Common Objections: 'There's No Budget' and Other Lies

About a quarter of job offers go up after the candidate pushes back—*even when* the company first says, “there’s no budget.” You’re in the interview, heart racing, they drop that line. Is it a real wall…or just a locked door no one’s bothered to try opening yet?

“Budget is tight this year.” “We’d love to, but HR won’t approve it.” “This is the max for this level.”

On the surface, those lines sound final. Underneath, they usually mean one of three things: someone’s protecting an internal pay ladder, someone’s avoiding setting a precedent, or someone’s testing whether you’ll accept the first story they offer.