What is salary history

It helps to understand employers' reasons for asking. Employers tend to use your past pay as a gauge of your market value, says Richard Phillips, a career coach and owner of Advantage Career Solutions in Palo Alto, California. They also want a sense of what salary you'll be expecting. If it's tens of thousands of dollars more than the employer can pay for the position, it's probably not worth wasting your time or the employer's on further discussions. Of course, this information also gives the employer a leg up in the salary negotiation process.

Because of this, Phillips recommends not offering salary history in an initial written application. If you're filling out an application, put dashes in the box for salary history, indicating that you saw it, he says. If you're responding to a job posting that says to send in a resume and salary history, just send the resume. If the employer is interested, someone will call to ask for more information.

At this point, instead of telling the employer your current or past salary, ask what range they expect to pay for the position. You could also offer to provide your desired salary range.

This approach does have pitfalls. First, some employers may not call, choosing instead to focus on applicants who provided the information on the application.

Even if you make it to the conversation stage, simply stating your expectations may not work. When Itani talks to candidates, she asks for their salary history.

Itani is looking not only at whether the candidate is likely to be happy with the salary the company can offer, but also at whether the person has received raises when changing jobs. She also notes that employers can verify this information, so it's critical to tell the truth. Not all employers will ask candidates to share their salary history and, depending on the employment laws in your state, you may not encounter the question at all. If an employer does not ask for your salary history, they may ask for your preferred salary range instead.

Here are the three ways you may choose to handle the request:. Related: Jobs That Pay Well. You should also include any additional compensation you receive on top of your base salary such as tips, regular bonuses or commissions. If your additional compensation varies, use an average.

You may be asked to provide a salary history list or provided a salary history template to fill out. In this case, list your highest gross annual salary for each position. Your gross annual salary is the total amount of money you earned in one year in a position before taxes. Digital Marketing Specialist Co. Related: How To Negotiate Salary. Finally, remember to provide your total annual salary before taxes. Policies Salary History Inquiries Policy.

Reuse Permissions. Download: Salary History Inquiries Policy. Purpose To ensure compliance with state and local laws and to avoid pay disparity issues that arise when considering past compensation of job candidates, [Company Name] prohibits any form of inquiry into a candidate's salary history during the hiring process.

Policy Salary history is defined as an individual's current or prior compensation, including base pay, incentive pay, benefits and other forms of compensation. Questions regarding this policy should be directed to Human Resources. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark.

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