“Should you reveal your salary to HR/recruiters in the early job interviewing stage?” — SG jobseeker asks

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean jobseeker took to social media to ask others if they would “reveal their salary to HR/recruiters in the early interviewing stage.”

“Personally, I strongly agree that not revealing works immensely in your favor, such as not letting the HR/recruiter peg your offered salary to your current drawn,” the Singaporean wrote on r/askSingapore on Tuesday (May 14).

“I do a mix of both. I only reveal during/after the final stage, when HR starts asking for my payslips for admin filing, which is a sign you pretty much got the job.

I figured, since the company is willing to give me what I quoted, I might as well be compliant.” She wondered, however, if there were any benefits to disclosing the salary in the early stages.

One advantage she considered is that companies may perceive the candidate as more “honest” than others who choose not to disclose. 

Additionally, recruiters can provide insights into whether the candidate is underpaid, averagely paid, or overpaid for their role, assuming their research is accurate.

“I was quite underpaid in my 1st job and some kind recruiters told me about it…”

She added, “If you’re capable enough and can impress all interviewers, revealing your pay doesn’t matter, right…? If you are firm about that huge increment you want.”

“I’ve had my current salary used against me more than once and will now avoid revealing.”

The majority of Singaporean Redditors expressed that they would not disclose their salary even in the final stages of the interview process, fearing it would disadvantage them.

One Redditor revealed that their current salary had been used against them several times. She also recalled a specific incident where an HR representative immediately dismissed her expected salary as “impossible” after learning about her current pay. 

She added, “Eventually, I got my expected pay from another company, which I didn’t reveal my salary to.”

Another Redditor commented, “I had a company ask for the salary after giving the verbal offer (with salary). After showing my current salary, the offer dropped drastically. Now I’m so wary of providing the current pay.

For context, the initial offer was ~ 40% up from my current. It dropped to less than 20% up.”

A third Redditor, who introduced himself as a headhunter for MNCs, explained that recruiters ‘aren’t the ones who are pegging the salary’ and that most have zero control of the client’s budget.

He added: “We need to know because some titles are the same whether you have 5 or 15 years experience, so your salary quickly tells them if you are over-qualified or over-budget.

This helps you not waste time for interviews that obviously cannot afford you, and also helps us keep you in mind for other roles that fit your experience and budget.”

Some Redditors also proposed an alternative strategy: asking about the budget allocated for the role instead.

They mentioned that this approach has proven successful in some of their interviews, as it redirects the focus away from disclosing their salary.

Read also: “Please don’t come to us to solve all your minor details at work” — HR personnel says

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