Current salary on job application/interviews

[HangTime]

Just wanted to get people's views on how to handle "Current Salary" questions on job applications / interviews.

Lets say you apply for a job that doesn't have a fixed salary banding, and the market rate is signficantly higher than your current salary. How do you handle the question about your current salary, bearing in mind that:

a) A big differential gives them a window to offer you below market rates knowing that it still represents a significant rise for you
b) A 'low' current salary may cause them to question how much responsibility you have in your current job, whether you really are as skilled/valuable/important/experienced as you make out.

The way I see it, there are three options:

1) Tell the truth, be confident in your ability to convince them you are the right person for the job, and assume that you will be able to talk them up to a fair salary rather than risk losing you.
2) Inflate your salary to a level that is closer to what they should be paying you for the new role, and hope that if you get the job they won't bother taking any action over it if they find out (e.g. from P60).
3) Play it coy and try to deflect the question, saying it isn't relevant and that you are more interested in knowing what they think you are worth.

I've seen #3 suggested on here before but I am just not convinced, if you dodge a question I can see from their side it may raise more questions than answers.

I know people who have done #2 and it has stood them in good stead, earning them a decent pay rise. I'm a bit too straight-laced for this approach but am starting to wonder whether I should adopt it in future, since realistically once I start a job is an employer likely to want to go through the recruitment process again on the basis of a white lie on the current salary front, given that everything else is factually correct.

#1 I know can work too, some people land themselves decent (40%+) rises this way but I do have fears about how prospective employers view it, in terms of the stigma attached to a 'low' salary.

Obviously when going via an agent they can handle that side of things for you, for the most part, but I have dealt with an agent in the past who quite rigorously questioned my salary expectations vis-a-vis my current salary, which I viewed as irrelevant in relation to my competency for the job in question.

I should point out I'm not currently in the position of having to declare my salary but am interested to know for future reference should it become necessary.

 

[HangTime]

Tell the truth - they'll see it on your tax details when you join anyway.

This was always my fear but what I'd be interested to know is whether anyone has actually been pulled up on it before? Also I'd imagine there may be times of year when it is easier to hide e.g. if you quit your old job shortly after the end of the tax year and have your outstanding holiday allowance paid out, overtime etc this could boost it to something not a million miles away from what it would be pro-rata.

 

[HangTime]

As I suspected, no real consensus of opinion

The way I played it was to tell the truth but don't join if they can't hit number you want. Nothing worse than feeling you've sold yourself short.

This is kind of where my head is at, in the past I've been in the position of having changed jobs but then feeling I need to change jobs soon after because I was still earning under market rate despite getting a moderate raise (e.g. going from being underpaid by 40% to 20%). I've actually decided that might be something I'd bring up in negotiation, stating that I don't want to find myself in a position where I'm still a long way short of market rates. My attitude, albeit somewhat naive, is that if an employer is willing to see past current salary and pay me a fair salary then they are probably the sort of company I'd want to work for, instead of one that needs to be hoodwinked into it.

one of the main reasons I'm leaving is that I've fallen behind the market rate in my current job

I was always told that using salary as a primary motivator for changing jobs looks bad because it doesn't show ambition to join the company in question, but rather just a way to earn more money and thus create a fear that as soon as a better offer comes up you'll be on your bike.

I never answer that one truthfully and I never actually give a figure I always say my 'package is worth in the region of ....' on the very rare occasion I've been asked to explain further I just say it's very difficult to put an actually figure on it with all the benefits, overtime and on call etc.

Works OK for an interview / HR bod question, but if you have to state it in writing on a form there's a lot less wiggle room.

whatever you do, don't lie about qualifications/work experiance!

I've never seen the need to lie about qualifications as I've always been overqualified for every job I've applied for (or at least not underqualified). As for experience I'm too much of a goody two-shoes to lie about that, although it is tempting in cases where I know I've effectively done a more advanced role than my job title would suggest.

I wouldn't over inflate my salary to a stupid point as they would just not be interested in offering, but market value or just above

Absolutely not, if I did this at all it would be a case of inflating it to below market rates and then using that as a platform to ask for a modest increase to hit market rate, as opposed to a big increase. Example (numbers plucked out of the air so not directly relevant to me):

Market rate = £45-55k
Current salary = £35k
Inflated current salary = ~£40-42k
Target salary = £45-50k

If I went down this route I certainly wouldn't be stating anything outlandish - my target would never be anything more than market rate.

 

[HangTime]

^^maybe a bad choice of numbers, stretch them a bit. I just worry about how it looks if you earn say 30% below market rate, whether that sets alarm bells ringing in terms of whether your experience matches up to what it should do for a given role. robskinner's post seems to confirm my fears:

Eventually it started to become an issue, at interview at least twice the agent got feedback along the lines of "we cannot believe this guys does this work for this money"

In other words as I highlighted in the OP the issue is twofold, it isn't just about wanting to secure a fair salary moving forward, but also ensuring that people don't derive negative views about your competence based on salary.

Ultimately I think when the time comes for me to move jobs again I want to avoid a situation where I get screwed over on salary, the easy answer is just to refuse any offer below market rates but then there's the risk that I'd end up having to stay in my current job longer than necessary, and thus falling further behind in net earnings and potentially career development.