Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 111 posts

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#71

Post by falsedan »

pleasecalllater wrote: post #3

My experience is quite bad with such companies. There are some huge ones, who are mostly remote, and the first question is "how much do you want to get". I answer, then there is no negotiation, and I usually want just too much (which usually is what I was making at that time). They don't also want to talk with me about any different figures, there is no counter offer, nothing. This is really sad, seems like they don'…

That sounds like a recruiter going off the script. If they're being that direct, turn it around: my salary expectations depend on how I'd fit in at your company, and how much value I'd add. I hope we can talk about that further along in the interview process, but for the sake of not exceeding your hiring budget, please let me know what the salary range is for this position and I will let you know what we'll need to negotiate on to get to an offer which will work for me.

The intent here is to negotiate in good faith: if they come back with upper salary that is 75% of your expected, go back with: thanks for sharing that information, in order for me to be comfortable with that compensation I'll have to (ask for extra leave/holiday, part-time hours, work from home, X conference trips per year, stock compensation, 3/6/12 month review with performance targets agreed up front which will bump your salary up).

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#72

Post by falsedan »

cies wrote: post #22
josh_fyi wrote: post #2

Say "My contract prevents me from disclosing my compensation package" (probably true), "and I treat my commitments seriously."

This! And if it does not say so in your contract you can add a little "I believe my contact..." in there. Many other advocate lying. I'm kind of hesitant to do that because of my believe that it is "starting off on the wrong foot".

You can say, I'm sorry but I'm restricted as to who I can share that information with. Who's restricting you? me, falsedan! Don't tell potential employees your current salary, unless they've given you an offer and you want to negotiate up.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#73

Post by eel »

In my experience, most recruiters push harder to get a number than the hypothetical conversations in the article. Maybe I'm not as much of a charismatic speaker as some. Fortunately, for the most part, they don't care if the number is your current salary or your expected salary. Generally, they are willing to meet or slightly exceed my current salary, but low ball my expected salary. I much prefer to give an expected salary (of about 10-15% more of my actual expected) than my current salary.

With the availability of Glassdoor and old-fashioned networking, it's really not hard to figure out market prices (at least for software engineers) in an area and company type.

I've tried to follow some of the advice of avoiding/deflecting the salary question, and I think it generally is a poor substitute for being well-informed. It also makes for some extremely awkward conversations when it comes time to negotiate. Maybe it's a personality thing, but I would rather set the upper bound and let them try to negotiate me down rather than letting them set the lower bound and try to negotiate them up.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#74

Post by falsedan »

dood wrote: post #34

As developers we are highly in demand right now so don't have to be overly clever in negotiation. I use a simple and foolproof strategy when asked for my current or expected compensation: "sorry I'm not willing to disclose my current comp, but I am looking for around X", where X is the amount you would need if there are no other bonuses or perks. Then they can talk you down from there if they want to proceed, you hav…

> The only hard part is determining what your labour is really worth - this can take a fair bit of effort, research and soul-searching, but is an absolutely essential prerequisite to negotiation.

I disagree. I think the intrinsic value of labour is not necessary to consider when calculating what you should be paid. The golden rule is: you're worth what people will pay you.

I think you need three numbers: how much you need to be comfortable (i.e. you have a budget for living expenses & savings goals); how much the market is paying for similar positions; how much value you will add to their company.

The first number is your low-end: you can't accept an offer under it, and you'd accept an offer around it to build your skills, experience, and networking. The third is their high-end: they can't pay more than you bring in or else they'll go bust. They probably don't know this number, their budget would be set based on market rates.

Your job as a candidate is to find positions where the market rate is above your low-end, and then identify the areas where your skills & experience will provide more value to the company that they expected, so they can better calculate their high-end & are willing to negotiate up accordingly.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#75

Post by sneak »

beaconstudios wrote: post #31

Here's something that worked well for me: I deferred the salary question until after I'd had some contact with my potential employer (rather than the recruiter) so they had a sense of my value. Then, when asked what my current salary was, I said something along the lines of the following: "my current salary is well below where I want it to be, because I started out in a low-level job and worked my way up getting the…

It has nothing to do with "screwing people". This is terrible advice. Salary negotiation is the single most important financial decision you will make in your life. That shit compounds, son!

Do. Not. Give. Them. A. Figure. First. Don't!

@patio11 explains why in exquisite detail here: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#76

Post by sneak »

jaimex2 wrote: post #16

Outright saying I'm currently on X has worked wonders for me. X is 20% more than what I actually earn.

Bad advice if your value delivered is 100-200% what you currently earn (which can vary significantly based on the organization into which you deliver it). This can mean the difference between having a boat to retire on or not, after compound interest.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#77

Post by sneak »

pleasecalllater wrote: post #11
marbletiles wrote: post #6

There's no reason to answer that question. Instead, talk about your expectations: say that your understanding is the role involves X, Y, and Z, and you have experience in related areas A, B, C, and accordingly you'd be looking to get $x for this role. Then, transfer it all back to them: "Does that fit with your range for the position?"

The only reason is that if you don't answer, you won't get the job, because there will be someone who will answer. And this is sad.

This is your fear. This is not the truth.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#79

Post by dood »

falsedan wrote: post #74
dood wrote: post #34

As developers we are highly in demand right now so don't have to be overly clever in negotiation. I use a simple and foolproof strategy when asked for my current or expected compensation: "sorry I'm not willing to disclose my current comp, but I am looking for around X", where X is the amount you would need if there are no other bonuses or perks. Then they can talk you down from there if they want to proceed, you hav…

> The only hard part is determining what your labour is really worth - this can take a fair bit of effort, research and soul-searching, but is an absolutely essential prerequisite to negotiation. I disagree. I think the intrinsic value of labour is not necessary to consider when calculating what you should be paid. The golden rule is: you're worth what people will pay you. I think you need three numbers: how much you…

Sorry my comment was unclear, I mostly agree with you. In a negotiation the only thing that matters is how much the company values your labour, and how much of that value you can capture. Figuring this out is the hard part.

Re: How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

#80

Post by anotherevan »

I think the next time I'm asked what my current salary I think I'll try responding, "Well, what's your budget for this position?"

When they baulk, you can say that it sounds like neither of us are prepared to talk about that just yet, so lets focus on figuring out the role will be a good fit for the both of us first. Wonder how that would fly.

Post reply on HN