At least the A-part or FAANG, the one that sounds like a river and not a fruit, was pretty surprised by the stock development after 2013/2014. This resulted in them over-paying a lot of the people they recruited in that period. Not that I would complain, so. But they didn't over sell the potential of RSUs during recruiting. My trick was to settle for sufficient base salary and take the RSUs as bonus I never really planned with.
Regardless, they put quite some emphasis on the RSUs being part of the salary as base salaries, while not bad per-se, were mere average for the region. And kind of sub-par considering the size of the company.
I’ve heard the opposite pitch from FANG recruiters: Our stock is pretty stable and/or appreciates modestly. But if you don’t believe me we are a public company so you can sell on day one. Unlike those startups that are just offering pieces of paper with promises of riches on them.
Maybe they’re just good at tailoring their messages. They look at me and see an old guy so they bring out the “stable liquidity” pitch.
But regardless with those companies you tend to get options or grants. That’s real money with the reporting requirements of a public coma-any and entirely on you to decide whether to take it and ride it out.
They also tend to just pay more and have real bonus structures.
