How to answer the “What’s your current salary?” job interview question

I find that a lot of the tactics used to deflect or avoid answering awkward questions in interviews just do not work.

There are two questions that always get me in interviews. The first one is the salary one. If I am evasive, or try to deflect, the interviewer will probe deeper. They just wont take no for an answer. In fact I've even been told straight up "Give us a figure, or we won't proceed".

Another one is about my children. They are five and seven and finish school in the afternoon, when they are collected by their after school service. Under EU law interviewers cannot ask about my family life, but they do. They ask what my children's ages are, they ask when the finish school, and crucially what happens if there is a problem that would require me to dash out to pick them up (illness etc). When I say my wife will take care of that they ask what she does for a living. If I say that I'd rather not discuss that then I can be certain no matter how skilled I am for the job, I wont be getting it.

In my experience most interviewers know all the tricks. If they want an answer to a question they will get it. If you don't play ball then you probably wont get the job.

My experience is quite bad with such companies. There are some huge ones, who are mostly remote, and the first question is "how much do you want to get". I answer, then there is no negotiation, and I usually want just too much (which usually is what I was making at that time). They don't also want to talk with me about any different figures, there is no counter offer, nothing. This is really sad, seems like they don't care because they have an endless pool of talents to hire.

But then it seems like that's not true, as the companies are posting the same job ad for the next months (or even years), and cannot find anyone for that position. And people from those companies cry that they cannot find programmers. And forums keep filling with comments about their stupid recruitment process.

It seems to me that the companies which want to talk, and negotiate the salaries are winning, and can find people.

For the question about my current salary, I answer that my contract doesn't allow me to tell that. If they insist, I ask them if, after getting me hired, they would like me to tell my future employers how much they pay me. That usually ends these questions.

However I don't have any good reason not to answer about my salary expectations, but it seems like I usually want too much :)

Say "My contract prevents me from disclosing my compensation package" (probably true), "and I treat my commitments seriously."

Here's something that worked well for me: I deferred the salary question until after I'd had some contact with my potential employer (rather than the recruiter) so they had a sense of my value. Then, when asked what my current salary was, I said something along the lines of the following: "my current salary is well below where I want it to be, because I started out in a low-level job and worked my way up getting the usual incremental pay rises when I changed jobs. I'm currently on £XX,XXX but rather than give me an incremental offer I want you to give me an honest offer of what you think I am worth".

It depends on the company, but in my experience SMEs aren't out to screw people on salary and being honest and straightforward netted me a much more generous offer than I would have gotten otherwise. Many of the comments in this thread seem to advocate using tricks to fight the tricks that recruiters use, but sometimes being honest and letting your potential employer see your perspective can work wonders. Especially once you've gotten to know them a little bit in an interview or phone call so they don't feel like they're taking a gamble by employing you.

As developers we are highly in demand right now so don't have to be overly clever in negotiation.

I use a simple and foolproof strategy when asked for my current or expected compensation: "sorry I'm not willing to disclose my current comp, but I am looking for around X", where X is the amount you would need if there are no other bonuses or perks.

Then they can talk you down from there if they want to proceed, you have anchored the conversation appropriately, and demonstrated you are negotiating from a position of strength, not weakness - which is the key to not getting pushed around.

If they push on current comp just stand firm and politely refuse - you likely don't want to work anywhere that won't talk to you if you refuse to disclose your current comp, and there are plenty of other options besides. Save your time and energy for good companies willing to negotiate in good faith, there are lots around.

The only hard part is determining what your labour is really worth - this can take a fair bit of effort, research and soul-searching, but is an absolutely essential prerequisite to negotiation.

Yeah, nice idea, but then when HR comes into play you can't expect logic(or you can, but a very twisted one).

I know someone who the engineering team really wanted, but he was paid 65k currently, and he wanted at least 80k, because he would have to move to London.

Who did the HR decide to hire? A guy who scored much worse during the interview, but he "only" wanted an increase from 90k to 95k - and HR was prohibited by corporate policy from offering more than 10% increase in previous salary for new hires, so the first guy couldn't be offered 80k - even though the person they actually hired was paid a lot more than that.

Is the policy stupid? Yes it is. But that's the real world situation you sometimes have to deal with.

I have changed employers a lot, never asked for much on average (proportionally to the risk let's say), so my salary grew up a lot without difficult negotiations. (And -- yes, it did happen to me that I was offered more than I asked for... it is very, very far from being good thing for your future in the new company.)

