You want to hire me but don’t trust me enough to believe my current salary.
Luckily there haven’t been many occasions when I have had candidates being asked for a payslip to prove their salary. However, it has always been something that is discussed in the recruitment industry. Is it right to ask? If you have nothing to hide, maybe it shouldn’t matter.
But what if your current business is hugely underpaying you compared to your market worth? I am a huge believer in "honesty is the best policy" and if you need to negotiate your salary then there are always better reasons like your skills and talents in relation to the fair-market value. But what is your market value? Don’t trust the hiring company. Find out for yourself or use a good recruiter (like us!), to manage your salary expectations for you.
Don't ever give up your salary details in a job interview - politely re-direct the person who asks about your salary by telling them what you need to earn in your next job. Salaries can be a topic people don't like discussing, but this is something you must do when speaking to a recruiter and make sure you are clear from the start.
Don't give anybody your pay slip. It's none of their business what you earned in your last job. The hiring manager is not going to tell you what they are being paid, what your possible future teammates are being paid or what the last person in this position got paid.
When you give people information they don't need or deserve, you not only destroy your negotiating leverage but you send a very powerful message as well. The message is "I'll do whatever you tell me to do -- now and forever." If you give perfect strangers your personal salary details, can we really expect them to see you as a person with boundaries once you get the job?
If the hiring manager asks for proof, maybe this is what they are really saying, "Can you please prove that you are worth what you're asking? I don't trust my own judgement to make that determination."
Debate has raged online this week amongst recruiters about the efficacy (and moral right) of employers demanding to know a candidate’s salary history as part of the hiring process. Not only do they want the question answered, but they want undeniable proof, in case a sneaky applicant tries to pull a fast one. There are two reasons for doing this. The first is due to ignorance; they have always asked for this information, but cannot really justify why. The second reason is much more alarming. It’s that they cannot trust their own judgement when assessing a candidate’s worth, but seek instead to rely on the judgement of other employers, and hiring decisions made months, or sometimes years ago.
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