in expecting people not to ask me how much money I earn

[myfunnynametaken]

I am currently in the process of job hunting and filling in application forms.

Nearly all of the application forms have a "how much do you currently earn" question. Why? What business is it of theirs how much money I earn.

I thought it was rude to ask people how much money they earn.

Am genuinely curious as to why they wish to know this.

The OP is of the female persuasion - Clara raised an extremely good point there. Women will always trail behind in the pay stakes as long as employers base your new pay on your old pay. I never thought of that

I have other income aside from any actual earned salary, so that means that they can't deduce my salary from my P45 doesn't it? hope I'm right but not convinced.

Your p45 will show your taxable income from your employer but not any income from other sources

I know that employers can find it useful but it is annoying if, as mentioned above, they would pay people differently for doing the exact same job depending on how much they earnt before.

I also have a friend who applied for a job, put down her current salary (ask requested) and basically got an email back saying 'we were going to pay less than that for the job so you won't be interested, goobye'. They didn't even ask her if she would be willing to take a moderate pay cut, even though she was changing areas a bit. They just assumed that she wouldn't want to do the job, when in fact she would have considered it.

I agree with you I hate this question, I'm applying currently for jobs which are less stressful and easier than what I'm currently doing, which means I'm overqualified and paid more than what I'm looking for, no matter whether I'd be good at this job I'm discounted automatically. I have to dumb down my cv and make out I earn less than I do.

I am similar to Ambi - my 2ds are going to both be at school full time after Easter and I want to go back to work, but not at the same level I was at - I just want a nice job to get some adult company and a bit of spending money, but every time I have to put my last salary down I probably look like I am way too expensive. I am thinking of putting £0 as I don't work now anyway. I think people use salary to gauge suitability for a position, but it's not necessarily the best thing to be looking at.

in my experience it's not to see how little you can be paid but to check that you're not 'overqualified'.

If you earn £20k but are applying for a £12k job mostly they'll assume you're desperate and that even if you got the job you wouldn't stay for long as you'd want to get back to your £20k.

If you DO want to earn less then you can cover this in your covering letter to get round this.

Generally most people would be expected to apply for a job a couple of grand above what they're currently on... unless they give reasons otherwise in the covering letter.

I only used to look at it so I would know to broach the issue of a possible paycut at telephone interview stage not after we've all invested time and energy interviewing face to face. I think it's only fair if I'm pursuing a candidate to advise they might have to take a paycut. I've never looked at someone's pay as a guide of what I can get away with paying. In my industry, there are guidelines and bandings of what individuals will be paid - everyone doing ajob gets paid a similar amount based on experience. As one of the main reasons for most people changing job is to progress and earn more, I would have thought employers would expect there to be a difference between current and projected salary, and I would also mention at interview if I got that far.

YANBU - I hate it too (so clearly then you aren't unresonable!! LOL ) and for exactly the same reasons as you. There are better ways to find out if you are qualified for the job and it does seem like a way to keep your wage/salary as low as they can.

I put N/A in anything I choose not to answer on any form