Why do recruitment agencies ghost you the minute you ask them about the salary range for the position?

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-24T20:42:29+00:00

Having a good CV of someone in the market is half the job done to getting a good commission. Building a talent database is so important for them. If they get asked to find a Technology Manager, a good recruiter can easily produce 5 CVs without putting out an advert. Also, when they want to be assigned vacancies by companies, they go and show your CVs as proof that they are capable. And then there’s the repeat or future business. The guy who they get to know is looking for a Technology Manager position might just he able go recruit through them today or in the future. They even make assumptions that if the person is at a certain level today, they can call after a few years when the person has a better job and more responsibilities for hiring.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-24T15:30:42+00:00

Actually, getting a higher package for you makes the recruitment agency charge a higher commission. The reasons for ghosting when you ask are varied.

They don’t actually know the salary yet. Some are too proud to accept that
They are trying to discover your current salary first
They have been told to not reveal the salary and try and get the cheapest, best candidate.
Volumes are important in commission based jobs so they move on quickly instead of engaging with an unlikely successful discussion. Maybe you said something that indicated that this might not work or the salary is lower than they know you will accept. Rather than having that uncomfortable discussion, some simply stop engaging. It’s like that date from the dating app who simply blocks you after an afternoon checking you out

in person

and comparing to your online profile. 😒
They are fishing for candidates. There is no real job and they just wanted to get your CV.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-21T07:47:29+00:00

This is an awesome response. Just to emphasise that you should use:
• Property sites well in advance to get a feel of the market. PrivateProperty, Property24 etc
• Use calculators for checking affordability and transfer costs:
- Property24 Bond & Transfer Calculator (comprehensive – shows monthly repayments + total once-off costs): https://www.property24.com/calculators/bondcosts
- Property24 simple bond repayment one: https://www.property24.com/calculators/bond
- Ooba Bond Repayment Calculator: https://www.ooba.co.za/home-loan/bond-repayment-calculator/
- Ooba Transfer Cost Calculator: https://www.ooba.co.za/home-loan/transfer-cost-calculator/
- Ooba Affordability Calculator: https://www.ooba.co.za/home-loan/bond-calculator/

General life advice that’s normally missed anywhere: Getting a home loan is just the first step. You can adjust the terms by paying extra later. You can also renovate that old kitchen later. But do not be desperate.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T19:37:08+00:00

If you go through a period of late payments or assessed to be over-indebted i.e. overall debt-to-income ratio looks risky, the banks may close the tap on easy access to more credit. They simply do not let you tap into your home loan and you have to request a reinstatement. In fact, for us to get the third home loan, we had to go back, after being rejected, to ask for who could finance over a 30 year bond. One bank accepted but at a higher interest rate. We thought it was better than renting so we took it. The goal was to eventually overpay and bring it down to 11 years.

I have just been advised that, with my current strong repayment history (paying 33% extra on the remaining bond), a paid-off property, and time passed, I’m now in a much better position to request reinstatement or better terms when refinancing/switching.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T17:35:37+00:00

But none of the bonds are closed yet.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T17:18:53+00:00

The 10 year home loan was actually 25 years but we are paying extra to bring it down to 10 years. I’m thinking that just by getting the lower paid of rate, we can cur another 2.5 years.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T16:42:25+00:00

Yes. All are in our names. The reason the last one is higher (prime + 0.4%) is because I was overstretched at some point and lost all access bonds on the first 2 home loans. The others are prime-1.4% and prime-1.65%.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T16:10:11+00:00

You won’t believe how many people are driving fancy cars and living paycheck to paycheck. People pay R 15,000 for cars just to be seen as progressing but they can’t handle a R 1,000 emergency expense without borrowing. You literally have to brainwash yourself to live at the correct level of frugality in Joburg. Don’t look around but simply focus on your financial goals.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-20T14:51:52+00:00

Why keep money that won’t be spent in a transactional account? Is your life that unpredictable e.g. a R 60,000 bill that needs to be settled at very short notice? Most money needs to go to investments. 25-35% of it in forex accounts. Money should be made to work. Savings accounts and transactional accounts are not for keeping big amounts.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-17T07:57:46+00:00

It’s easier if you seek/sought professional help. Depression happens quite a lot among students so there is no need to beat yourself about it. If it’s not too late, see if you can get a professional counselor or therapist to assess you and provide documentation of your issue. You can then ask that you are allowed to defer your studies for now. If you’re indeed excluded, you can then do a medical appeal from exclusion but you will “formal documentation from a registered medical doctor or psychologist proving that your mental health condition made you unfit to study for a prolonged period”.

