"I recently interviewed for an Amazon position and made it through the three-month interview process and was notified that they wanted to hire me. The first step in the offer process, however, was that I had to submit my previous year's W-2 or federal tax return. Without that information, they would be unable to proceed. After providing them with my W-2, they made an offer that was below the salary range they originally quoted,"

from the linked article.

Just keep ignoring it.

Yay. I love it when the best way to go is "do nothing."

Wow, that's insane.

Vonnie, I think it's also not out of line to just say to him "oh, I got your friend request the other day--I don't like to friend coworkers/direct reports/etc on Facebook" or something. He doesn't know when you got/noticed it, and it could clue him in. I've said that to former coworkers (and occasionally friended them after one of us doesn't work there anymore). Or possibly suggest Linked-In to him.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Also - the job search process just keeps getting nuttier. Why would anyone want a job that pays less then the one they had before? Or are employers assuming that you (random jobseeker) are currently unemployed and desperate?

I think what they want to do is say: you earned $60K last year, we offered you $70K, that is clearly too high from what you earned last year, so we are going to pay you $65K instead.

sumi,

I just read. 'ma to you!

Yeah, it justifies not paying what the job is worth, even if it's a promotion.

Me, I shall probably have to submit a W-2 if/when I get the offer for the job I'm currently doing, because they will offer it to me at the bottom of the grade, and I will say, "No, I won't take a pay cut," and they will hem and haw and then ask for proof of my current salary. And then it takes them six weeks to get approval to match what I'm making now, as a contractor. (If they even can: I suspect I'll take a pay cut in exchange for much better benefits and a retirement plan.)

Corporations should not seek to profit at the expense of the good of their employees. That's just evil.

I had a temp job at a credit card company in San Francisco. They offered to hire me permanently, but at the same rate of pay (plus benefits). I told them I wouldn't accept the offer unless they gave me a raise. They said no, so I didn't end up staying.

It was annoying because I was hired to do data entry in Excel, but by the time I left I was doing database programming. Meanwhile, my pay rate hadn't changed.