Comment by Victerius
3 years ago
If this is correct, then it would be risky for someone to lie to a new employer about their former salary in order to receive an offer for a higher pay, because the new employer could use this service to cross check the employee's claims.
Why are you telling prospective employers your former salary? Just because someone asks, you don't have to answer.
You aren't some desperate person begging for work, you are helping them achieve their goals in exchange for payment. It is a trade.
I guess the answer now is "I'm sure you have that information already"
You don't need to lie. There's nothing wrong with saying "My current salary is $xxxxx, but I feel that my employer undervalues my skills so I want $yyyyyy. It's why I'm leaving my current role." There is no reason why your future salary has to be based on your current salary. If the employer you're negotiating with disagrees then walking away is the best option because they undervalue your skills too.
In practice future salaries are heavily based on current ones because that is what the new employer is de facto negotiating against. Very few people, in my experience, are willing to entertain a new job with a salary much lower than their last one. And very few employers are willing to 'leave money on the table' and offer more than they think they need to close the candidate simply because the candidate thinks they have 'mad skillz'.
If you want to actually get paid more, get two competing offers. Or you can try the strategy of not lying and just telling the new employer, 'I'm not going to tell you my previous salary.' The downside is that this clearly signals to the employer that you weren't making very much before and you are fishing for a big raise.
This kind of goes against conventional wisdom, but I actually don't think that switching jobs is the strongest time to ask for more money. I think it's after you have gotten into a role, are killing it, and adding crazy value to the company. That's when you actually have a lot of leverage to say 'hey, I love what I'm doing here and I should be paid a lot more'.
> This kind of goes against conventional wisdom, but I actually don't think that switching jobs is the strongest time to ask for more money. I think it's after you have gotten into a role, are killing it, and adding crazy value to the company. That's when you actually have a lot of leverage to say 'hey, I love what I'm doing here and I should be paid a lot more'.
Out of curiosity, has that worked for you? My previous employer only gave me a significant raise after I threatened to quit (with an offer waiting at another company). I ended up doing it a few times. Eventually I got tired of constantly interviewing and threatening to quit and did a sideways move to a YC backed company. Total comp is about the same, maybe slightly lower, but maybe the stocks will pay out some day :D. Being fully remote is a nice perk though.
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The downside is that this clearly signals to the employer that you weren't making very much before and you are fishing for a big raise.
Calling it "fishing for a big raise" sounds like you're trying to scam a higher salary out of an employer. That just isn't true. There's no reason to think you're worth less just because your previous employer sucked.
Salary negotiation is about finding an amount that the employer and employee agree a job is worth. Any previous salary has no impact on that.
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The last part doesn't work in almost any company where you're not directly working with the owner.
Middle managers can't approve any raise higher than say, 5%, and even that's after a full review cycle.
It's a lot more likely to put a bullseye on your head as "money driven" or something considered negative (yes, the irony is jarring!).
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Then they will just offer something in the middle and try to talk you into it.
That being said, at least for the big companies the initial salary is not that important. In some ways you are just setting yourself up for disappointment since if you start at the top of the band there will be no significant raises without a promotion.
For RSUs it has a pretty significant effect for 4 years though.
Then they will just offer something in the middle and try to talk you into it.
You can always say no.
In some ways you are just setting yourself up for disappointment since if you start at the top of the band there will be no significant raises without a promotion.
It sounds like you're saying starting at 80% of the band so you can enjoy a 25% raise to get to the top is better than just starting at the top. That doesn't make sense though.
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I'm finding out just in the past two years that the days when you could count on Corp. Entity A in Tallahassee not knowing about a prior transaction with Corp. Entity B in Portland, are pretty much over. Everybody knows everything. Even knowing this, seeing the amount of per-pay-period to-the-penny detail, going back to 1998, that's in this Equifax report, was a little surreal.
Wouldn't this just lead to lower offers all around?
This makes sense from an employer's POV. It's a B2B co., this is how they appeal to their clients.
That's precisely the value proposition for employers.
How can anyone say it’s accurate?
Employers provide it. Obviously they could report incorrectly, but it's not like Equifax is just guessing.
Would you be willing to torpedo a good candidate making a reasonable request for compensation based on a discrepancy on this site?
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You could start your own co. and raise your salary to the sky, this can be gamed. But then, why would you even be an employee.
However, for the average worker, this is awful
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Silver lining is that I don't see any RSU compensation listed in my report! That's the biggest chunk of my earnings anyway, so that should be fair game during negotiations.
Please don't post this sort of shallow attack. If you have a substantive criticism to make, that's of course fine, but please make it respectfully.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html