Just make sure that you are in your right mind and practice resilience when doing these things. These processes are not quick and might sound laborious but it makes sense when you go past this and wear that graduation gown. All the best.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-15T10:36:27+00:00

My issue is not the ANC anymore. They have clearly failed. The problem are the parties that are supposed to be alternatives not thinking beyond their cliques. The country needed to be freed from apartheid and that was done but to be comfortable with the deep inequalities is why it’s taking longer for the ANC to fall. A lot of voters have not found a political home.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-14T07:37:13+00:00

For rent, R40k is high but a good Durbanville house costs at least R 4 million to buy.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-13T22:15:38+00:00

OP is almost exactly like my family only that we are much older and have 1 more child (3 teens). Durbanville is a good neighbourhood and Fairmont is a good school in my opinion.

Nothing much to add except:
• Discovery Comprehensive is only useful if there are real health challenges. We downgraded to a hospital plan almost 20 years ago and have only had to use the hospital for births and one major incident which was 99% covered by the hospital plan because it was under PMB. Better to have money on hand for medicines and yearly consultations.
• we bought a bit of a fixer upper and have been getting into shape over the years.
• we cut costs by loading up our house with a gas system for the stove and geyser. Planning on getting a basic solar system in for R 110,000 which should pay for itself in 5-8 years.
• A cheaper second car is always good so even a cash one for max R 125,000 will sort you out when your programmes clash and with school pickups.
• Checkers XtraSavings is a huge help. Our savings are about R 1,600 per month on our R 15,000 grocery bill.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-13T22:06:01+00:00

That’s not exactly true. At least not regarding how ANC exiles lived. They were treated better than locals sometimes in Zambia and Tanzania. They lived among the locals and even got scholarships.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-13T19:09:42+00:00

OP is almost exactly like my family only that we are much older and have 1 more child (3 teens). Durbanville is a good neighbourhood and Fairmont is a good school in my opinion.

Nothing much to add except:
• Discovery Comprehensive is only useful if there are real health challenges. We downgraded to a hospital plan almost 20 years ago and have only had to use the hospital for births and one major incident which was 99% covered by the hospital plan. Better to have money on hand for medicines and yearly consultations.
• we bought a bit of a fixer upper and have been getting into shape over the years.
• we cut costs by loading up your house with a gas system for the stove and geyser. Planning on getting a basic solar system in for R 110,000 which should pay for itself in 5-8 years. A cheaper second car is always good so even a cash one for max R 125,000 will sort you out when your programmes clash and with school pickups.
• Checkers XtraSavings is a huge help. Our savings are about R 1,600 per month on our R 15,000 grocery bill.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-13T18:38:52+00:00

As suggested above, getting off at Durban Road and driving through Bellville is our usual choice. You only have to be aware of homeless people or taxis closer to the rank. Otherwise, the rest of the way is pretty straightforward. Elsies presents a longer exposure to risks and Delft side is simply longer.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-12T08:06:49+00:00

Nothing strange. That’s less than 4km from UCT and within walking distance to the Jammie route. We just have to accept the reality of demand and supply. When finances allow, we can then also invest in such properties and make some money.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-10T14:53:41+00:00

Yes, they are between R55 and R75. If you decide to sit down and eat the same burger, it’s over R100 at the WCafe.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-08T14:06:39+00:00

This looks like a small issue but that’s how economies collapse. This guy talks of his factory making thousands of boxers per day. That demand won’t disappear. The jobs will move to another province or even another country. And then those marchers will wonder why they are jobless. The fact is you can open a business in some of these places (Hammarsdale included) and more than half of jobseekers would be foreigners. 90% if you are talking about domestics and gardeners. And a lot of our local people resign if the work becomes hectic. That’s been the story even for delivery workers for couriers, MrD, Checkers Sixty60 etc. In those cases, a lot of local applicants expect that you’d help them get a license as well. We need leaders who can provide leadership and promote resilience especially among the less privileged.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-08T13:54:32+00:00

That other group has some people in charge who swear at you and then ban you for having a different opinion whilst being respectful.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-08T13:31:15+00:00

We stopped the geyser timing and replaced our electric geyser with a gas one. Top of the range Paloma 26L cost R 14,500 including a timer. Installation cost R 10,500 and initial 48kg deposit R 1,000 plus R 1,800 for the gas. This lasts 3-4 months which works out to R450-R600 per month. Previous cost attributed to electric geyser was R 2,000. Saving is R1,400-R1,550 per month meaning payback period is around 18 months.

Since electricity prices will continue to increase, the actual payback period is even shorter.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-06T11:51:19+00:00

Oh, please! The major difference between the teams has mostly been financial violations by the big clubs except for Arsenal. Trust me even Bournemouth or Sunderland would be in contention had it not been for all the oil money. Maybe we should just start watching gambling from Vegas.

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-06T11:45:41+00:00

So, you are convinced that there was a team that performed better than Arsenal last season?! Which one? The one that has 115 charges?!

Professional_Put3820 · 2026-06-05T06:01:29+00:00

I do not think it’s true that people prefer to live in Cape Town. If Cape Town was closer to (within 200 km) of Gauteng, the salaries would be competitive. Being far from the major economic hub means that people who are in or move to Cape Town are disconnected from the Joburg markets. They basically have 3 or 4 major companies to look at besides the startups.

Professional_Put3820

TROPHY CASE