The HR round is not a formality
Candidates relax after clearing the business rounds. That is exactly when offers get repriced or withdrawn.
By the time you reach HR in a bank or insurer, the business has usually decided it wants you. So candidates coast - and HR, which controls the offer math and the integrity screen, quietly reopens questions the business rounds closed.
What HR is actually doing
Three things. Verifying consistency: do your salary claims, dates and reasons for moving match what the business rounds heard? Pricing you: every number you give anchors the offer. And checking flight risk: will you still be here in eighteen months?
Consistency is the trap
Tell the business head you are moving for growth, then tell HR you are moving for money, and both stories reach the same debrief. Your narrative must be identical in every room - not because anyone is trying to catch you, but because organizations compare notes by default.
Compensation: give a range with a spine
Share your current fixed, variable and vesting structure accurately - inflated figures are routinely caught at the verification stage, and in financial services that ends the process permanently. For expectations, anchor to the role's scope, not a percentage hike: "for a book of this scale I would expect the band to start around X" keeps you in the room without painting a target on your back.
- Same story in every room
- Accurate current numbers - verification is real
- Anchor expectations to scope, not percentage