I work at Google. When I was interviewing, I was in the exact same position of suspecting I shouldn’t tell them my salary (which I knew was below market rate at the time). I read the same advice you did and had the same reservations about it. Here’s what happened: I tried to withhold my salary information. The HR person said she had to have it for the process to move forward and asked me not to worry about it. I tried to insist. She said she totally understood where I was coming from, but the system didn’t allow her flexibility on this point. I told her my salary, truthfully. I received an offer which was substantially greater than my salary and seemingly uncorrelated with it.
My optimistic reading of the situation is that Google’s offer is mostly based on approximate market salary for the role, adjusted perhaps by how well you did at the interviews, your seniority, etc. (these are my guesses, I don’t have any internal info on how offers are calculated by HR). Your current salary is needed due for future bookkeeping, statistics, or maybe in case it’s higher than what Google is prepared to offer and they want to decide if it’s worth it to up the offer a little bit. That’s my theory, but keep in mind that that it’s just a bunch of guesses, and also that it’s a big company and policies may be different in different countries and offices.
I think it is worth mentioning that “the system won’t allow for flexibility on this” is just about the oldest negotiation tactic in the book. (Along with, “let me check with my boss on that...”)
In reality, there is zero reason Google, or any employer, should need to know your current or past salary information apart from that information’s ability to work as a negotiation tactic in their favor.
Google has something you want (a job that pays $) and you have something they want (skill to make them $). Sharing your salary this early in the process tips the negotation scales (overwhelmingly) in their favor.
That said, Google is negotiating from a place of immense strength. They choose from nearly anyone they want, while there is only one Google...
...so, if Google wants to know your salary, tell them your salary. And enjoy your career at one of the coolest companies around. You win. :)
And if salary is what matters use them as resume-points to get a higher salary somewhere else.
There are some things you may want to consider when using this strategy. For example, choose the appropriate amount of time you want to spend at Google. Too short may be suspicious, but too long would be a lost purpose if your goal is to make more money somewhere else later.
Optimize for having the most impressive CV when you leave. This means you should have an impressively sounding job description. Think about your CV items “on project X I worked as Y and my responsibilities were Z”, and try to manage your career within Google to optimize these.
Have a plausible story about why you decided to work for Google, and why you later decided to work somewhere else. This story can also be made up later, but if you prepare it in advice, you can make it more realistic.
The most simple version of this advice would be: If you choose Google with hope of having an impressive CV and a higher salary later, don’t stay there for the next 10 years in a role of code monkey working all the time on some completely unknown project that will be cancelled shortly after you leave.
I work at Google. When I was interviewing, I was in the exact same position of suspecting I shouldn’t tell them my salary (which I knew was below market rate at the time). I read the same advice you did and had the same reservations about it. Here’s what happened: I tried to withhold my salary information. The HR person said she had to have it for the process to move forward and asked me not to worry about it. I tried to insist. She said she totally understood where I was coming from, but the system didn’t allow her flexibility on this point. I told her my salary, truthfully. I received an offer which was substantially greater than my salary and seemingly uncorrelated with it.
My optimistic reading of the situation is that Google’s offer is mostly based on approximate market salary for the role, adjusted perhaps by how well you did at the interviews, your seniority, etc. (these are my guesses, I don’t have any internal info on how offers are calculated by HR). Your current salary is needed due for future bookkeeping, statistics, or maybe in case it’s higher than what Google is prepared to offer and they want to decide if it’s worth it to up the offer a little bit. That’s my theory, but keep in mind that that it’s just a bunch of guesses, and also that it’s a big company and policies may be different in different countries and offices.
I think it is worth mentioning that “the system won’t allow for flexibility on this” is just about the oldest negotiation tactic in the book. (Along with, “let me check with my boss on that...”)
In reality, there is zero reason Google, or any employer, should need to know your current or past salary information apart from that information’s ability to work as a negotiation tactic in their favor.
Google has something you want (a job that pays $) and you have something they want (skill to make them $). Sharing your salary this early in the process tips the negotation scales (overwhelmingly) in their favor.
That said, Google is negotiating from a place of immense strength. They choose from nearly anyone they want, while there is only one Google...
...so, if Google wants to know your salary, tell them your salary. And enjoy your career at one of the coolest companies around. You win. :)
And if salary is what matters use them as resume-points to get a higher salary somewhere else.
There are some things you may want to consider when using this strategy. For example, choose the appropriate amount of time you want to spend at Google. Too short may be suspicious, but too long would be a lost purpose if your goal is to make more money somewhere else later.
Optimize for having the most impressive CV when you leave. This means you should have an impressively sounding job description. Think about your CV items “on project X I worked as Y and my responsibilities were Z”, and try to manage your career within Google to optimize these.
Have a plausible story about why you decided to work for Google, and why you later decided to work somewhere else. This story can also be made up later, but if you prepare it in advice, you can make it more realistic.
The most simple version of this advice would be: If you choose Google with hope of having an impressive CV and a higher salary later, don’t stay there for the next 10 years in a role of code monkey working all the time on some completely unknown project that will be cancelled shortly after you leave.