“What’s your current salary?” is a trap question—Here’s how to answer it
“I just need to be sure the salary range works for your requirements so we don’t waste each other’s time.”
Nobody likes wasting time, and you especially don’t want to waste someone’s time when they might be the gatekeeper for a great job opportunity, right? So you’re inclined to just give them what they need so and get on with the interviews.
But instead, I recommend a little conversational Judo—use the reason they gave for asking again as your own leverage. Here’s how:
“It sounds like you’re trying to qualify me for a salary range. If you want to tell me what that range is, I’m happy to tell you if it’s in the ballpark.”
They claim they need to qualify you for a range, but they are also asking you to give up one of your precious pieces of information to do that. Instead, just ask them for the range.
The nice thing about the way I’ve worded this script is that you’re still not actually committing to accepting an offer in that range. You’re saying it’s “in the ballpark”. This matters because you still have full latitude to negotiate later on once they finally make you an offer.
.. There aren’t many options left, but this one is very effective. Here we go:
“I’m not comfortable sharing my current employer’s proprietary information about how they pay people, and I know they wouldn’t appreciate it if I did. I still work for them, and I’m just not comfortable sharing that information. I really don’t have a specific number in mind for a desired salary, and I look forward to hearing what you suggest.”
This is a heavy-handed answer, but it’s necessary because of the situation. You’re basically saying, “I have ethical qualms with giving you the information you’re demanding.” This has the advantage of putting the pressure back on the recruiter, who now has a clear Catch-22 if they continue to press: They’re asking you do something you see as unethical to move forward, but they probably don’t want to hire someone unethical.