If you were applying for a job that you wanted, and the company said “You must give us proof of your current or most-recent salary or we will not give you an interview,” what would you probably do?
[pollid:816]
There are other options. Especially in cases where requiring this is illegal, forging such a proof may be an option.
Or, answer “If I give you proof that my previous salary was X, I will precommit to only accept this job if you pay at least X + 20%”.
On one occasion I have said my previous salary but I also said that I believe I was seriously underpaid at my previous job, so I want X + 100%. At the end I have received X + 70%.
I had very good references though—my former student was a developer at that company, so when the boss invited him to the interview, he said “well, he taught me what I know” (which wasn’t literally true, but made a good impression).
I typically advise my students that this is a case by case basis. If this is the only interview you’ve had in a long time and times are desperate, just give them the information they’ve asked for. In most other cases, it makes sense to simply not provide that information, many times you can move forward anyway if you know how to skillfully deflect this question.
I picked refuse, but for me anyway these are not the right choices. If it was a job I didn’t really want that much I would refuse. If it was a job I wanted a whole lot, I would give them the info. As far as I am concerned, refusing is essentially me purchasing a luxury consumable, not behaving like a job-offer maximizing machine, which is how you should behave if you want the best possible job at the best possible pay. The purpose of applying for a job is not for me to educate the world or give it feedback on how it “should” behave. The purpose is for me to get job offers.
I’m definitely underpaid now, and I’d definitely be screwing myself over by telling them my current pay, but it’s likely that when I finally get off my ass and start a job search I’ll be so sick of things that screwing myself over to get out more quickly will feel worth it. Even though it’s probably not. Sigh.
I have to say, it’s in the best interests of the survey-taker to lie on this survey. I would refuse, and also 1-box on Newcomb’s problem, and also reject any offer lower than 50% in an Ultimatum Game.
(Yes, making this fact known is not in my best interests, but this is a pseudonym, people don’t believe the precommitments of a high school student made under pseudonyms anyway, and I think the benefit to me of mentioning this is higher than the slight cost incurred by making my commitment less believable.)
If you were applying for a job that you wanted, and the company said “You must give us proof of your current or most-recent salary or we will not give you an interview,” what would you probably do? [pollid:816]
There are other options. Especially in cases where requiring this is illegal, forging such a proof may be an option. Or, answer “If I give you proof that my previous salary was X, I will precommit to only accept this job if you pay at least X + 20%”.
On one occasion I have said my previous salary but I also said that I believe I was seriously underpaid at my previous job, so I want X + 100%. At the end I have received X + 70%.
I had very good references though—my former student was a developer at that company, so when the boss invited him to the interview, he said “well, he taught me what I know” (which wasn’t literally true, but made a good impression).
I typically advise my students that this is a case by case basis. If this is the only interview you’ve had in a long time and times are desperate, just give them the information they’ve asked for. In most other cases, it makes sense to simply not provide that information, many times you can move forward anyway if you know how to skillfully deflect this question.
I picked refuse, but for me anyway these are not the right choices. If it was a job I didn’t really want that much I would refuse. If it was a job I wanted a whole lot, I would give them the info. As far as I am concerned, refusing is essentially me purchasing a luxury consumable, not behaving like a job-offer maximizing machine, which is how you should behave if you want the best possible job at the best possible pay. The purpose of applying for a job is not for me to educate the world or give it feedback on how it “should” behave. The purpose is for me to get job offers.
I’m definitely underpaid now, and I’d definitely be screwing myself over by telling them my current pay, but it’s likely that when I finally get off my ass and start a job search I’ll be so sick of things that screwing myself over to get out more quickly will feel worth it. Even though it’s probably not. Sigh.
I have to say, it’s in the best interests of the survey-taker to lie on this survey. I would refuse, and also 1-box on Newcomb’s problem, and also reject any offer lower than 50% in an Ultimatum Game.
(Yes, making this fact known is not in my best interests, but this is a pseudonym, people don’t believe the precommitments of a high school student made under pseudonyms anyway, and I think the benefit to me of mentioning this is higher than the slight cost incurred by making my commitment less believable.)