Posted on 06/04/2013 10:22:02 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Question: I read your article titled "Keep Your Salary Under Wraps," and I agree completely that there is no good reason (from the employee's perspective) to disclose your current salary to a future employer. A competent business should be able to independently assess a prospective employee's worth without being biased by another data point. Judging from your article, however, you may not be aware that employers require salary information.
For instance, online applications frequently make the "current salary" field mandatory. You cannot proceed without entering a numeric value. Human resources representatives almost always ask about current salary during the initial phone interview, and your refusal to follow protocol could end the interviewing.
How should applicants deal with questions that require an answer about current salary? I am confident that applicants who refuse to answer, no matter how professionally, will have little luck advancing in the application process.
Nick Corcodilos: Employers don't really require your salary history to hire you. But many do like to bully you into disclosing private, confidential information that will give them an unfair negotiating position. So they call it "the policy."
I would never, ever disclose my current salary or salary history to a prospective employer even if it means ending the interview process. That is my advice to job hunters.
Employers use online applications for two reasons. One is that they are expedient. Those poor HR staff have no way to process all the millions of inappropriate applications they solicit from people they don't know. The other reason is that automated forms enable them to intimidate you into sharing information that is none of their business. When employers re-brand their rudeness as "policy," many job applicants will go along. But not all.
Ask The Headhunter readers tell me they say no to the salary question without getting kicked out of the interview process. There are plenty of employers who will respect that position; the rest are playing games. What makes you think playing games will lead to a good job and a good salary with a good employer?
The article you refer to is actually a very abbreviated version of my PDF book, "Keep Your Salary Under Wraps." Here are a few tips from the book about how to deal with inappropriate salary requests from employers. The basic idea is, either walk away entirely, or approach from a direction that avoids such silly obstacles.
You can take a strong position with any employer by putting it all on the line. Tell the employer, "Look, I won't tell you my past salary because I'd like to have an honest, fair negotiation based on what I can do to make your business more successful. If I can't demonstrate my value, then you should not make me an offer or hire me. We can part as friends. But I'd like to show you how I can contribute enough to your business that you'll want to pay me well to do this job." See "That's why it's called compensation."
That's a friendly, assertive way to continue the interview process. If an employer still demands your salary history, I'd walk away. Don't participate in a one-sided negotiation that is not a win-win proposition.
this is a rue statement however the OFCCP is the audit agency.
The average salary of a 15 year recruiter where I work is over 100k. We have very few junior recruiters.
I’ve spent a LOT of time on the job search side. Got laid off 4 times because of buyouts/downsizing and so forth. Had to interview for my job several other times because of mergers.
Got tired of getting downsized so I started my own company. Still have a jerk for a boss though.
It's not just large companies. Government agencies have to jump through similar hoops. In my organization, veterans have preference, even to the point of your having to justify why you didn't interview every veteran applicant. The last hiring I did, I had to justify why I didn't hire each individual veteran applicant, even though I hired a vet and was thrilled to do so.
not to be a jerk but you said they use salary data to search and screen....I asked you for a searchable website that allows me to search based of salary data.
No worries:)
now that was funny!
LOL!
I haven’t had a job in 20-years where I made less than the HR interviewer.
“OFCCP is the audit agency.”
Thanks God I’ve never had to deal with them!
We'll have to agree to disagree. If the open position was held by a previous employee, do you, the employer, share with the prospective employee, what that employee made? If not, why not?
Do you share with all your employees what everyone in the company makes? If not, why not?
If you’re making $100k and have held the job for 5 years it shows something about you.
Holding a job for 5 years with a given company says all the employer needs to know. This is exactly what the article is saying. A lot of employers believe that compensation paid for previous positions is an indication of future performance.
...you’re making $50k and want to double your salary but have never done anything to earn it.
Who cares whether the candidate is doubling his salary. That's his business, not yours. Do you share with your employees your costs and profit margins? If not, why not?
What matters is whether the prospective employee is qualified for the position and what you, the employer, is willing to pay the qualified candidate.
The candidate is free to ask for whatever he/she feels if fair compensation and the employer is free to turn them down.
This is the same as the business arrangement you have with your customers. You ask what you feel is a fair price and they are free to agree or go elsewhere.
“We can afford from X dollars up to XX dollars. Would that be acceptable?” Of course, I would have settled for X dollars at the time, but maintaining a calm exterior while inwardly jumping up and down, I said “I am willing to start at XX dollars.
Confidence is key in acquiring the desired salary.
For instance, at the same company, a lady who worked in the payroll office once confided in me about her poor financial outlook. (I know that's a no-no, but, she was talking, I listened). She was upset that I had been hired at XX dollars, while they gave her a paltry X Dollars. Therefore, her raises didn't provide the same jump up the scale as mine.
Of course, I was in an entirely different department (drafting), so I told her perhaps that was the difference. This story is too long, so the short of it came down to this:
During her interview, she was offered a range between X and XX, she answered “Well, I really have to have at least X...LOL! BTW, that was my favorite position ever. The employers were professional and generous to a fault when an employee excelled. Sigh. They retired and sold out..to a company that wouldn't pay me the "ridiculous" sum I was making.
Tell me how much you currently pay your employees first. :)
Exactly so. It is your business what my salary expectations are. This means that I have to do some market research (including asking former employees) as to how much that I ought to ask for.
Beyond that, NOYDB. It is my right to ask you how much you are willing to offer.
Well, then. If you’re willing to pay the dude 100k, then isn’t he worth 100k?
If he’s not worth 100k, why are you thinking of offering him 100k? This isn’t hard.
Some of us work on the cheap to pick up solid experience and contacts in the industry. Some of us prefer to work for whomever we damn well please for whatever we damn well please.
I own my own business. Are you going to ask for sales figures, contract details, etc? What I make depends on the contract and what the client is willing to pay. This isn’t hard. It’s called negotiating.
You’re negotiating for my labor. First thing I’ll say is, “what are you willing to offer me based on my experience and qualifications?”
If this number is acceptable to me then I’ll go along with that.
Hr, the most hated people in the world.
There’s a difference between, ‘desired salary’, and ‘what you made at your last job’. Do you not see this? I have no problem disclosing my salary expectations.
Rules: IF you have a job now and just want to change, then try to be honest. Try anyway. But if you are unemployed do whatever it takes. Better to have job thru prevarication then not to have a job at all. Prove yourself once you have the job, but get that job first!
HAHA!!
The position should have a salary range assigned to it. You do not need to know the candidates current salary. You are BS'er and I would not get along with you. Nazi tactics....
PS: I have taken jobs for LESSER salary than what I was making. I take it if the future opportunities are better. I was offered a mgt position in a start up at 75% of my salary and I took it.
I’m a BSer? KMA
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