Salary question during interviews

I always hated that question. That, and "What are your biggest problem areas, etc."

Tell them you are at market rate (unless you are really low or high) and will be happy to give
them specific details if there is further mutual interest. Then immediately ask them what the job pays.

They will probably fudge the answer in the same way you did and then change the subject.
If they don't and there is enough of a pause, then you change the subject and ask another question.

 

If they ask "What are your biggest problem areas, etc." first, answer; 'Being asked how much I made at my old job.'

 

As the Dr.S card would say, "That is some funny **** right there!!"

 

Tell them you made a competitive salary but hope to upgrade to something more appropriate for your experience & skills.
Have in hand your certificates of college degree & any other certifications apropriate to hand him right up front before the interview starts. You jave these docs right?

 

I went thru this highly rated career counseling co. several years back and they teach you how to interview. They went under the path of:

"I would prefer not to talk about my past salary and would like to see how my skills best suit your needs. If we feel it is a great match then I am sure we can agree to a suitable salary."

Same thing applies to the salary requirement questions early on in the interview process. If they push the fact you ask them what the salary range is, upon getting it, you counter with "I am comfortable with that range and lets see if my skills meet your needs, then we can discuss salary". The worst thing to do is take yourself out of the game over $$$ before it even starts.

 

I have read this thread and as an employer I always ask about salary. Normally I give them what they want if it's close. I want to start with a happy employee and not one that is disappointed right up front. I also strongly dislike when someone declines to talk about it. I figure they went to some class about it and makes me think they are a loser. If you are happy with your starting salary and do a good job an employer will make sure you stay happy.

 

I feel the same. If you hire them on a salary there not happy with, they'll keep looking for "other" jobs. Regardless of what the interviewer made before, I have no problem telling them 1st. what I want to spend.

 

People don't want to discuss specifics, especially in a first interview, because they don't want to get ripped off.

I once had a Finance Director tell me "I will not pay people more than I have to, that's bad business"

Now it's easy to say "Gee that's a company I don't want to work for anyway" but how would you know that at a
first interview? If the salary range is 80K-100K and someone comes in at 60K, what chance do they have (at most
companies) to hire on in the upper range, even if they were underpaid at the previous company?

Most times the hiring manager doesn't have that much control over the final offer, it's up to HR, or Finance, or someone
that doesn't care about the person in question and they will try to cheap out. At least that has been my experience.

I strongly agree that honesty is the best policy, and no one should lie or mislead anyone in an interview,
but I also don't think it is in the applicant's best interest to put all their cards on the table, either. I've probably
interviewed 200-300 people and I've never been put off because someone felt uncomfortable telling me exactly
what they were making at their current company. Some of the ones that did tell me actually exaggerated their
salary figure and when I found out, the story was "oh, that was with benefits and profit sharing, and ..."

Also I would recommend moving this thread to B&I.

 

That's not true. You may choose not to have access, but that's entirely up to you.

 

I've found that employers most of the time can live with a candidate not disclosing the current salary or put off the topic to the last moment. It's headhunters that I'm most bugged about. They are normally very pushy to get current compensation right away and seem to always be checking the going market rates with potential candidates.

I normally compromise on my response and disclose my base salary and say that the variable compensation (bonus) is at market levels.