
What to say when they ask you: how much do you make? - alexpotato
http://nwus.co/aadt
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kevincennis
> 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.

~~~
dmitri1981
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.

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fecak
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.

~~~
felipelemos
The world is a bit larger than some american cities.

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BrandoElFollito
I usually ask : why do you need to know? To which they usually respond "so
that we can see if you fit in or pay scale". To what I ask what the scale is
and I will tell them.

After some back and forth they either give up or give the scale.

If they give up or try to force me to tell, I respond that thank you but I am
not interested as there is something strange in their process.

If they tell, it means they really need to gauge because I have a job where
the salaries can span half an order of magnitude so it may be useful for them
to know if they can afford me.

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magoon
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.

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bane
In my personal experience, just accumulate every last bit of compensation you
make and turn it into a dollar number. That's what you present: salary +
health care + bonuses + "free" dry cleaning + whatever. If you think that
number is too high to present you can always lop some off the top.

Good recruiters will try to make you parse this out and ask "well how much of
this was base salary?". Nunya is the correct answer, but if you want the job
you can just make up something or take off the yearly bonus or whatever and
keep the rest.

It's their job to get you into the job for as low of a salary as they can.
It's your job to get into the job with as high as a salary as you can.

This _has_ killed the process for me a couple of times, but both times the
recruiter revealed to me that what I was asking for was far over what they
were willing to pay and we both parted ways. I count this as working out
because then I would have been in a higher position with less pay than I was
currently making just to work at a company with some name brand recognition.

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johnlbevan2
The article doesn't mention lying about your current salary / compensation.

Personally I wouldn't; but then I also tend not to negotiate / just roll over
and take what I'm offered since generally I care much more about the
interestingness of the work & the people I'd be surrounded by each day (though
I'm getting to the age where I may start a family; so hopefully my
subconscious' priorities will change a bit in my wallet's favour).

However, I suspect that many people do, as this avoids being seen as
uncooperative, and suggests that people were willing to pay you more so
presumably you're worth it. I doubt anyone would check (likely it's illegal
to), so this seems a no-brainer for those ethically unencumbered by this
option.

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bprieto
"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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brudgers
Patrick 'patio11' McKenzie's podcast on salary negotiation covers this
question and other related topics,
[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/06/03/kalzumeus-podcast-
episod...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2016/06/03/kalzumeus-podcast-
episode-12-salary-negotiation-with-josh-doody/)

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pwdis_password
My guideline is here: [https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/the-dreaded-
salary-que...](https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/the-dreaded-salary-
question/)

The levels of answer scale up perfectly and I never had trouble with this.

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lj3
"My current salary is confidential, but I'm looking to make between $X and $Y
at my next job."

