Why do employers ask for current salary?

[Anonymous]

Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

You apparently aren't in Management and don't think like Management. I, like other Managers, do hire on market value, but we need to know the full picture.
I'm a woman and I got a 50%+ raise for my most recent job. I told them my salary, but also that I knew I was undervalued and was only looking at meaningful larger opportunities. After several rounds of interviewing, they knew I had the capabilities they needed and was worth a big raise.

Also, on my team, I do try to raise salaries of my good performing staff if they are underpaid. Some companies don't. That's why employees leave those companies.
It's a free market. Go find an employer who will pay you what you're worth. But give yourself a good hard look and make sure you're worth it, and focus on improving your skills if you are not yet there.

[Anonymous]

Also, if I interview and you are above my target comp, but I think you're really special, I will go to my CEO and fight for a higher salary for the position, because I found someone who can do even more. If you self-select out, you don't give me the opportunity to do that.

Also, a piece of advice, I (like other managers) only hire people who are bursting at the seams with excitement for my company, who have lots of good relevant questions about us and the position, which shows clearly that they have done their research. So many candidates act like it's just another interview for them, and have no excitement. When it's a great match between company and candidate, it's apparent to both parties.

[Anonymous]

If you haven't caught on yet, employers have the power in this situation. Gathering the candidates' salary information while not telling you what you are going to get offered gives them the power of information. If you don't cooperate, your application gets dumped.

It's great for those who can ignore the job postings completely and go directly to the hiring manager with a position description and compensation plan. I've never pulled that off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

Agreed, I hate the system

I recently hired for an admin position and the first time around I didn't put the salary info in the description so I received resumes that were all over the map in terms of qualifications and it was a mess. the second time around I put the salary range in the description and got a much more focused candidate pool. Even then, in the first round I made it clear that there was almost no wiggle room in the range. This still weeded out someone but I would rather do it earlier than later in the hiring process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

But candidates are motivated by different things when they need a job. Today they will agree to make less but tomorrow, when I, a recruiter calls to pitch them something more in line maybe to where they were at before a job they took with less salary - well then you lose them. As the employer, you have to know upfront if something makes sense - it's just good business. I just can't let the candidate dictate whether they want to take $10-15k less unless there's a tangible explanation for why it makes sense. That's why knowing current salary is also so important. And really, candidates need to understand like pop said - you are being considered for an opportunity - it's a good thing for you - why do you want to be difficult and not tell me what you make? If I don't make you a fair offer just walk. Budget plays a big role in job offers - you sound like people are out to give as little as possible to new hires if they can but the really good co the ones you want to work with will be fair and they want a happy exployee to start - please try to remember that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Corporate recruiter here - we ask because we have to reference a salary point to know if it makes sense for budget of role to consider you. If you make over my budgeted salary range there's no sense in continuing the conversation is there? I also need to get an idea of your experience in market - on a deeper level if the recruiter is highly experienced - your salary allows me to figure out if you developed your career track well. There's a lot of people who do weird things - I get a sense for how well you've managed your decisions and why you opt for the positions you have - it provides me Intel on your professional acumen. Usually not a big deal unless you are more C level though. You have to tell your recruiter - I categorically will not work within uncooperative candidate. It's interview 101 that you let me know where you are in comp. it does not mean I'm gonna low ball you - it's totally relevant info for an employer. Some people get way too weird about it thinking they can negotiate on the back end but nobody wants to waste their time. I get if you work directly with a small biz owner but I'm talking about corporate F500 co.

Will a range do?

[Anonymous]

if you are below range, it could be an indicator of poor performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

But candidates are motivated by different things when they need a job. Today they will agree to make less but tomorrow, when I, a recruiter calls to pitch them something more in line maybe to where they were at before a job they took with less salary - well then you lose them. As the employer, you have to know upfront if something makes sense - it's just good business. I just can't let the candidate dictate whether they want to take $10-15k less unless there's a tangible explanation for why it makes sense. That's why knowing current salary is also so important. And really, candidates need to understand like pop said - you are being considered for an opportunity - it's a good thing for you - why do you want to be difficult and not tell me what you make? If I don't make you a fair offer just walk. Budget plays a big role in job offers - you sound like people are out to give as little as possible to new hires if they can but the really good co the ones you want to work with will be fair and they want a happy exployee to start - please try to remember that.

Well yeah, if the employer refuses to tell the candidate their budget for the role but expects the candidate to disclose their current salary, I am going to think they're out to give as little as possible to new hires.

The candidate is taking time off work to come to the interview(s), plus the time they spend researching and preparing. So yeah, they can just walk if the offer isn't fair, but their time (and possibly money) has already been wasted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you are below range, it could be an indicator of poor performance.

I hear you. Your paycheck is your worth to the company. I busted my butt for a small company when I was younger and now realize it was a waste of years of progress. The better pay was always "coming soon." Sometime past age 30 I realized the big boost in pay was never coming and I left. I found it annoying that my offers were just incrementally more than I was making. The same was true for my engineering peers but they were smart to work for big name companies, so their "incremental" was a lot higher than mine.
"I'll tell you my salary history for every job since college and will you please tell me how much each individual in my new department is earning as well? They all know that information, right?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just tell the candidate what salary you're offering and let them self-select out if it's too low? The candidate's worth should be based on market value, not what they're currently making. Basing future pay on current earnings lets you low-ball candidates and perpetuates race and gender based wage inequality.

But candidates are motivated by different things when they need a job. Today they will agree to make less but tomorrow, when I, a recruiter calls to pitch them something more in line maybe to where they were at before a job they took with less salary - well then you lose them. As the employer, you have to know upfront if something makes sense - it's just good business. I just can't let the candidate dictate whether they want to take $10-15k less unless there's a tangible explanation for why it makes sense. That's why knowing current salary is also so important. And really, candidates need to understand like pop said - you are being considered for an opportunity - it's a good thing for you - why do you want to be difficult and not tell me what you make? If I don't make you a fair offer just walk. Budget plays a big role in job offers - you sound like people are out to give as little as possible to new hires if they can but the really good co the ones you want to work with will be fair and they want a happy exployee to start - please try to remember that.

Well yeah, if the employer refuses to tell the candidate their budget for the role but expects the candidate to disclose their current salary, I am going to think they're out to give as little as possible to new hires.

The candidate is taking time off work to come to the interview(s), plus the time they spend researching and preparing. So yeah, they can just walk if the offer isn't fair, but their time (and possibly money) has already been wasted.

If the employer won't share the range in the early interviewing stage then I definitely think the candidate should walk. That's a bad company. And I do agree candidates need to disclose their current salary. And if you are underpaid for the market, do not apologize. You state I currently make 50k and my salary requirements are 75k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do employers ask for current salary?

To see if you're stupid enough to tell them.

[Anonymous]

This is why women supposedly make 75% of what men make. Because you're all stupid enough to tell potential employers how much you currently make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Bottom line, if you can get away with not divulging it, great. But most larger employers or HR teams say they MUST have it to know how to price you.

Wrong

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Well, the law pretty much lets employers do what they want. They can dump your application if you don't answer and can fire you if you lied and got hired.

I don't lie because I don't tell them what my current salary is. How difficult is this for you to understand?