Do I disclose my current salary to the recruiter?

[Vicky256]

As the title says really.

I have an interview tomorrow which was set up by a recruiter. He has just asked me to tell him my current salary. Is this the norm?

My gut reaction is that it's none of his business but I've not applied for a job for a long time!

I've never disclosed current salary to anyone. How else can you expect to make gains of 10k plus when moving roles?

@keirakilaney67

Without going into every scenario - i push the potential employer for more money every time someone is offered a job.. certainly not just in cases where they are underpaid.

In the industry that I specialise in, salaries are based on where someone is at with certain qualifications as well as skill set. Another important part of the offer is ensuring there isn't a huge gap in what someone is being paid now (plus their expectations) v their existing staff.. their existing staff are more valuable than someone they haven't even met yet.

As I said, it's totally up to the individual but (and I can only speak for my specialism) - salaries being asked for are absolutely not used as a reason to low ball someone.

I appreciate its not the same in all industries.

@lemonsaretheonlyfruit that's all very well and good. But you still haven't explained why the employer needs to know the applicant's previous salary. You only need to know their expectations vs what employer is willing to offer.

You might be wanting to collect data on everyone's current pay, e.g. if everyone' saying they earn 50K and your client is only offering 40K then they're clearly lowballing. But a candidate previously being paid, say 30K is disadvantaged when wanting 45K because everyone thinks that it's too much, although they are being underpaid.

Personally I wouldn't tell you the truth unless you're one of my trusted recruiters. I don't have to - most jobs I've worked have a bonus element and unless you ask me for 3 years worth of payslips it's easy to say that the bonus makes up the discrepancy.

By the way, I'm also an employer and never ask any individual candidates' salary. If I hire a recruiter I expect them to do proper market research instead of using individual candidates, I also have a network of industry contacts. I mean, I need to know the salary too when I myself am a candidate.

The amount of information available for the role is skewed in favour of the interviewer. They know the full scope of the job, the salary budgeted for the role, how well the company has done, how desperate they are to hire, how short staffed they are, how good /bad the boss is, work expectations and obligations etc etc etc....

You as an interviewee know none of the above.
Your current salary is the only thing they don't know.

Even in terms of salary expectations. They might as well ask "can you take a wild guess as to what we might pay someone in this position with your skill set."

These are businesses not charities, if your salary expectation was lower than what they budgeted, do you really think they would say?

Even giving a salary range, all the employer hears is the low end.

My typical response to the current salary question is "my salary is competitive but let's focus on the new position. What's the salary range which has been budgeted? "

In only 12 years of working, I've managed to increase my salary from 14k-20k-26k-32k-42k-48k-75k and I could never have made such jumps answering the salary question.

It's none of the new employer's business and no, it doesn't look bad on you not to know.

If you as recruiters pushed back on this and instead said "you know what the market rate is, no need to ask that question" or "market rate is X-Y but Person A is extremely well regarded and should be placed above that rate, I will check their expectations and revert to you", the world would be a better place and gender pay gap would lessen.

OP. Don't tell them. It's none of their or your new employer's business, it's only ever used to lower your pay offer.

My work asks for this and it does contribute to unequal pay between men and women because it brings pay gaps from other organisations into ours.

Sarah says she's on £35k so she gets offered £37k

Dave says he's on £42k so gets offered £45k

So we take on and perpetuate the unequal pay.

I argue a lot about this at work!

That's after you accepted the offer anyway so bears no relevance at all.

Why would you shoot yourself in the foot and tell them, for what reason exactly?

The reality is recruiter may get a slightly lower commission if you get the job which pays less, but that difference will be FAR less significant to what you will lose out on. And that same recruiter will soon be instructed again by that same employer as they do such a splendid job saving them money, so all in all, recruiter and employer won't be at a loss, ever.

Tell them that you are currently interviewing for jobs in the region of £xx to £xx

@PurplePansy05 well it's worked rather well for me over the years given I am in the 99th centile of the pay scale, so ...🤷

My standard answer to this question is ‘ absolutely I’m happy to share, but before I do may I ask the current banding for this role’ - if they say no, then that’s a huge red flag and they are trying to offer the minimum. If they say yes I respond with ‘ my currently salary is x but I’d be looking for at least xx from this role’ - it leaves room for negotiation and you’ve answered the question without putting yourself in a weak position.

for what it’s worth, this is how I received a £22k pay rise from a new role.

Disclosing the salary did? Well, good on you, being the exception. It certainly doesn't work this way in my industry and I don't know a single woman IRL for whom disclosing it ever worked out.

I'm a recruiter. I would really struggle to work with a candidate who couldn't disclose their current salary to me. The recruiter, if a specialist, will have an excellent market knowledge of what competitors are paying and how your skills fit into this. It is confidential and only an unprofessional consultant would discuss this with an employer.

Plus - the majority of recruiters work on commission - they will work hard to get you the highest salary they can.

One of your compatriots @lemonsaretheonlyfruit literally posted that she asks, because employers want to know!
I very much agree with you, and the recruiters I know/trust/have solid recommendations work like this. But they're far and few between. IME anyway.

Why exactly would you struggle?

A lot of CVS are uploaded into a portal and it's a field you have to fill in. I don't automatically give the current salary. Only when it's necessary.

I think it's fair to say that all areas of recruitment / different industries will differ.

I have over 20 years of experience in my field and am well known as one of the most trustworthy, honest and experienced in my field. What is the norm in one specialism obviously isn't the same in others obviously!

Good luck op!

I've just doubled my salary. I 100% believe that happened because I left the current salary box empty when applying.

I got an offer just below double my current salary initially, then negotiated 5k more. At no point did they realise how much of a massive jump in salery that was for me.

I started start February. It still feels like a dream.

Yeah... But add ten grand.

Skillest is my idol

I work in recruitment. In house. We've stopped asking for current salary as it's totally unnecessary. We pay the fair rate for the role. Gets rid of the gender pay gap and makes sure everyone js paid fairly for the skills they bring to the role.

Also don't provide names or any personal details on any CVs we give to hiring manager. Stops any unconscious bias.

Some of the recruiters on this thread may have been doing their job for 20 years. Doesn't mean their practices are right.

Still absolutely not one of you recruiters on here can justify asking for current salary. It makes no sense at all.

Stop hiding behind the norm, the portals, this, that and the other.

Honest salary for honest work, if the salary on offer is not right, you won't find the right candidate. That's all you need to care about.