What are peoples’ views about being asked your current salary by a prospective employer you are in “talks” with about joining? For context, I’m 1.5 year qualified and London-based, lateraling to another UK HQ’d firm. HR asked me what I was currently on, I reluctantly answered as I didn’t want to come off as defensive, but want to know whether this is something we should be disclosing? (Also, newly qualified start salaries are publicly available online in the UK so not sure why she even asked 🤷🏻‍♀️)

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It’s illegal to ask in certain states in the US.

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Yeah. I haven’t seen this question in like a decade.

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Wouldn’t have an issue revealing in this context (because they can look it up on RoF or whatever and they aren’t going to do much to change their lockstep for you); may also be worth making the point that you’re interviewing with other firms and the relevant counterfactual for them thus is not what you’re on but what you could be on - so if it gets far enough down the line, you may need to discuss signing/guaranteed bonuses. But innocuous enough as things stand…

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Yeah, I guess the position is - why is this relevant? If they have a set scale that they are willing to offer for the position, knowing what I currently make isn’t important. Feel like they ask to know in the off chance that what you’ve making is significantly less than what they had budgeted to pay, and they can low-ball you.

I think the better question is, at what compensation level they’re looking to staff the position at. I tried to ask her for what they were looking to offer (to know, as a starting point, whether we were miles apart) but she put me in a corner about my current salary, so I felt obliged to answer.

It all worked out in the end, as I mention, as I was able to negotiate a decent increase, but still curious if it comes off as a dick move if, in future, you don’t feel comfortable disclosing and instead say “My expectations are £X” or turn the conversation around to ask what they are willing to offer. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Donno.

It serves dual purpose of backing you into a corner and also is free market research for them. They want to know what competitor are paying people in your position.

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My partner is a teacher and this is a question on every job application for him, even though there’s a clear main pay scale for state schools.

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I hate this question; it’s a waste of everyone’s time when salary range isn’t disclosed early in the process. If we aren’t even in the same ballpark or are orders of magnitude apart, why waste time? It also perpetuates and reinforces the pay gap. Some places have very strict pay scales and if that’s the case, just be transparent about it.

I’ve definitely tried to turn this around and ask what the salary range is for the role, because I know they always have one, only to have them come back with “we don’t really advertise or disclose that.” I don’t disclose my current salary, but if pushed will give what I’m looking for as a base for the role, depending on how comp is structured with added on bonus and anything else.

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I think it’s inappropriate for future employers to ask. They should pay you what they think your position is worth. I think the most respectful answer while also indicating the inappropriateness of their question would be “It is not my practice to disclose my current salary to prospective employers” and if you want to go a step further, I’d ask THEM what the current pay scale is for those working in your current position at their firm.

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Completely agree! And to be honest, I would have been put off as well and felt a bit cornered!

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