Most of the time, the bullshit of not letting you know about the pay rate has everything to do with the company already having decided to hire a family member or H1-B, and they have to play their own little game of pretending to look at the best available applicants. Hotels.com is notorious for telling applicants after the fact that they need someone with ten years of specific knowledge for $7.50 an hour, when the managers have already filled the position with some upper manager's son. (It's comparable to the bullshit of recruiters asking "Is $40 an hour all right with you?" as if you're going to turn down a significant raise. In actuality, they come back, claim "Sorry, we couldn't find anyone willing to work for less than $40, except for the person we chose for you at the beginning." During 2003, I'd get so many of these vermin that whenever I'd hear someone with an Indian accent, I'd cheerfully inform the person at the other end of the phone that I'd be glad to work for $7.50 an hour, and I might be able to go down to as little as $5.50. You could hear the strangled choke at the other end, and they'd never call back.)