The Pre-Onsite Pay Alignment Standard, Seven Criteria to Go, Hold, or Withdraw

This standard is for candidates who have a final round coming and need to know, before they spend a full day on it, whether the pay and level they were told will hold up at the offer. It grades what the employer has disclosed against seven written criteria and gives a Go, Hold, or Withdraw verdict that a second grader would also reach. It also gives you the one recap email that fixes whichever criterion is failing.

What pre-onsite pay alignment means and why you grade it before the final round

Pre-onsite pay alignment means three things are true. The employer has told you in writing which level you are interviewing for. It has given you a range for that level and location and said what happens if the panel disagrees. And your floor fits inside that range. You grade this before the final round because the level is fixed when the loop is set up, and the final round is the most expensive step you will take.

A few terms, defined once:

• Band: the minimum-to-maximum pay for one level, set by the employer's compensation team.
• Hiring range: the part of the band the employer will actually offer a new hire. It is often narrower than the band.
• Floor: the lowest number you would accept, stated as base or total. Pick one and keep it that way.
• Down-level: an offer at a lower level than the one the loop was presented as.
• Loop: the set of interviews for one role, usually ending in a final round or onsite.

Existing advice tends to stop at scripts for asking about the range, or at recovery advice once a down-level has already happened. Neither one tells you whether the answer you got is any good. In the candidate reports I worked from, each failure this standard guards against has at least one documented case:

• An offer that came in "~20% below the range they quoted me".
• A $62k offer against a posted band, where the recruiter "claimed the higher band was for a 'unicorn'".
• A candidate who expected a mid level and got an offer "for L3/IC3".
• A candidate moved to a lower level before the interviews, where even the top of the lower band meant "a 15% pay cut".

Nobody has published how often each of these happens, so I will not guess. One pattern does show up across sources: down-leveling is reported more often than up-leveling.

What the final round costs you

Published figures on the time cost disagree, and nobody has published data on how many PTO days candidates use. Treat these as a range, not one number.

These figures leave out commuting, preparation, and any take-home work. They also leave out the cost that matters most: finishing the loop and then learning the offer is at a level you would never have accepted.

The seven criteria, and what each one proves

A loop passes only when all seven criteria hold in writing. The seven are: a range specific to one role and level, one named level, a stated location basis, base and total labelled separately, a written source, your floor at or below the range midpoint, and a stated down-level policy. Each criterion below says what a pass looks like, what it proves, and how it looks when it lies.

1. Role-specific range
   • Pass: the recruiter confirms the range covers this requisition at the named level only.
   • Proves: the number was pulled for your role, not for a job family.
   • Lies when: a wide "general SWE range" actually spans several levels. Your number sits near its top, and that top belongs to a level you are not being considered for.
2. Named level
   • Pass: one internal level, written down, for example "L4".
   • Proves: the panel will be calibrated against a known bar, and the band is the band for that level.
   • Lies when: the loop is "targeting L3 or L4". That is a fail, because the employer keeps the right to pick the cheaper level after the loop.
3. Stated location basis
   • Pass: the thread names the city, metro tier, or remote basis the range applies to.
   • Proves: the range you heard matches where you will actually work.
   • Lies when: the range is real but belongs to a higher-paid metro tier than your work location.
4. Base and total split
   • Pass: every number in the thread is labelled base or total compensation (base plus bonus plus equity).
   • Proves: you are comparing like with like against your floor.
   • Lies when: a total-comp figure gets written down as base. I found no counted cases of this in candidate reports, but nothing stops it from happening, and the recap label is the only thing that catches it.
5. Written source
   • Pass: the recruiter has replied in the email thread confirming or correcting your recap.
   • Proves: the range is on the record from the employer's side, not only in your notes.
   • Lies when: the range was only ever given on a call. Anyone can later say they never said it.
6. Floor overlap
   • Pass: your floor sits at or below the midpoint of the confirmed range for your level and location.
   • Proves: the employer can meet you without asking anyone for an exception.
   • Lies when: your floor equals the band maximum and the employer only hires in the lower part of the band. "In band" and "offerable" are different things.
7. Stated down-level policy
   • Pass: a written answer that says one of three things: "re-interview", "offer changes level", or "requisition stays open".
   • Proves: you know what happens to the role if the panel reads you below the target level.
   • Lies when: the answer is a "may". "We may uplevel if the rounds come back strong" is a fail, not a pass.

