Why do employers ask for current salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am blunt because my company bars us from disclosing salary information. It's actually part of the NDA I signed when I was hired. I just ask outright for a salary range and explain while I can't confirm my salary, I can let them know whether the range they are proposing is within what I would be willing to accept.

They're doing you a huge favor. Not that it would matter for me, because I don't voluntarily disclose my salary and neither does my company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am blunt because my company bars us from disclosing salary information. It's actually part of the NDA I signed when I was hired. I just ask outright for a salary range and explain while I can't confirm my salary, I can let them know whether the range they are proposing is within what I would be willing to accept.

They're doing you a huge favor. Not that it would matter for me, because I don't voluntarily disclose my salary and neither does my company.

PP, if you don't voluntarily disclose your salary to a potential employer, does the interviewing progress?

[Anonymous]

Last week someone asked what I was looking for and I told them what I currently make. They immediately shifted the offer to part time, which did wonders for keeping me interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ask because I want to know if it's worth my while pursuing a candidate. I generally don't have a lot of leeway in what our budget will bear (maybe 5K wiggle, if that). If I find a good candidate, I don't want to spend two-three weeks tracking down references and getting sign-off from upper management just to find that we are way out of range on salary and that I have to go through the whole process again with my second choice candidate (who may have accepted another offer in the meantime).

Basically this. It's a waste of everyone's time if the salary off. Typically, we have very little room to go outside of the range for the position.

[Anonymous]

So I am getting an offer soon. They asked today what I make (which is about 50% of what I know they intend to pay for the position because I know the hiring manager). I used to amen around what they expect to pay but took a job paying less when I moved to join my spouse. I explained all of this to them, but feel like the HR rep are struggling to understand. I suspect they will low ball me. But honestly, the new position is a lot more work and more responsibility (for which I am well qualified and prepared) and I would not accept it for an amount incrementally more than I am making now. I am also interviewing for other positions in the range of what they are paying, so I'm worth it in theory.

Any advice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I am getting an offer soon. They asked today what I make (which is about 50% of what I know they intend to pay for the position because I know the hiring manager). I used to amen around what they expect to pay but took a job paying less when I moved to join my spouse. I explained all of this to them, but feel like the HR rep are struggling to understand. I suspect they will low ball me. But honestly, the new position is a lot more work and more responsibility (for which I am well qualified and prepared) and I would not accept it for an amount incrementally more than I am making now. I am also interviewing for other positions in the range of what they are paying, so I'm worth it in theory.

Any advice?

Well they may not screw you. I got about a 60% increase with my last jump. Can you imagine if an employee gets to the company and realizes she makes way way less than other people she probably won't stick around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I am getting an offer soon. They asked today what I make (which is about 50% of what I know they intend to pay for the position because I know the hiring manager). I used to amen around what they expect to pay but took a job paying less when I moved to join my spouse. I explained all of this to them, but feel like the HR rep are struggling to understand. I suspect they will low ball me. But honestly, the new position is a lot more work and more responsibility (for which I am well qualified and prepared) and I would not accept it for an amount incrementally more than I am making now. I am also interviewing for other positions in the range of what they are paying, so I'm worth it in theory.

Any advice?

PP, had the interviewers asked what your current salary was before giving you a 60% increase?

Well they may not screw you. I got about a 60% increase with my last jump. Can you imagine if an employee gets to the company and realizes she makes way way less than other people she probably won't stick around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ask because I want to know if it's worth my while pursuing a candidate. I generally don't have a lot of leeway in what our budget will bear (maybe 5K wiggle, if that). If I find a good candidate, I don't want to spend two-three weeks tracking down references and getting sign-off from upper management just to find that we are way out of range on salary and that I have to go through the whole process again with my second choice candidate (who may have accepted another offer in the meantime).

Basically this. It's a waste of everyone's time if the salary off. Typically, we have very little room to go outside of the range for the position.

But can we give our target salary and not our current salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I am getting an offer soon. They asked today what I make (which is about 50% of what I know they intend to pay for the position because I know the hiring manager). I used to amen around what they expect to pay but took a job paying less when I moved to join my spouse. I explained all of this to them, but feel like the HR rep are struggling to understand. I suspect they will low ball me. But honestly, the new position is a lot more work and more responsibility (for which I am well qualified and prepared) and I would not accept it for an amount incrementally more than I am making now. I am also interviewing for other positions in the range of what they are paying, so I'm worth it in theory.

Any advice?

PP, had the interviewers asked what your current salary was before giving you a 60% increase?

Well they may not screw you. I got about a 60% increase with my last jump. Can you imagine if an employee gets to the company and realizes she makes way way less than other people she probably won't stick around.

Yep.

I was moving from gov to private tho. But I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't stick around for long if I got to the job and figured out I wasn't being fairly compensated compared to peers performing at the same level.

[Anonymous]

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

Or it could be the candidate works for the federal govt where the salary raises are tiny.

[Anonymous]

So if women are more forthright in general and that is why they are paid less, what sort of verbal response do male candidates get that also net them a higher offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if women are more forthright in general and that is why they are paid less, what sort of verbal response do male candidates get that also net them a higher offer?

Woman here and I once had a firm pull an offer after I tried to negotiate 5k higher. They offered 95 and I asked for 100. Big four accounting firm. Wonder if they would have pulled that shit with a guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I am getting an offer soon. They asked today what I make (which is about 50% of what I know they intend to pay for the position because I know the hiring manager). I used to amen around what they expect to pay but took a job paying less when I moved to join my spouse. I explained all of this to them, but feel like the HR rep are struggling to understand. I suspect they will low ball me. But honestly, the new position is a lot more work and more responsibility (for which I am well qualified and prepared) and I would not accept it for an amount incrementally more than I am making now. I am also interviewing for other positions in the range of what they are paying, so I'm worth it in theory.

Any advice?

It's tough. When I moved from a Fed position to the private sector (and this was during the sequester after a few years of pay freezes), I knew my salary was waaaay below market. My DH actually steered me wrong in terms of what base salary to request, since he works for a company with much larger bonuses than the one I was applying to (like 3x lower than DH's). The employer actually offered me above the base I requested (and an almost 70% raise), but I realized too late that it was still below market. They wouldn't budge, but I took the job anyway. Within about 1.5 years I was getting recruiting calls from all over, and I finally took a job that was another 50% raise. So, less than 3 years after leaving Fed service, I make 3x my old Fed salary.

I know other people who've been in a similar situation, one of whom was able to get corrected to market after a year or so with her same employer. I guess what I'm saying is that if the pay bump is substantial enough, it might still be worth taking the position and having a discussion about how future raises are determined. If they are very strict about incremental raises, then taking a below market salary is not a good idea. If they are more flexible, then you will likely have the option to get to where you "deserve" to be once you've proven yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ask because I want to know if it's worth my while pursuing a candidate. I generally don't have a lot of leeway in what our budget will bear (maybe 5K wiggle, if that). If I find a good candidate, I don't want to spend two-three weeks tracking down references and getting sign-off from upper management just to find that we are way out of range on salary and that I have to go through the whole process again with my second choice candidate (who may have accepted another offer in the meantime).

Basically this. It's a waste of everyone's time if the salary off. Typically, we have very little room to go outside of the range for the position.

But can we give our target salary and not our current salary?

Yes, of course!

[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.

I hope you do realize you are part of the problem in perpetuating the gender pay gap.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/04/29/how-the-whats-your-current-salary-question-hurts-the-gender-pay-gap/