I was like, okay, fair enough.
I played it completely wrong though. I should have just reframed it and said, well, I paid this, but you're not competing against my current employer, you're competing against Meta, who I'm also interviewing with this week.
In small companies this does mean people have to operate with internal Chinese walls in their heads.
"A Chinese wall or ethical wall is an information barrier protocol within an organization designed to prevent exchange of information or communication that could lead to conflicts of interest. For example, a Chinese wall may be established to separate people who make investments from those who are privy to confidential information that could improperly influence the investment decisions. Firms are generally required by law to safeguard insider information and ensure that improper trading does not occur."
"Bryan Garner's Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage states that the metaphor title "derives of course from the Great Wall of China",[2] although an alternative explanation links the idea to the screen walls of Chinese internal architecture.[3]
The term was popularized in the United States following the stock market crash of 1929, when the U.S. government legislated information separation between investment bankers and brokerage firms, in order to limit the conflict of interest between objective company analysis and the desire for successful initial public offerings.[4] Rather than prohibiting one company from engaging in both businesses, the government permitted the implementation of Chinese-wall procedures."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_wall
though I still don't get the China reference, Great wall of China never really helped against any attacks or exchange of information, so I still don't get the etymology
"My current salary is xyz, but I'm currently interviewing with several companies, so my salary expectations are tied to what I'm worth in the market, not my current pay. My specific ask will change as interviews progress"
They also don't know if your tax band is due to salary, loans, deduction, pensions, second incomes etc.
I changed job last year and wasn't asked for a P45 by my new employer. Despite starting near month end, my first month's payslip already had the right tax code.
The days of being stuck paying emergency tax for months finally seem to be at an end!
For instance, to compare with a contractor's day rate or an American view of "total comp", a UK employee will have to take their headline salary and add the value of all benefits, paid holiday days, employer pension contribution, Employer NICs, and potentially even the additional value from being able to take certain benefits through salary sacrifice.
Very few people who're used to being on PAYE will do all of that. They'll either just state the headline salary figure or stretch it a bit to cover some (but typically not all!) of the benefits. In other words, it's usual for many people in the UK to under-state the value of their total package even if they believe they're over-egging it.