What to say when they ask you: how much do you make?
nwus.co
nwus.co
I have to believe that this kills the process at least as often as it works.
Saying the role was bigger may also be received as the person being somewhat intimidated by the role, which doesn't instill confidence in the hiring firm.
I believe it started with the state of Massachusetts in 2016, with Philadelphia and New York City following suit this year.
One can expect this trend may continue, and will make this question (and this post) somewhat obsolete.
After some back and forth they either give up or give the scale.
If they give up or try to force me to tell, I respond that thank you but I am not interested as there is something strange in their process.
If they tell, it means they really need to gauge because I have a job where the salaries can span half an order of magnitude so it may be useful for them to know if they can afford me.
I know some people that are closer to retirement age who realize that they may not find a new job making what they were previously making before being laid off, and they are OK with that considering other factors. But recruiters are passing up on opportunities for them because they are trying to match numbers. The reality is that people take more than salary into consideration.
Good recruiters will try to make you parse this out and ask "well how much of this was base salary?". Nunya is the correct answer, but if you want the job you can just make up something or take off the yearly bonus or whatever and keep the rest.
It's their job to get you into the job for as low of a salary as they can. It's your job to get into the job with as high as a salary as you can.
This has killed the process for me a couple of times, but both times the recruiter revealed to me that what I was asking for was far over what they were willing to pay and we both parted ways. I count this as working out because then I would have been in a higher position with less pay than I was currently making just to work at a company with some name brand recognition.
Personally I wouldn't; but then I also tend not to negotiate / just roll over and take what I'm offered since generally I care much more about the interestingness of the work & the people I'd be surrounded by each day (though I'm getting to the age where I may start a family; so hopefully my subconscious' priorities will change a bit in my wallet's favour).
However, I suspect that many people do, as this avoids being seen as uncooperative, and suggests that people were willing to pay you more so presumably you're worth it. I doubt anyone would check (likely it's illegal to), so this seems a no-brainer for those ethically unencumbered by this option.
But seriously, I think that it's better to not answer this question, at least not with a hard number. The only reason they ask you is because they are trying to gauge if they can get away with paying you [current salary]+x%, where this number is less than their standard salary for the position. Instead, say something like "it's not directly comparable because [reasons], so let's focus on what will be my responsabilities and what will be an adecuate compensation for them".
The levels of answer scale up perfectly and I never had trouble with this.