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Syndicated columnist
Q: Are you familiar with the following contingency being placed on a job offer? "This offer is subject to receipt of documentation of your current salary." In other words, the company wants to see recent pay stubs. Is this legal? How should it be handled?
NICK'S REPLY: Some companies require proof of past salary. It's their way of making sure they're basing hiring decisions on the judgments of their competitors. My sarcasm is intentional. I find this practice completely illogical. I think your past salary is no one's business.
I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that it's perfectly legal for a company to request your old pay stubs. However, you are not required to provide them. Of course, that could cost you a job offer but you must consider how disclosing your salary affects your ability to negotiate.
This can get tricky. What happens if you accept a job and they ask you for an old pay stub after you're onboard? Now you're an employee, not an applicant. If the employee manual you agreed to live by when you took the job requires you to turn over a stub, you are stuck. As long as they require this of every employee, they're not discriminating against you. Suppose you decline to provide it or it doesn't match what you told them in the interview. That may be grounds for terminating you. So, be careful. My advice: If you're going to divulge your salary in an interview, don't fudge. It could cause problems later.
A good way to avoid the pay stub risk is to let an employer know in advance that you consider your salary history confidential and that you do not divulge it. In my opinion, employers should base salary offers on their judgment of the candidate, not on someone else's. In other words, your old salary shouldn't matter.
Now you have some choices to make. It's worth noting that this topic has generated more reader mail than any other -- and most people wholeheartedly support salary confidentiality.
THE HEADHUNTER TIP:
What job hunting is all about
Job hunting is not about resumes. Why do I say that? Because resumes are about you. A job is not about you. It's about the work. So, focus on the work. Address the work. That is what a savvy employer wants (and will pay for), and if you can show you respect the work, the employer will fall all over itself to respect you, hire you and pay you well. But don't start with any self-centered idea that job hunting is about you. The idea promoted in the media that you must market yourself is simply wrong. If job hunting (and hiring) were about you, employers would beat a path to your door.
Think like the employer thinking about the work that needs to be done. Prepare a presentation about the work, and show how you will do it. That's what job hunting is really all about.
Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.
Read more: Ask the Headhunter , Professional etiquette , Salary and benefits
By theReferee on September 28, 2009 2:13 PM
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"Think like the employer thinking about the work that needs to be done. Prepare a presentation about the work, and show how you will do it. That's what job hunting is really all about."
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I have hired hundreds and interviewed thousands over the years. Today's headhunter tip is the best job hunting advice I've ever seen. We are not looking for pretty resumes. Companies want to build successful teams with talented, hard working people who can work well with other employees. Pretty resumes might get you through the door for an interview every once in a long while, but the important question we want answered is, "What can you do for us?"
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"The idea promoted in the media that you must market yourself is simply wrong."
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I agree with this completely. The people in the media who give job hunting advice for the most part have not done a lot of hiring. Polish and marketing do not help -- in fact they just get in the way. It is all about your value to a company. Making a bad hire is a very costly and disruptive; a mini or full-fledged disaster. Experienced interviewers work hard to cut through all the marketing garbage to find the best *person* for the job, the best player for our team.
I agree with the advice. If you work on your job skills, your people skills and your attitude; make yourself truly qualified for the job; good interviewers will see it, love it and compete for your services.
Don't wait until you are looking for a job to work on your job skills. This is a continuous process. Find a career that you are so committed to, that you are self-motivated to continuously put in the extra time outside of work to make yourself the best you can be.
By RalphF on October 1, 2009 12:49 PM
referee..
You are contradicting yourself. You say you agree about preparing a presentation about the work and how you would do it, but then you also agree with the statement that the idea to have to market oneself is simply wrong.
What do you think preparing a presentation on how you would do a job is? It's a form of marketing. With all of the "hundreds and thousands" you have interviewed and hired, I would question your abilities of hiring into the marketing profession, as you obviously don't really understand what it is.