I never hear this question anymore- or at least, not where it hasn't been answered already. The trick? That's literally the first thing I bring up with a pros

I never hear this question anymore- or at least, not where it hasn't been answered already. The trick? That's literally the first thing I bring up with a prospective employer, even before hello- "I'm making X right now." It's remarkably effective and rather than making one sound difficult to work with, it makes one sound valuable. It also sets a negotiation floor and trims off wastes of time. In a boiler-room metro like San Francisco right now, employee turnover is rampant, so the "let the inexperienced candidate negotiate against his own salary" stratagem that matches employers' instincts throughout the country really bites companies here, because other employers can come in and +50% the employee's salary after 3-6 months.