Comments on: How to make more money: Withhold your salary history

By: Kelly Magowan

Kelly Magowan — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:30:33 +0000

Hi Bluey,

Past salary should not be disclosed, nor salary or remumuneration package expectations until an offer is on the table. Not always easy I know.

Some examples to delay this include:
“I would prefer to find out more about the position, the responsibilities and expectations before getting into any salary discussions”.
“I am sure that your company offers a fair compensation scale, and if we both decide that this is a worthwhile match, I am confident we will be able to agree on a salary”.
“I have researched the salaries for this level of position, with the market value of the total compensation package being within X range”.

Kelly

By: Bluey

Bluey — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:22:19 +0000

I agree with the assertion to never give salary history, but what about salary expectation?
When in the interview process should one inform the hiring company one’s salary expectation?
I’d prefer to answer this at the final stage, that is, once the employer decides they must have you. I really hate answering this one too early, but how does one say “not yet” politely?

By: Why not to disclose your current salary at interviews « Six Figures Blog

Why not to disclose your current salary at interviews « Six Figures Blog — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:55:13 +0000

[...] or employer to disclose the salary first. Ask the Headhunter has a great article on the topic ‘How to make more money: Withhold your salary history’. As the article states “The advice is simple: Don’t disclose your current salary or your salary [...]

By: Kelly Magowan

Kelly Magowan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:44:02 +0000

A great post and I agree 100% with your advice. Your negotiation power diminishes the moment you disclose the salary you are looking for be it with an employer direct or recruiter. I have written a free salary negotiation guide in which there is a section that covers this point. Visit http://www.sixfigures.com.au/job_seekers/resources/tags/salary-negotiation

By: Keep Your Salary History Private. Maybe. | Punk Rock Human Resources

Keep Your Salary History Private. Maybe. | Punk Rock Human Resources — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:47:03 +0000

[...] Nick Corcodilos, of Ask the Headhunter, advises you to never disclose your salary to a recruiter or company during your job search. [...]

By: mr3nt

mr3nt — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:45:01 +0000

I just did this, not because I wanted to “make more money” but on principle. This after I passed the 6 interviews with flying colors and they told me that they were ready to make an offer.If I could just complete the application with salary history as its their “policy”. I declined.

You can judge how smart the company was because they withdrew their offer. Quite clearly not a place one would want to work at anyway.

It was a hard choice for me to stick to principle because these are desperate times and everyone needs jobs right now. Perhaps this is what they are taking advantage of. But I don’t regret my decision one bit.

By: wgc

wgc — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:53:20 +0000

The only solution I’ve found that suits everyone is sort of caramba09’s idea … If they keep pressing, I respond “I am looking for $x”. I’m losing my leverage, but at a higher price point. Assuming I am asking something reasonable, the process is allowed to continue. Any forthcoming offer will be for that amount, rather than my previous amount plus a token cost of living increase.

By: scottthekyhrguy

scottthekyhrguy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:04:11 +0000

Don’t lie about anything on an application. Ever. You can refuse (or neglect) to disclose, but lying on an application is grounds for termination in any job other than maybe politics.

By: caramba09

caramba09 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:28:57 +0000

So from what I gather is this..by some of the idiots who have ‘warned’ Nick about giving us bad advice about not divulging our salaries..

1. If I do not tell you my current salary, you will not consider me and the interview will be over…

hmmm…lets see then…then I guess we should research what the top range of what our salaries SHOULD be and then LIE our asses off to HR, since it is all just a back-alley game anyways…right?
Ethics at its finest..whoohoo
Way to go HR, you have hit an all time low!

Oh and by the way, the comment in the letter to Nick by the HR rep:

“Nice-looking people have been known to lie through their teeth to maintain their standard of living — like being able to afford food”

I smell Karma coming your direction, glass houses shatter.

By: Matt F.

Matt F. — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:47:18 +0000

From the newsletter: If our company is recruiting someone from a competitor, she’s judging that candidate based on our competitor’s assessment. If we can’t judge for ourselves, where is our competitive edge? (And what if our competitor made a mistake?)

Actually, this is a common occurrence. Ever go to a store that had a price match policy? In order to stay competitive, stores often piggyback off of their competitors pricing schemes by reducing theirs to match upon seeing proof from a customer. A more famous example is Burger King. Instead of spending huge sums of money to figure out where to build their restaurants, they just looked at where McDonalds had their stores and built them nearby.

The bottom line is that for most candidates, it really is a David vs Golaith situation in the job market. If you’re a rockstar candidate, this might fly, but if you’re an mere mortal trying to put food on the table, the risk of being shown the door is too great to bear.