The level criteria matter more than they look. A practitioner guide on one large employer's loops puts it plainly: "a level-63 case cannot be made inside a loop built for 61." Whatever level the panel is calibrated to is the most you can be offered, so the level argument has to happen before the loop. Some Blind commenters advise pushing on level "until you get an offer". This standard sides with the before-the-loop advice, because by the offer stage the calibration has already happened.

The level you are slotted at is partly set by the resume you sent. If the version a recruiter read undersells your scope, the recruiter's screen will undersell your level too. Refolk tailors your resume to each posting from your own history and scores how well you actually fit the role, so you can see whether the level you are asking for is plausible before you argue for it.

How to grade: Go, Hold, or Withdraw

Grade from the written thread only, never from memory of a call. A loop is Go when all seven criteria pass in writing. It is Hold when any criterion fails only because the answer is missing or vague. It is Withdraw when a written answer puts your floor or your minimum level out of reach.

Rules for borderline cases, so two graders land in the same place:

• Floor between the midpoint and the top of the range: Hold. Write the gap into the thread and ask whether the hiring range reaches your floor. A written "yes" turns it into a pass, and a written "no" turns it into Withdraw.
• Two levels named: Hold, not Withdraw. Ask which one the loop is calibrated to. If the written answer is the lower level and that level is below your minimum, Withdraw.
• Down-level answer is "may" or "we'll see": Hold. Ask the question again with the three accepted answers listed. If the reply is still a hedge, you can still go, but grade the loop as a Hold you chose to accept, and know that the level is the employer's call after the loop.
• Recruiter confirms by phone but will not write: Hold until your deadline, then Withdraw. A range nobody will put in writing is not part of the record.

The two criteria that most often decide the verdict are the written source and floor overlap. The other five usually move from Hold to pass with a single reply.

Who sets the band and who quotes it to you

The person who quotes your range is almost never the person who set it. In Refolk's index there are about 7.1 US technical recruiters and TA partners for every US compensation and total-rewards professional. Bands are set and approved by people you never talk to, so a recruiter's verbal range is second-hand until it is confirmed in writing.

The title shares come from small samples of 25 profiles each. Read them as a sense of who holds these jobs, not as a census.

How firm a quoted band is

A band has more layers than the single range a recruiter reads out. Each layer has its own owner and its own approval step:

• Paying above the ceiling means someone has to "file an exception, a formal request to spend more than the role was budgeted for."
• At senior levels, exceptions go "to a compensation committee for approval."
• Some employers quote only a hiring range inside the band, "for example, the lower two-thirds of the band."
• Typical band spreads are 50% to 80% for professional roles, so the gap between the band maximum and the hiring range can be large.
• One single, unverified source says recruiters at many companies can raise equity grants by 15 to 30% without a base exception. Do not plan around this. Ask instead whether flexibility exists in base, equity, or neither.

When an agency is in the middle

Agency recruiters have less authority over pay. In a 25-profile sample of US recruiter profiles from Refolk's index, two staffing firms accounted for 9 profiles (36%). That suggests a large share of the recruiters candidates meet work for agencies. Practitioners report that agency recruiters may "need hiring manager approval on any salary even if it's within the band." A range from an agency still passes the written-source criterion once it is in the thread. Even so, ask whether it came from the employer's comp team for this requisition.

The UK gap is worth knowing about. Refolk's index counts 141 UK compensation professionals against 5,144 in the US, about 36.5 times fewer. That is consistent with UK candidates finding band detail harder to get, though I have not tested that directly. If you are interviewing in the UK, expect more Holds and write your follow-ups to match.