One point to keep in mind. In my personal experience, big companies are frequently behave well when hiring for regular tech jobs -- they won't offer stellar salaries, but will not try to squeeze you dry from the start either (will try to get you to what they believe is median for your qualifications). And usually will let you understand this during salary negotiation, so you kind of have less reason to conceal your present figure.

However, as you salary grows, many of them will not be adjusting the grade in the hiring process (and of course never afterwards, except for big promotions).

So when negotiating, once you got the amount from them, ask where it lies on the range for the grade you will be given. Make sure there is a margin for growth. If there is not -- beware, it might be very hard for you to be raised afterwards, however excellent your results might be.

And what if you lie? Also, I think it depends on what country you're in. For instance in UK most recruiters are 3rd party companies operating only as middlemen and their compensation from the employer company is directly proportional to your offered yearly salary (usually something like 15%), so they are interested in getting you the highest possible salary within reason.

Outright saying I'm currently on X has worked wonders for me.

X is 20% more than what I actually earn.

If at all possible, avoid going in through the front door i.e. use your network to get introduced. Perhaps someone you worked with or went to school with works at the company you're interested in. This may give you a little more leverage with H.R.

An even better way is avoid companies that are large enough to even have an H.R. department.

When faced with the "give us a number or we're done" just stand up, reach out to shake their hand, smile and say "Thank you for your time." You have no leverage, and the company is demonstrating that they want to hire developers like they are an interchangeable commodity - they don't really value them.

Here's a better advice, if you allow me to quote the title of a book by Cal Newton: be so good at what you do that they can't ignore you.

Don't play little games like that. You end up wasting everybody's time. Maybe you don't care about their time, but you should care about yours. The interview process is taxing, you can't focus properly at your current job, the uncertainty eats at you, you can't treat it as a zero cost to you.

In my experience, most recruiters push harder to get a number than the hypothetical conversations in the article. Maybe I'm not as much of a charismatic speaker as some. Fortunately, for the most part, they don't care if the number is your current salary or your expected salary. Generally, they are willing to meet or slightly exceed my current salary, but low ball my expected salary. I much prefer to give an expected salary (of about 10-15% more of my actual expected) than my current salary.

With the availability of Glassdoor and old-fashioned networking, it's really not hard to figure out market prices (at least for software engineers) in an area and company type.

I've tried to follow some of the advice of avoiding/deflecting the salary question, and I think it generally is a poor substitute for being well-informed. It also makes for some extremely awkward conversations when it comes time to negotiate. Maybe it's a personality thing, but I would rather set the upper bound and let them try to negotiate me down rather than letting them set the lower bound and try to negotiate them up.

Like the OP says, you should avoid revealing your salary. If and when the time comes for that, you can give a wide variety of numbers for "my compensation is $X". That X can include some or all of your benefit package. They are not going to drill down to the details. If they do, and for some reason you have to reveal that, you can feel comfortable that you have told the truth.

As a tech founder, who see's lots of CVs, I'd like to call BS on salary expectations being simply a negotiation tactic. Knowing what salary the candidate expects, in an industry where salary ranges are extremely large, allows you to compare and contrast to other candidates with similar expectations. This creates a fair playing field for all candidates.

We publish our salary ranges, but the ranges are large - and I think this comes down to different ways people hire in tech. Big corporates say - we want a person @ £80k pay grade and expect them to have XYZ experience. On the other hand, a start-up will say, we want great coders - straight out of uni? 10 years experience? Doesn't matter. We want great coders. You'll be compared against others in your pay bracket when you apply.

It is in the candidates interest to state their expectation, as it doesn't waste anyone's time. If a candidate appears to be wasting our time, I'll automatically be less inclined to proceed - hiring isn't a game where you try to outsmart the other person. It's someone's livelihood, and ensuring both parties are clear, upfront, and honest is vital to a good employer / employee relationship.

As a candidate you should be thinking what makes me infinitely more hireable than the other candidates - playing a salary negotiation game from step 1 isn't going to do that.

As an employer, we try to be as clear as possible about our expectations - and it seems to work. Alternatively, we could of course split the "roles available" into 10 different pay brackets each with different expectations and force candidates to apply to the bracket they feel most suited for (and hence tell us their salary expectations), but this doesn't match reality, is disingenuous, and feels like a pointless exercise when it's so easy to be up-front and honest when neither party is trying to game the other!

Firstly, if you're desperate for a job, ignore the advice below. If you're not desperate, and can afford to walk away and move on to the next interview, following the advice below will ensure you're not taken advantage of during the interview and recruiting process.

Two golden, inviolable, rules:

1. Never lie.

2. Never be the first to name a number.

For the "What is you current salary?" question, you can answer with any of the below responses. They get increasing stern, so gauge which one to use based upon your impression of how aggressive the employer is.

