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Salary must now be in the listing. So why don't you still know if the job is right for you?
· 4 min read · Martina Kováčová, HR Consultant
Quick answer: Salary in a listing is no longer a mystery — Slovak companies have had to state the base salary component since 2018, and from June 2026 also the salary range, in a gender-neutral way. But even the salary doesn't tell you the most important thing: what exactly you'll actually be doing and whether you're a good fit. Surikado solves this by matching you, based on meaning, with positions that truly suit what you know how to do.
Just a few years ago, the biggest mystery in job listings was the salary. "Wage negotiable" and that was it. Today it's different — you can now see the pay by law. And yet, after reading ten offers, you often still can't tell whether any of them are right for you. Why?
What a listing must already legally contain today
To be clear — applicants today have more on their side than they might think:
- Salary. Employers have had to state the base salary component in listings since 2018. A range ("from – to") is also accepted.
- Salary range and transparency. From June 2026, new pay rules apply, requiring the salary range to be stated in the listing itself, or at the latest before the interview.
- Gender-neutral conditions. Both the offer and the criteria must be worded so as not to favor one gender.
So salary is out in the open, and the rules work in your favor. But the problem has simply shifted elsewhere.
You know the salary — and you still don't know if it's right for you
A survey of over 1,000 people shows that the main problem with traditional portals is a lack of information about the position, the requirements, and the employer. Notice — not about the salary. About everything else.
The number on your payslip won't tell you:
- What exactly you'll actually be doing. "Administration and other tasks as needed" can mean anything from invoicing to making coffee.
- What experience is actually required. A list of twenty requirements, half of which are "an advantage," leaves you guessing whether you even stand a chance.
- What the company is like. What working style it has, what they'll expect from you, where you could grow — the listing stays silent on this.
In other words: you know how much you'd earn. You don't know whether you'd be happy there, or whether they'd even hire you.
Why listings are still poorly written
The reason is mundane: writing a good listing is a skill, and most companies don't have it. They copy an old template, add "dynamic team," and call it done. The result is an offer that satisfies the salary law but doesn't actually help the applicant decide.
And here's the important part: this is not your fault, and it's not your job either — to read between the lines and guess what the company probably meant.
You don't have to decode listings — Surikado understands meaning
It's far more logical to flip the whole process around. Instead of you having to decipher listings, let the system understand you and find what fits.
Traditional search looks for exact words. If the listing says "truck driver" and you write "international transport driver," it might not find you — even though it's the same job. Surikado works differently: it understands meaning — what you know how to do and what the company is looking for — and connects them even when you don't use their exact words. It also knows what relates to what — that a welder usually knows how to read technical drawings, that a warehouse worker often knows how to operate a forklift.
In one sentence: imagine the difference between a robot that looks for an exact word and a colleague from the trade who truly understands what you do. Surikado is that colleague.
So you don't have to hit the right company jargon or the right buzzwords. Say in your own words what you can do, and you'll get positions that truly match it — including the salary you care about.
What about the poorly written listings?
Let's be honest here: the fact that companies write listings poorly won't disappear because of a single tool. That's why we're working on changing the very way employers submit their listings — and with it, the quantity and quality of information that reaches you. The goal: less fluff, more concrete details about what you'll actually be dealing with.
Summary
Salary must now be in the listing, and the new 2026 legislation gives applicants even more. But you're still missing the essential thing — whether a particular job matches what you know and want to do. The solution isn't to decode even more diligently, but to let a system that understands meaning find positions tailored to you.
Tell Surikado on WhatsApp what you can do, and let the job find you.
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