Do recruiters/headhunters normally require you to tell how much you made at a previous job?

Is it normal for a recruiter to basically tell you, they are not going to hire/consider you until you tell them how much you make?

Normal for a recruiter is a really (really) big range. The very best consider your career and the wishes of the company way before themselves. Those are the recruiters who will place you again (and again), you will call to help add people to your team, you will give them leads of other people you know to help and companies will call them back again and again to fill other positions. At the end of the day, this recruiter will make much more money not putting their fee first.

That being said, if I were still a recruiter, I would find it hard to help you without this basic information (your current salary and what you are willing to accept in a new position). If you are not comfortable telling the recruiter than you end the relationship. If you can't trust a recruiter, don't use one.

Oh -- I guess I was mistaken in terms. The person who asked this was the hiring person at a company that I was interviewing at. Basically insinuated I would not be made an offer if I did not disclose how much I was making in my current job.

OK, that’s a different question – hopefully you can use my first answer at some other point in your career. No problems.

Many companies will have you fill out and application which would have a spot for previous salary/hourly wage. One way to look at this request – the manager may not have an idea if you are below or above the range for this position in his/her department. If he (I’ll use the male for example) wants to present you an offer, he wants you on his team. Now if you are making more than he is able to offer, it is egg on his face with his manager and/or the HR department. If you are inline with this salary range then he is feeling better. HR departments like to see new people under the mid-way point of a range because there is room to provide you an increase if your performance is great. If you start out at the top of the range it may be hard to give the correct increase for good performance later (i.e. – you deserve a 6% raise but there is only room for 2% because of your salary – you may feel slighted when you only get 2%).

I have a couple of articles which may interest you. One is “Your Decision Can Make the Right Impression” and the other is “Counter Offers Spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E” (this one may be good for you seeing that you are currently employed). You can find the articles via the link on my Indeed profile.

I hope all this makes sense. It’s been a long day.

John_D_42 in Ohio said: Is it normal for a recruiter to basically tell you, they are not going to hire/consider you until you tell them how much you make?

John,

Y.I.C's advice is always sound and certainly worth heeding. For a corporate recruiter to say this to you is certainly not good business, nor is it a good practice to attract and retain top talent.

That being said, it is almost always best to disclose your current salary, as well as what your acceptable range would be. Although certain positions do have set salaries or ranges, preferred employers certainly want to give the best offer they can to their potential new hires. It makes for an easier transition as well as a happier hire! But as Coach said, they also want to leave room for increases if you are a solid performer. Most companies (certainly mine) are very performance based, and want to see what a new employee will contribute before rewarding them financially.

If the offer is something you can work with, but not as much as you had hoped for, maybe you can negotiate a 60 or 90 day review at which your salary will be re visited. If you are confident in your ability to contribute, this is a great option.

I have always been in the practice of bringing my most recent paystub to final interviews. This really eases much of the tension of the salary/offer negotiation. Your honesty and credibility will be valued and appreciated.

But lastly, although it is very difficult in these times, don't focus too much on salary as you are making a decision that will affect the rest of your career. Be sure you are making a move that will benefit you in the long run!

Don't deal with recruiters, only deal with the HR directly.

Generally speaking, using a recruiter is a tool you can use in your search. You need to make the decision if want to use that tool.

However, if you have already started with a recruiter and they have been helping you with a particular company, you may want to use their counsel. This recruiter could have valuable inside information you don’t have. Most companies I worked with required the input of the recruiter in developing the offer. Most recruiting firms are paid on a percentage of your first year income so maximizing this number maximizes their fee (and pay).

Another caution, if you suddenly decide not to work with your recruiter at the end of the hiring process, you may put your offer at risk. I have personally seen a company decide not to go forward with a candidate who refused to be cooperative during offer stage. The company felt like the candidate's true nature came out and they were happy it happened before the person started working for them. This was a rare case and I've only seen this happen once.