Where the law gives you a right to the range before the final round

Only a few jurisdictions give an applicant a right to the range at a point that helps before a final round, and only Nevada's applies without a request. Most posting laws cover job ads, not what you are owed mid-loop. The table below covers the applicant-request rules relevant to this standard. The last column is my reading of whether the trigger can fire before an onsite.

Notes the table cannot hold:

• Nevada (NRS 613.133) has been in force since October 1, 2021. The employer must give the range to an applicant who has completed an interview, "whether or not the applicant asks," and the Labor Commissioner can impose a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation. The law still lets the employer ask about your salary expectation.
• California dropped its earlier requirement that the applicant first complete an interview, effective January 1, 2023. A reasonable request now triggers the duty for any employer.
• New York State, according to a secondary source, requires employers with four or more employees to provide the minimum and maximum salary on request. Check the statute before relying on it.
• New Jersey and Oregon each come from a single source that I have not checked against the statute text. That source describes New Jersey as owing the range on request once an applicant is "deemed a candidate", and Oregon as owing it to applicants "in the final stages of hiring". Treat both as unconfirmed.
• Cincinnati has conflicting sources. Most say the duty starts after a conditional offer, and one says after the first interview. Until you have read the ordinance, assume the later trigger.
• Delaware also has conflicting sources. One calls it an after-interview state, and another says its law is a posting law with a future effective date. Check the current statute.
• Toledo's law lacks a clear definition of "pay scale", so even a compliant answer may not be a role-specific range.

This answers "can I ask for the salary range after the first interview" for the places where the law speaks to it. You can ask anywhere. In Connecticut the first interview is itself a trigger, in Nevada the employer owes you the range after any completed interview, and in California and Rhode Island a request is enough. Everywhere else, the recap email is your only record.

The pre-onsite alignment procedure

The procedure runs from the recruiter screen to a verdict, with every answer moved into one email thread. Most of the work takes under an hour. The wait for a written reply is what takes days, so start right after the screen.

On the screen, these questions settle the level criteria. They come from practitioner guides on recruiter questions and down-leveling:

• "Which level is the loop calibrated to, and do the interviewers know it?"
• "Is the pay range you shared for that level only, or does it span several?"
• "If the feedback points to a different level, would the offer change level, or would I re-interview?"
• "If the panel recommends a lower level, does the original senior requisition remain open?"

The recap is the core of the standard. Practitioners recommend a follow-up email because it "provides a written record of the agreement." One guide's checkpoint table recommends sending a short recap after the recruiter screen and re-confirming the level before the take-home or panel. No employment-law source sets out what a candidate's recap must contain. The fields below are assembled from practitioner advice, not from law.

Subject: Recap of our call on [date] - [job title]

Hi [recruiter name],

Thanks for the time today. Before we book the final round, here is what I took from our call. Please correct anything I have wrong.

1. Title: [job title]
2. Internal level the loop is calibrated to: [one level, e.g. L4]
3. Base salary range, for that level only: [min] to [max] base
4. Total compensation range (base + bonus + equity): [min] to [max] total
5. Location band this range applies to: [city / metro tier / remote basis]
6. Is this the full band, or the range you can offer a new hire: [full band / hiring range]
7. If panel feedback points to a different level: [re-interview / offer changes level / requisition stays open]

My expectations sit within this range, so I am glad to keep going. [Or: My floor is [amount] base, and I want to confirm the offerable range reaches it before I book the day.]

Thanks,
[your name]

When the grade is Hold, send one follow-up that asks only about the failing criterion and gives a date. One question per email gets answered. Five questions get a phone call.

Subject: Re: Recap of our call on [date] - [job title]

Hi [recruiter name],

Thanks again. One thing I want to pin down before I take the day off for the final round on [onsite date]:

[Pick one]
- Can you confirm the range you shared is for [level] only, not a span of levels?
- Which location band does the range apply to for a role based in [location]?
- Is [figure] the base salary or the total compensation figure?
- If the panel reads me at a different level, which of these applies: I re-interview, the offer changes level, or the [level] requisition stays open?

