What to do when asked your salary in an interview?

What's best practice here during interviews? if you embellish, can they find out how much you actually make?

Salary Question Response

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🧠 Advice
🚀 Career Goals
☁️ Software Tech
23
funcoupons
WR Officer
10
👑
I don't volunteer it. Frankly, it's none of their business. I ask what range they're offering first. If they refuse to put it out there first I'll be walking. I don't play games with my money. Don't have time for deez jokers. 

There's no way for them to find your compensation details unless they had an insider at your current company. 
LordOfWar
Tycoon
3
Blow it up
I used to ask for a range, what the OTE and split are, attainment rate and quota exceeding incentives.

If they really pushed I set a high anchor that would be enough for me to leave my current place. This was based on my salary plus 20% and commission should 70% of my deals go through.

Now I just say a flat-out number since I hate wasting time and have had a few conversations that went nowhere when I saw their idea of compensation. 

Easier to demand a lot when things are going well, but when you're interviewing you should always act as if you're crushing your numbers and they would be lucky to have you.
InQ5WeTrust
Arsonist
2
No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL
If it's a recruiter just tell them what you're seeking, they earn a percentage of your total wage so will want you to earn as much as possible. 

If it's a company I typically try to start a conversation i.e 'At X company I was doing Y which is why I'm looking for a new challenge - I'd like to better understand what the role entails' etc.

If in doubt take on a few thousand above your target number. In most places they aren't able to confirm your wage with a previous employer (to my knowledge). 
Beans
Big Shot
1
Enterprise Account Executive
I just say what I want, if they hit me with a number during negotiation and I'm not happy I'll simply say it's less than what I'm on track for now. 
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
Actually I just did an exercise with my colleague we applied for the same company both of us got offers and in fact I told them my salary and they only shared the range. 

Based on this experience he got offered the salary within the range as opposed to what they offered me which is 50% increase to my salary where the range is actually 100% increase of what we get.

Lesson learned: don't share your salary as they will only increase a % which could be lower than the actual range they offer.

This is when we came up with the idea of creating a glassdoors for Egypt (still nothing actually executed about it)
Gottapumpthosenumbers
Opinionated
1
Biz Dev
Sorry to hear that you got the short end of the stick in this experiment! However, this is fantastic, real advice. Thanks for posting.
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
0
Senior Account Executive
Thankfully, I wasn't in the mood to change position so my feelings aren't hurt, but I was enlightened. 
DrunkenArt
Politicker
0
Sales Representative
Usually I'll do a bit of research ahead of time on the expected range and if they ask, I'll usually keep it open ended and not commit to a specific number. 
alecabral
Arsonist
0
Director - Digital Sales Transformation
I'm a straight shooter, and I know what I want. I'd rather have them know from the start. If they can afford me, they'll come back with exactly that or slightly more, or less. If I get less, I walk away. If I get what I ask for, I see if there's any wiggle room. If there's more, I shut up and sign whatever paper they put in front of me lol.
SADNES5
Politicker
0
down voters are marketing spies
Keeping salary private is a silly game. The more people that know, the more you can show value. If the potential employer won't show a range, then set expectations early. 

"I have been with my current company for 10 years, there will be a lot of overlap in this new role with my current responsibilities, I want top of range as base."

No point being testy or beating around the bush. Find out your walk away number... mine is 25% minimum more than I am making now. This is for a couple of reasons - I am a master of my craft, I will need to learn new values/vision of new company, a break in period, etc. Honestly if you're chasing a few dollars to ladder climb, that's cool. But when you're in career mode... it takes a while to turn a big ship.

Use your selling skills to show the value you're bringing. If you're tight lipped about what you make now... they'll be tight lipped about future raises. 

and always, always negotiate a minimum CPI annual raise. ALWAYS.
slaydie
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
Hey - great feedback here! Question for you, what is a CPI annual raise?
SADNES5
Politicker
1
down voters are marketing spies
Howdy! CPI is the consumer price index. It's inflation, you can do state, province, country etc. Price of goods will always increase, so your raise is based on how much the average goes up. 

So just google country x cpi
slaydie
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
AH thank you! This is extremely helpful. I've never worked at a company that gives annual raises. So I've only received a raise when I got promoted. So do you normally negotiate a CPI raise when you are first starting at a company? I'm wondering if it's too late for me now until I move companies...
SADNES5
Politicker
1
down voters are marketing spies
You can always ask your boss if they get a CPI raise. Basically the company is saving money, and you're earning less annually. So if you don't have a CPI raise... Basically over 5 years (avg 2% annum) you're missing out on 10% and your earning power is 10% lower.
slaydie
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
SO helpful! Thank you @SADNES5 - Will be digging into this with my boss and beyond
eds
Opinionated
0
Salesy
I'm usually not looking for a job, so if a recruiter approaches me, I give them a rate that's ~20% higher than what I currently make and I explain I would only leave for something better because I'm happy and not looking.

The last 2 times I switched jobs I got a 30 to 40% pay increase.

In the last one they asked for pay stubs to confirm, but I told them my deal included equity and certain benefits that I didn't feel comfortable disclosing due to NDAs and I never got asked for them again.
User1234567
Politicker
0
User1234567
you have nothing to lose the worst they can say is no
GreenSide
Politicker
0
Sales manager
Many states disallow that question now, though it’ll take time to catch on. I live in a state that doesn’t allow it and a recruiter asked me 3x in a row when I was interviewing earlier this year. I never give current salary - it’s none of their business. Instead, tell them what you want to make. If your current salary is low, they would then have ammo to lowball you with their offer. If your current salary is too high for them, I’d assume your ideal salary is also so you’re in the same place.
0cool
Opinionated
0
Head of division LATAM & IBERIA
When I get into the interview I say let’s cut to the chase, I’m order to not waste your time or mine this is what I am looking for and I give them a flat number and percentage of commission per sale, and I say if you can do that we can continue our conversation otherwise it was nice to meet you. As @funcoupons said I don’t play with my money.
CaneWolf
Politicker
0
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
If you’re in the US, it’s illegal in a number of states. Tell them what you’re looking for when asked.
WolfOfTheWest
0
Territory manager
I alway just tell then what i want to make
YoursTruly
Politicker
0
Account Executive (SaaS)
I was asked for my current salary and then she followed up with, what’s the most you’ve ever made in a year? Granted, this lady also showed up to the zoom inerview late and tried to run it while driving. Anyways, i just made up random numbers and told the recruiter no thanks as soon as it was over.
user092495
0
Account Executive
Did this recently and was upfront. Said what I was on now. And what I'm looking for. And why. They did well. Including a sign on bonus for commission left on the table.
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