Disclosing current salary during job offer negotiations

Never give current salary or if you do give it a healthy padding

Got a job offer from a company once and they would only offer my current salary +5% despite market rates for that particular role being significantly higher

I always give them a salary number. If you decline, you're just giving them a bigger range to offer you, which may be below what you are making.

Give them your current salary + add to it. Don't make it outrageous, but make it a salary that seems right for your current role. For example, if you are paid average for your current financial analyst role, give the higher end number as if you were a senior, high-performing member.

Lets say you make $60K, give them $70K, so that you can get an offer for at least $75K-$80K, hopefully more. That way you net out at +$15K higher

Employers don't ask for paystubs, and if they do, run away as that is not a company you'd want to work for. The employers will reach out to your references, but salary is confidential information so there are major issues on that front.

If for whatever reason your new employer finds out you fudged the numbers, you can just say that the compensation figure you gave during the interview was the total compensation, not just salary. In fact, when they ask for salary, mention your "total compensation" and give that as the padded number.

Salary is not everything, and there are direct financial benefits that need to be considered outside of your usual health/dental benefits. RRSP matching, stock options and deferred profit sharing for example are all $$$ that needs to be baked in

Ziggy007 wrote: ↑ Never give current salary or if you do give it a healthy padding

Got a job offer from a company once and they would only offer my current salary +5% despite market rates for that particular role being significantly higher

You were right, I just got a call from the hiring manager and they are offering me my current salary + 2.5% and +5%-10% bonus, I asked a few days to think about it but I don't think I can accept it. I am asking for a salary increase of approx 12%. I don't know if there is any chance of negotiating..

Lunita wrote: ↑ You were right, I just got a call from the hiring manager and they are offering me my current salary + 2.5% and +5%-10% bonus, I asked a few days to think about it but I don't think I can accept it. I am asking for a salary increase of approx 12%. I don't know if there is any chance of negotiating..

On the plus side, at least now you know it's a terrible place to work without having needed to leave your job and work there.

I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT reveal your current salary. If you get asked just deflect it nicely, for example you could say it wouldn't be fair to your employer to share this number. Always remember that you should be paid a fair market value and not some arbitrary % above your current salary. Let's say you're a top performer who is slaving away at a $50k job for years, you feel you are undervalued and are looking to jump ship. You've gone through several interviews and landed an offer for a better role at another company. This company had budgeted $80K for this role, but if you tell them that you make $50k right now, they might offer you only $70k because in their mind that's still a huge bump and good enough to entice you to leave.

If you've already revealed your current salary, you can still negotiate but it would be from a far weaker position. Using the above example, it would be hard to ask for more than $70k since they can argue it's already way more than what you make. Whereas if you never revealed your salary, it leaves employers guessing and they are more likely to offer you the full $80k. Of course, they could also ask you about salary expectations outright, but that's a different question altogether.

I should mention that there is an exception to revealing your current salary, and that is after you've been given an offer. I have had success doing this during the final negotiations at a previous job. This job paid less than the one I was leaving, but everything else was better so I just wanted them to at least match my salary at the time. They happily obliged and I ended up working there for some time which turned out to be a great decision.

I don't work in HR so this is unconfirmed but from my experience of dealing with some of the bigger companies, they all use BackCheck to perform their due diligence.

Companies do ask for paystubs - albeit not directly - they ask through BackCheck to "verify" your employment history. The employer gets access to everything you provide from what I understand - if you lie and pad your salary numbers, you might just get caught that way.

And remember, some hiring managers are straight up scum bags and, if you work at a competitor, will invite you to interview so they can ascertain your pay, with no actual interest in hiring you. Garbage move? Totally.

Jokkon wrote: ↑ I don't work in HR so this is unconfirmed but from my experience of dealing with some of the bigger companies, they all use BackCheck to perform their due diligence.

Companies do ask for paystubs - albeit not directly - they ask through BackCheck to "verify" your employment history. The employer gets access to everything you provide from what I understand - if you lie and pad your salary numbers, you might just get caught that way.

