When talking to a recruiter for the first time it is likely that they will ask you for what salary you are looking for or even worse what the salary you are on at that moment is. The problem with this situation is that you don’t know the budget for the role and hence you might leave money out of the table. The other side would be that you give them a figure that is out of their budget and hence discard you from the start.
As you can see these are two problems which depend very much on your situation, you could be in a situation in which you really want to change jobs even if that means taking a hit on your salary. It could also be that you are in a comfortable position and can decline job offers that do not meet your salary expectations.
But let’s check one question at a time:
What is your current salary?
Is it even legal for recruiters or HR managers to ask this? Well it depends on where you live. In some states in the US they have made it illegal to ask this question. In the UK unfortunately that is not the case.
What should you do if they ask you this question? I would recommend you to say that you prefer not to disclose that information as it is personal and not relevant for the recruitment process.
Why should you decline to give this information, because it is likely they will use it as a benchmark on what they think they should be offering you. Hence you can find yourself going through the whole interview process successfully and then being given an offer just slightly higher than your current salary and likely under your expectations. A waste of time at the end of the day.
What are your salary expectations?
This question is more relevant and it is basically the beginning of the negotiations. Your answer to this really depends on your appetite for negotiation.
If you are in for negotiating the highest salary then I suggest to say “before mentioning my salary expectations I would like to know the budget the employer has for this position” assuming it has not been advertised. This way you will be able to know if your expectations are within range and whether you can ask for more. What is the risk of this? The recruiter or HR manager may refuse to disclose that information and may prefer to discontinue your application unless you give them your expected salary. What is the opportunity here? That you may find a company willing to share that information allowing you to get a higher salary than otherwise.
If you do not have the patience or mindset then I suggest giving them a figure 5-10% higher than your expected salary rounding up (e.g. If your expected salary is £30k then I suggest you ask for £32k or even £33k). And always say that the figure is conditional to the pension contribution and the benefits included in the offer. It is likely that when you are successful and they make you the offer that they will offer you less than the figure you gave. At this stage you should do your maths and remember that you can totally negotiate further. A recruiter may push you and say that negotiating may be risky and the employer may decide to withdraw the offer; let me tell you that at this stage this is very unlikely. You have passed a whole interview process and an employer has selected you for the role, I can let you know that employers will not want to waste any more time trying to find another candidate, they will not be able to afford it.
