Ask HN: Interviewing at a Startup - Should I Lie About My Salary?
First off, I just want to say that I would never advocate lying in an interview ever however I have heard from multiple sources that inflating your salary anywhere from 5-10% has now become the norm, as most companies will not investigate a potential employee's previous salary as long as it is within a reasonable range. I'd love to hear what the community has to say on this. How great is the risk here and if you could be potentially making an additional (say) $10,000+ a year isn't taking the risk justified?
18 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 66.3 ms ] threadLying to your employer about anything seems like a compromise of ethics that isn't be justified by you getting more money.
Salary negotiation is inherently adversarial. It will remain that way until employers start offering potential hires more money than they are asking for.
If someone tells you they want 80k, you aren't going to come back and tell them that you've budgeted up to 100k. You're going to tell them maybe you can swing 70k (another lie, like what the employee may be doing to you).
Just as you don't want to hire someone that will lie about previous salary to get more, I don't want to work for a boss that will lie to keep more money in the company coffer.
I completely agree with you though, both sides should be as transparent as possible during the negotiation.
I've neve been asked the question about my current salary (expect for that one phone call from a recruiter in the UK).
If you're worried about the "what was your old salary" question, see: http://bit.ly/fy9zDt
So ethically what do you do, well I always like to frame the situation as a car sale, if a car salesman asked well how much do you have to spend on the car. What is your answer is it naturally less that the sticker on the car. You see the sticker price is very much like your previous salary, but the car lot has chosen to inflate it to give themselves wiggle room. Ethically few have a problem with this even though almost every line item on the factory invoice is a lie. It is common knowledge that they are inflated. Further if asked how much you have to spend on the car most answer somewhere below the sticker, trying to move that number down and reduce some of those inflated items to somewhere closer to reality. Finally the salesman hold the knowledge as to the true value of the car but would never offer it over as a tool in negotiating. This would be akin to you original non-inflated former salary.
Looking at that hypothetical situation, flipping the parties and reversing the roles you can see the ethics involved. Every modern corporation works this way and one would be well served to remember that in the end they are dealing with corporations. We as a society have a double standard in which corporations are permitted to have dubious ethics as standard operating procedure while the individual is lambasted for items as small as inflating ones salary so they don't get cut to the bone in salary negotiation.
For me personally, I see no issue with inflating a former salary, but that is because I am a skilled negotiator, I don't take it personal and I expect disinformation. In a weird way I am impressed when someone bests me at the negotiating table and most of all, I understand that the person at the negotiating table is fighting for their scraps what they do at the negotiation table has little reflection on what their true character is. If I found out that an employee lied to me about a former salary, I would not terminate them, because I understand that culturally corporations use this information all the time to leverage them down. They are paranoid about it and rightfully so.
As for them finding out, I don't know where you are at in the world, but in the US their is no way for them to find out unless you provide them with that information. They cannot ask for that info from a former employer and no employer would open themselves up to the liability of providing that info to a third party and they cannot access any tax info on you. So short of you...
>As for them finding out, I don't know where you are at in the world, but in the US their is no way for them to find out unless you provide them with that information.
Professional networking tends to be a big factor when moving from job to job (this may be extremely different in startup communities). This tends to mean that as your career progresses, you have probably worked with 1 or 2 people at a prospective employer. Those people are generally asked about the perspective hire, including their estimates of what that person has made.
As for salary information, there are other ways to know how much someone else is making without accessing "confidential information". You can find out socially (e.g. from them), knowing their performance combined with position, etc.
EDIT: It is worth noting that these are facts I consider when I am interviewing for a new job, not something I put into practice. I wouldn't tell my current employer this information about a perspective hire, nor would I as an employer ask for this information.
But yes, you do run the risk of not getting the job for being perceived as lying. For me personally as a (small I employ 4 guys) employer, it would not amount to a hill of beans to me, if I found out a prospect inflated his salary.
I just have a hard time viewing it as lying in the traditional sense. Culturally we negotiate when it comes to jobs and if I asked someone to hand over information that would give me a strong advantage at the negotiation table, I would expect that information to not be accurate.
The only reason to ask that question is to strengthen your position at the negotiating table, so in effect the person asking is being just as dis-ingeniousness as the person inflating. To call foul on the other guy for trying to strengthen his position when the other side is doing the same, reeks of a double standard.
Your old salary is irrelevant, and only serves to anchor you in a lower range. Don't lie, just politely decline to tell them.
"I'd rather talk about what I'm worth to you".