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What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

nwus.co

1–10 of 16 posts

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#2
I do not agree with the trend of disclosing income to recruiters. It can only serve to harm your prospects.

I know some people that are closer to retirement age who realize that they may not find a new job making what they were previously making before being laid off, and they are OK with that considering other factors. But recruiters are passing up on opportunities for them because they are trying to match numbers. The reality is that people take more than salary into consideration.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#3
Looks like this article is dated a couple weeks ago, which surprised me in that the article neglects to mention the rather popular movement and trend of cities in the US making it illegal to ask for your current salary.

I believe it started with the state of Massachusetts in 2016, with Philadelphia and New York City following suit this year.

One can expect this trend may continue, and will make this question (and this post) somewhat obsolete.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#4
> it is perfectly ok to give your number, find out more about the role and then say the following: "I see. Well given what you've told me about the position, that's a bigger role than I was expecting when I gave you my initial number. Given that, I am going to raise my expectations with regards to compensation".

I have to believe that this kills the process at least as often as it works.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#5

> it is perfectly ok to give your number, find out more about the role and then say the following: "I see. Well given what you've told me about the position, that's a bigger role than I was expecting when I gave you my initial number. Given that, I am going to raise my expectations with regards to compensation". I have to believe that this kills the process at least as often as it works.

In my experience, it's much easier to suggest that some element of the comp package or expectations that wasn't salary (benefits contribution, 401k, options, PTO, work hours expectations, bonus) didn't align with your expectations instead of claiming the role was much more than anticipated.

Saying the role was bigger may also be received as the person being somewhat intimidated by the role, which doesn't instill confidence in the hiring firm.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#7

> it is perfectly ok to give your number, find out more about the role and then say the following: "I see. Well given what you've told me about the position, that's a bigger role than I was expecting when I gave you my initial number. Given that, I am going to raise my expectations with regards to compensation". I have to believe that this kills the process at least as often as it works.

That is absolutely fine. If you are going into a negotiation with the mindset that you MUST get a deal then you have already given up much of your bargaining power. The key to success here is having a good selection of backup options in case some of them fail.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#8
post #3

Looks like this article is dated a couple weeks ago, which surprised me in that the article neglects to mention the rather popular movement and trend of cities in the US making it illegal to ask for your current salary. I believe it started with the state of Massachusetts in 2016, with Philadelphia and New York City following suit this year. One can expect this trend may continue, and will make this question (and thi…

The world is a bit larger than some american cities.

Re: What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?

#9
"more than I need, less than I deserve"

But seriously, I think that it's better to not answer this question, at least not with a hard number. The only reason they ask you is because they are trying to gauge if they can get away with paying you [current salary]+x%, where this number is less than their standard salary for the position. Instead, say something like "it's not directly comparable because [reasons], so let's focus on what will be my responsabilities and what will be an adecuate compensation for them".

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