‘Salary expectations’ on application forms

[BeanStew22]

Hello, I am actively applying for jobs atm and see many online applications have ‘salary expectations’

Can I not answer/put ‘market rate’ or will this discount me from the process?

likewise: can I answer re past salary ‘will discuss if progress’

I have 18 years experience in my field, relatively senior, and believe my salary is in line with my experience. I am applying for jobs reflecting that and don’t want to shoot myself in the foot re salary (esp if next role is eg a mat cover vs perm role )

We ask for salary expectations so no one is wasting time interviewing someone who has extremely high expectations. Why don't you want to put a number down - you are relatively senior yet you seem very reluctant to say what you want. I think I would be questioning your inability to face a direct question, but maybe that doesn't matter so much in your role. Be honest and give them a number.

When I was job hunting earlier this year - I put the salary I wanted, well a realistic one as obviously I'd love more. The salary I put down was £8k higher than the one I was on and I actually ended up getting £10k.

It's certainly one way of not falling for a job that won't pay you what you deserve! Sorts the wheat from the chaff.

I thought this was generally acknowledged as bad practice now as it just reinforces existing inequalities, there's this campaign in the voluntary sector - showthesalary.wordpress.com/

Putting market rate would be one way to get around it, it may put some employers off, but arguably they might be employers you wouldn't want to work for.

@Curledupnow : I don’t want to be giving a low end of a range, I’d like the employer to share their range so we can discuss

Having been in 1 company for nearly a decade I’m not sure if I’m making as good a salary as others who moved around more

I would put market rate. I agree that this is bad practice.

I always filled this in with a number 10k above my current salary

“Competitive”

Well then you need to do a bit of research regardless - is that not what you normally do when you don't know stuff - no one on here can tell you as they don;t know what you do but you can google - Glassdoor is a good source of information. Your trade organisation or publications often publish this sort of information. As a small employer - we have to know what the competition is offering to understand where we wish to place ourselves. Someone who put the term "market rate" down would come across as a weak candidate - massive red flag for us, - you should have an idea what you are worth - (go topish end) and you should be able to sell yourself - especially for a senior role.

I think what I am trying to say is that stating the term market rate is too passive, and risk-averse - are you normally that passive? I'm not even sure it matters because I have no idea what you do but if you need to influence people, make decisions, lead a conversation, sell an idea to the team - do you normally wait for someone else to come up with the ideas first, let other people jump first and then you follow. I could be wrong - I don't know what you do - it's just a first impression I would get - I wouldn't reject you on it but I'd be ensuring someone questioned you on how comfortable you were as a leader if that was important to the job.

All this could be avoided if employers would put the salary in the advert.

I avoid any employer who does not put a salary in the advert.

I always think it is a way for them to get away with paying people less or they don't want other staff to know what rough salary a new hire is going to be paid.

They know perfectly well what budget they have to employ someone in a particular role so it is not that difficult to put a salary range and state that the salary will be based/agreed on a candidate level of experience within that range.

I thought the employer advertised a job and what they are paying? If not, why? Trying to pay people less?

I'd not work for them then.

DS2 is job hunting. He works in tech and very few job adverts publish a salary, they just say "competitive". It's not always easy to judge the level expected so he could be wasting his time applying for jobs way above his pay grade or way below.
In fact the last one, he emailed the named contact to ask for the salary range, this was a major UK employer. They replied that they weren't allowed to disclose it🤔. So he applied, only to find out they were offering £3k less than he currently earns.

If I were looking for a job in my profession I would have a very good idea of my worth and would therefore say what I expect or at least put a minimum down.

However recently I decided to take a large step back and have a long run up to retirement and honestly didn’t know where to pitch myself, not wanting to go under or over, so I was suitably vague where asked.

@Curledupnow : I disagree, Glassdoor salaries for my specialist field are wildly inaccurate (too low)

I think that being in the market tells you what people want to pay, but it’s difficult in the first few applications

Sounds like you know what you want - why not just ask for it!

Absolutely!! It pisses me off as I'd not bother applying if it was too low in the first place.
Personally I'd phone, speak to someone and ask the salary levels as it may not be worth even reading the advert and job description if it's too low

Absolutely this. It's a red flag for me. There's no good reason not to at least put a salary range. Plus, in my industry it's common to go through multi-stage interviews and complete lengthy tasks. I'm not going to bother going through all that for a job that might not even pay enough.

More employers are cottoning on now and disclosing salaries in the ads but it's still not widespread enough.

We ask for salary expectations so no one is wasting time interviewing someone who has extremely high expectations.

meh. I would expect a decent company to put their salary range - otherwise i will ignore rather than waste my valuable time applying. If you want 30 years experience but to pay beginner-salaries, be upfront about it.

I'd either write market rate or 10k above what i earn now

''@Curledupnow
We ask for salary expectations so no one is wasting time interviewing someone who has extremely high expectations''

There is one very easy way to avoid wasting time interviewing someone who has extremely high expectations, just put the bloody salary range in the ad!

Also if you know what you would consider ''an extremely high expectation'' that's because you know full well what salary range the company is prepared to pay for the role .

The only reason not to have that salary range in the job is because you either don't want other staff members to know how much new hires get or because you are hoping to get away with lower salaries.

There isn't a single good reason for not putting a salary range in a job ad these days. It just perpetuates inequalities and secrecy.

But you realise you are wasting people’s time by not putting the salary range in the job advert? If you put it in the add and it’s too low for a candidate they won’t waste their time applying.

Depends on salary level but say you’re currently on £50k and would be looking for around £60k to move I’d put something like £60k+ dependant on total benefits package. So leaves it open to negotiation depending on holiday/pension/shares etc

Agree with all those who say it needs to be in the ad. As a former NHS employee, the salary transparency was such a big positive factor for working there however it also left managers powerless to try retain staff when they got better offers in private sector.

When I was approached for my first role in private sector (ex colleague who works for the company), they obviously knew my salary at the time as I was NHS but if anyone contacts me now about a potential opportunity and no salary stated, I make it clear what my expectations are before even sending an application. I'm not wasting time applying and interviewing to discover their budget is less than what I currently get.

This.

I’m not wasting time applying for a company that won’t indicate a salary range that they clearly already know.