- "My current employer does not allow me to discuss the terms of my employment"

- "This position is not exactly the same as my current job, so let’s discuss what my responsibilities would be here and then determine a fair salary for this job."

- "I’m happy to help you evaluate what I’d be worth to your business based upon my skills, experience and the value that I can add to your organisation, but my current salary is personal and confidential, just as the salaries of your own employees are."

For the "What salary are you seeking?" question, use the Noel Smith-Wenkle method (http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/org/noel.html). In a nutshell, you move through the following answers for each time they repeat the question or try to pin you down to a specific figure.

1st answer: "I am much more interested in doing (type of work) here at (name of company) than I am in the size of the initial offer."

2nd answer: "I will consider any reasonable offer."

3rd (and subsequent) answers: "You are in a much better position to know how much I'm worth to you than I am."

Here's the simple, one line answer:

"I expect a salary that's competitive for someone with my abilities and experience."

Do not ever say any numbers, exact or ballpark (as the article says in so-many-words).

If they insist, you repeat the same answer.

If they insist yet again, you repeat the same answer again.

What if... your min-salary-absolutely is 70k, but their max-salary-whatever-happens is 50k, and you waste weeks of your time on several stages of interviewing only to learn that?

None of those "never tell your salary expectations" ever respond that question.

It's one thing not to say what your current salary is, sure.

If you don't have required salary figure, there's a risk you'll spend a bunch of time interviewing for companies that can't afford you.

The times I've received job offers, I've had to spend at least two weekends preparing and two days of annual leave to reach the offer stage. And if the employer's pay scale caps out at a fraction of what I currently earn, why waste my time?

Of course, I'm fortunate enough that I've been in the industry for a reasonable amount of time, and I think I've got a good idea of what my skills are worth.

Simple answer. Build your network and get to know some recruiters. Recruiters can help you gauge what the market needs right now and what is being paid.

When I go into an interview, the salary I'm looking for is already known. I make my minimum salary clear - which is within the market range.

I don't need to negotiate. Could the rate I'm asking for be slightly lower than what I'm asking? Maybe in the short term . But eventually if you keep up with market, and are willing to aggressively change jobs. You should be within range.

This is what I said recently and it worked spectacularly well. (Increased my salary by 25%.)

I said: "I would prefer that you tell me what the position pays and let me decide based on that. If I suggest a number and you feel inclined to match it, the I would have placed a target on my back, taking a salary the company was not comfortable with."

What ends up happening is the company spooks itself into paying you more than they would have--to avoid insulting you and having you walk. It works.

A well-run company will commonly list a salary range for position so that there is less confusion about this issue. How much another company paid you isnt the best signal of your worth and unfairly affects people who were paid less than they were worth and vice versa

Since companies don't open up their finaces to me during the interview process, it's none of their business and if they ask, it is generally 5-7% less than the current salary Im seeking

"I prefer to not say" smile.

Seriously guys, how hard is this?

There's no reason to answer that question. Instead, talk about your expectations: say that your understanding is the role involves X, Y, and Z, and you have experience in related areas A, B, C, and accordingly you'd be looking to get $x for this role. Then, transfer it all back to them: "Does that fit with your range for the position?"

I think the next time I'm asked what my current salary I think I'll try responding, "Well, what's your budget for this position?"

When they baulk, you can say that it sounds like neither of us are prepared to talk about that just yet, so lets focus on figuring out the role will be a good fit for the both of us first. Wonder how that would fly.

Really complicated in the States. In Germany you kinda have to put your desired salary in the application. Also there are a lot of companies where the workers are bound by a collective agreement, so there is little wiggle room.

- What is your current salary? - My contract doesn't allow to tell you? - What are your salary expectations? - My expectations are that you'll tell me your figures and I'll tell you if I accept it.

Problem solved :-)

No answer is as bad as the truth or a lie.

how about " Well, I did apply to your company to improve, so we should rather have a conversation about the money I expect than what I currently have. Here is what I want to get paid [insert number 20% higher than what you really would settle for].... Does it fit into your range ? "

That gives enough room but also leaves enough chance to go on in the interview. Remind yourself that getting a job at a price that you set by yourself is better than being afraid of loosing out the opportunity to max out to the limit. Good staff always gets a second chance !

Double it and add 5k?

I would double what it really is, and if it's too much for them then it's "too bad" they should learn how to negotiate.

the more you ask for the less the job will stray from the job description, if you low ball it they'll make you clean the toilets.