A one-line reply here by [date, two business days before the onsite] is all I need.

Thanks,
[your name]

Before the final round, Refolk can also take the posting you are interviewing for and show where your history supports the named level and where it is thin. That is the gap a panel will probe when it decides whether to down-level you.

How this standard goes wrong

A standard fails when a criterion looks like a pass but isn't. Each failure below is a false positive that looked fine at the time, paired with the check that catches it. Most of them come from candidates taking a vague answer as a specific one.

1. Role-family range passed as role-specific. A wide range covering several levels looks generous. Your number fits, but only near the top, and the top belongs to the level above. Check by asking "is this for this level only?" and getting the answer in writing.
2. Two levels passed as a named level. "We're targeting L3 or L4" sounds flexible, but after the loop the employer chooses. One commenter on down-leveling said that if you were considered for L4 and offered L3, "they aren't going o reconsider" (typo in original). Grade any two-level answer as a fail on criterion 2.
3. Wrong metro tier passed as a location basis. The range is real but belongs to a higher-paid location band than yours. Check by asking "which location band applies to this role in my location?"
4. Total recorded as base. A total-comp figure written down as base inflates your sense of overlap by the full bonus and equity amount. I found no counted cases, which means nobody has tallied it, not that it doesn't happen. Check that every number in the recap carries a label.
5. A phone call passed as a written source. The recruiter said the number warmly on a call, and you took that as confirmation. Grade Hold until the recruiter replies in the thread, even if the call felt definite.
6. Band maximum passed as floor overlap. Your floor matches the top of the band, so you call it a fit. But the hiring range is the lower two-thirds, and the top needs an exception that may go to a committee. Check the midpoint, not the maximum.
7. "May" passed as a down-level policy. The panel down-levels you after the screen promised more. In one report the recruiter "mentioned if p5 rounds comes highly positive then we may uplevel." A "may" commits the employer to nothing. Treat it as a fail.
8. A statute misread as a current right. A candidate cites the Cincinnati ordinance to demand a range before any offer exists, and the recruiter correctly points out the right has not triggered. Check the trigger column in the statute table, not just whether your city is listed.

Two failures sit at the level of the standard itself, not any one criterion:

• Grading from memory. If two people grade the same loop and one uses call notes while the other uses the thread, they will disagree. The rule is: thread only.
• Re-grading after you are invested. Candidates who have already prepared for a week tend to read a Hold as a Go. Set your floor and your minimum level in writing before the screen, and grade against those, not against how much you want the job.

A range nobody will put in writing is not part of the record, however sure it sounded on the call.

The pre-onsite checklist and keeping your grade current

Run the checklist the day you grade, and again when the recruiter confirms the onsite date. Things change between the screen and the panel: a requisition gets re-levelled, a location band gets swapped, a new recruiter takes over. A grade that was Go two weeks ago can now be a Hold.

To keep the standard current:

• Re-check the law, not this page. Pay transparency rules change by statute and by enforcement date, and posting rules spread faster than applicant-request rules. Before relying on a right, read the current statute text, for example NRS Chapter 613 for Nevada, and compare it against a public tracker such as the HR Dive pay transparency tracker or the Fisher Phillips Ohio pay equity map. Read the trigger and the size threshold, not just the headline.
• Re-confirm at every handoff. If your recruiter changes, or the loop moves from an agency to an in-house team, send the recap again to the new owner and grade it again.
• Keep the thread. If the offer comes in below the confirmed range, the thread is what you negotiate from. Quote the recruiter's own confirming reply back to them and ask what changed.
• Log your verdicts. After a few loops, look at which criterion caused most of your Holds. If it is always the level, your resume is probably getting you slotted low, and that problem is upstream of any recruiter conversation.