4 ms·

c) ”What is your previous salary?” is employer-speak for “Please give me reasons to pay you less money.” Answer appropriately. Could you elaborate on 'approp

by dawidw 14y ago

c) ”What is your previous salary?” is employer-speak for “Please give me reasons to pay you less money.” Answer appropriately. Could you elaborate on 'appropriately'?

factorialboy 14y ago
"Why is my previous salary relevant to what I offer you today?" Or something along those lines..
- dawidw 14y ago
  "Because you haven't improved much since yesterday so your salary should stay more or less the same" - they may answer :-)
  - mgkimsal 14y ago
    which is a non-answer. your salary often has no bearing on what you're capable of. If I'm working for a company that only knows how to extract $80k of value from my labor, and then only pays me $65k, that says as much about their ability to manage their business and resources as it does about my innate ability. My exact same skills might bring $250k of value to a different organization. Paying me based on what I earned in the past is ... wrong.
  - nostrademons 14y ago
    "That salary was what I was worth when I started working for them. I've learned things since then. If you don't believe I'll be more valuable to you than to them, why are you hiring me?"
  - factorialboy 14y ago
    They have no way to ascertain whether I have improved or not. ;-) Plus what I might be offering them may be very different from what I offered my previous employers.
napoleond 14y ago
Patrick has often suggested replying to that question with some variation of "As a matter of courtesy to my former employers I prefer to not disclose the salary they paid me. I will, of course, extend you the same courtesy." and then back to establishing your value. I have no gauge on how well that would work; it's been aeons since I've done a job interview. It's true that your previous salary is none of their business, though.
Jabbles 14y ago
Is there any harm in lying? Given that it's confidential information that they can't really verify, and that they'll either pay you what you ask and be happy with you/fire you for not being worth it. Apart from moral concerns, what's the problem?
- mbord 14y ago
  I've heard that it's not that uncommon to ask you to back your claim up with payslips.
  - genwin 14y ago
    True. It flags companies you shouldn't work for. They're asking for proof of your answer to their mean-spirited question. If that thinking has infected the whole company you'll be harmed in more ways later.
genwin 14y ago
Lie, ethical when someone's asking an unfair question. You go into the interview knowing the appropriate value, which is generally what you want to make at the new job, assuming it's not at the extreme high end of the range and you have the skills to back it up.

by dawidw 14y ago

c) ”What is your previous salary?” is employer-speak for “Please give me reasons to pay you less money.” Answer appropriately. Could you elaborate on 'appropriately'?

factorialboy 14y ago

"Why is my previous salary relevant to what I offer you today?" Or something along those lines..

dawidw 14y ago
"Because you haven't improved much since yesterday so your salary should stay more or less the same" - they may answer :-)
- mgkimsal 14y ago
  which is a non-answer. your salary often has no bearing on what you're capable of. If I'm working for a company that only knows how to extract $80k of value from my labor, and then only pays me $65k, that says as much about their ability to manage their business and resources as it does about my innate ability. My exact same skills might bring $250k of value to a different organization. Paying me based on what I earned in the past is ... wrong.
- nostrademons 14y ago
  "That salary was what I was worth when I started working for them. I've learned things since then. If you don't believe I'll be more valuable to you than to them, why are you hiring me?"
- factorialboy 14y ago
  They have no way to ascertain whether I have improved or not. ;-) Plus what I might be offering them may be very different from what I offered my previous employers.

napoleond 14y ago

Patrick has often suggested replying to that question with some variation of "As a matter of courtesy to my former employers I prefer to not disclose the salary they paid me. I will, of course, extend you the same courtesy." and then back to establishing your value. I have no gauge on how well that would work; it's been aeons since I've done a job interview. It's true that your previous salary is none of their business, though.

Jabbles 14y ago

Is there any harm in lying? Given that it's confidential information that they can't really verify, and that they'll either pay you what you ask and be happy with you/fire you for not being worth it. Apart from moral concerns, what's the problem?

mbord 14y ago
I've heard that it's not that uncommon to ask you to back your claim up with payslips.
- genwin 14y ago
  True. It flags companies you shouldn't work for. They're asking for proof of your answer to their mean-spirited question. If that thinking has infected the whole company you'll be harmed in more ways later.

genwin 14y ago

Lie, ethical when someone's asking an unfair question. You go into the interview knowing the appropriate value, which is generally what you want to make at the new job, assuming it's not at the extreme high end of the range and you have the skills to back it up.