employee will typically fall,” Thomas adds.

You could do what Nguyen did and apply for the job. Have a conversation first with your manager, who can then flag the discussion to HR, who can connect you with the hiring manager for the new position, says Maddie Machado, a reverse recruiter in Tampa, Fla.

Hiring managers want to fill roles quickly and make sure the new hire is a good fit for the team, so they’ll likely be incentivized to bring you on as an internal hire, Machado says.

Make your best case about the value you bring to the company already, she adds: How have you saved them time? How have you saved them money? How have you helped them make money?

Machado says to think of it this way: “This is what I’ve been doing that’s of value to the company, and what wouldn’t have gotten done or gotten done as well if I weren’t here.”

Keep in mind, though, that just because your company has listed a job opening doesn’t mean they’re actively hiring for it — Machado says it may just be a formality when the hiring manager already has an internal person in mind to get a promotion or move into the role.

Say you’re happy with your current team but see that you’re on the lower end of the salary range listed for your job title (all things being equal regarding required education, experience and skillset). You could use public salary ranges to ask for a raise.

Machado recommends telling your manager via an email or message that you’d like to set up a meeting to discuss your compensation. Be ready to discuss why you deserve more money based on what you bring to the team, and have a number in mind based on what competitors are paying in addition to the salary ranges you’ve seen within your company.

Be up front that you’ve seen a higher salary range for a similar title and treat the conversation as a negotiation rather than a demand or ultimatum, says Tony Guadagni, senior principal for research in the HR practice at Gartner.

“You’ll have a higher likelihood of success if you convey an understanding of the organization’s perspective and have some patience,” he says.

A lot of factors will determine how long it takes a raise request to go through, like your performance in the role and tenure with the company. With that being said, Guadagni says most organizations do pay equity audits at least annually, “and when they find someone is underpaid, they try to correct that as soon as possible within six months to a year.”

Finally, as with Nguyen’s case, you may feel like cutting your losses and looking for a new job entirely.

Seeing what your job could pay can help you better understand your market value, and you can bring those numbers to negotiations for a new role.

Overall, employers should avoid similar situations by being proactive about making market adjustments for workers who may be underpaid, and communicating their pay strategy to employees, Thomas says.

“It’s important to not only pay employees fairly, but to explain why their pay is fair,” she says. “Open communication around pay is one of the most critical aspects of employee engagement.”

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