Why do employers ask for current salary?
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Anonymous
| And are you really obligated to provide them with that info? |
Anonymous
|
They ask for it because most companies want to get you for as cheaply as possible. Even if the work you provide would be worth 2X to them, if you are currently paid X they are going to try and get you closer to your current salary, not double your salary, even though double your current salary is what you would be worth to them.
As for obligated to provide, no, you don't have to do anything. They also don't have to hire you so if not providing that info is a deal breaker to them, it could cost you the position. |
Anonymous
| They also don't want unhappy new hires who will hop to a new place for more money. So if they're offering (budgeted for) substantially less than what you earn, they're going to be concerned you won't be happy. |
Anonymous
|
If it's higher than they want to pay you, then they can say no, we are not going to pay you that much, here's what we will pay.
If it's lower than they want to pay you, then they will not give you as much as they'd planned. 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. It's annoying, I agree. |
Anonymous
| Because they want to make sure they can afford you. Sometimes my husband gets offers 1/2 his salary. Now he just bluntly says my salary is XXX, and I will accept no less than xxx. |
Anonymous
| I ask because I don't think my organization's "salary survey" was accurate, and think they cherry picked data to justify our low salaries. |
Anonymous
| 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). |
Anonymous
| Don't lie. If it's a sales job, expect to be asked to provide W-2's. Even for non sales jobs, If something comes up with a previous employer like a non compete, the employer may ask to review your employment contract. If you lie about how much you are making, most people will not hire you. |
Anonymous
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. On the other hand, you can try to dodge the question and go right to the hiring manager to negotiate your compensation. I'm just giving it up in my current job search. They'll figure out soon enough that I used to earn decent money ($90k) and have made about half that for the last couple years. They're an IT companies, they can tap into whatever they want. |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
This sounds like something my company would do. |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
Wouldn't you accomplish the same thing by just asking someone what salary they're looking for? |
Anonymous
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I hire a lot of people and I agree with Corporate recruiter. It's so I know if I can afford you.
Also, it's a frame of reference. If I interview A who makes $90K, B who make $100K and C who makes $120K, I'm probably going to like C best, because she probably has the most experience. However, she will cost more. Then I need to evaluate. A seems really smart and a lot of upward potential and seems like a bargain at $90K. B seems just like A, but is already making $100K. C seems the best but is already making $120K and I know we can't offer more than $130K with little room left for raises. I'll probably extend an offer to A at $115K that will make her ecstatic, and still lower than my max, with potential to give her good raises if she performs well. So, yes, tell your salary. If someone balks when I ask them salary- no 2nd interview. I easily get 30 resumes (once I got 140 resumes) for 1 position, and I interview 5-8 candidates. If you are difficult at all, you are not considered. |
Anonymous
| oops, I meant to say I'd offer A around $105K with room to negotiate. |