Backcheck has no access to salary information. They can only confirm your current or past employment at a specific employer but they are not able to obtain your salary info.

ProductGuy wrote: ↑ Backcheck has no access to salary information. They can only confirm your current or past employment at a specific employer but they are not able to obtain your salary info.

They can - because one way to verify employment is paystub - for instance, verifying your current employment. Usually they ask if they may contact your current employer and you say no.

Jokkon wrote: ↑ They can - because one way to verify employment is paystub - for instance, verifying your current employment. Usually they ask if they may contact your current employer and you say no.

An employer would never provide a paystub to Backcheck. Now If you volunteer a paystub without blacking out the dollar amounts to Backcheck that’s a different story.

For those that suggest deferring the question or 'not answering', at what point do you find out what the salary is?

I ask because I'd rather not waste my time and discover at the end that we are not on the same wavelength there. Sure, other benefits will impact the decision, but I'd rather know upfront then at the end.

My experiences when I left was always to provide a number that I would leave for (which would always be higher than current). In OP's case, +5% of current salary (if they provided their actual salary), is a slap in the face.

Lunita wrote: ↑ You were right, I just got a call from the hiring manager and they are offering me my current salary + 2.5% and +5%-10% bonus, I asked a few days to think about it but I don't think I can accept it. I am asking for a salary increase of approx 12%. I don't know if there is any chance of negotiating..

That's entirely up to you. If you have a sense of the industry range for the role, then simply respond back and say you feel that's on the low side based on current market and from your research and ask for what you want plus a few extra dollars and say that's what you were expecting to start for the role.

If they say no, then you can decline the offer. This is based on the premise that you were going to decline the offer anyways, so you have nothing to lose.

On the other hand if there are other factors and you were desperate to change, then it's entirely up to you how to navigate and whether you are willing to miss out on the offer as is.

ProductGuy wrote: ↑ Backcheck has no access to salary information. They can only confirm your current or past employment at a specific employer but they are not able to obtain your salary info.

Apparently it's dependent on the current or prior employer's policies

Employment history: Employers can contact your previous company's human resource or payroll department to verify your date of employment, reason for leaving, and salary.

https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/sta ... ound-check

at1212b wrote: ↑ Apparently it's dependent on the current or prior employer's policies

Employment history: Employers can contact your previous company's human resource or payroll department to verify your date of employment, reason for leaving, and salary.

https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/sta ... ound-check

Canadian employers do not disclose your salary to third parties without your explicit consent.

Ziggy007 wrote: ↑ Never give current salary or if you do give it a healthy padding

Got a job offer from a company once and they would only offer my current salary +5% despite market rates for that particular role being significantly higher

This is true if higher salary is your main goal. Keep in mind a higher salary will also scare them away or make you a less competitive applicant. So if you would take the same salary or even a lower salary for new job padding your salary number won't help you. I interview a lot of people and being over-qualified is just as common even for very eager applicants as under qualified.

Update: I called hiring manager to let them know I decline the offer. I gave them my final number and they said they would check again with HR and will call me back...

Lunita wrote: ↑ You were right, I just got a call from the hiring manager and they are offering me my current salary + 2.5% and +5%-10% bonus, I asked a few days to think about it but I don't think I can accept it. I am asking for a salary increase of approx 12%. I don't know if there is any chance of negotiating..

OP, unless you are desperate to leave your current job because of personal conflict or other serious reasons, a raise of 2.5% is NOT worth the headache to start all over again in a new place. Just my 2 cents.

Edit: I just saw your update that you declined the offer, maybe that's the best way to negotiate with that type of manager, now he knows you are ready to wait, hopefully he will pay what you are asking for...

OP, why do you want to switch jobs? Is your goal to get better pay, leave a toxic situation or get different experience?

ProductGuy wrote: ↑ OP, why do you want to switch jobs? Is your goal to get better pay, leave a toxic situation or get different experience?

In a summary, awful managers and boring, slow and tedious work