I'm currently in transition and have had a number of interviews where the person interviewing me has asked my last salary. I've always been told that your last salary shouldn't determine your next salary and I've answered the question something like, "I'd prefer not to discuss the salary in my last position. Having researched positions like this one in the marketplace, I feel a fair compensation range is $X to $X and my salary requirements would fall in that range."
But for the third or fourth time, the person interviewing has answered back something like, "You'll have to just tell me because they're going to find out anyway during reference/background checks." And this I was very confused on. Even if I gave them my previous boss as a reference, I don't think she would tell them what I made. And I know at least the last two companies I've worked for have a practice of only confirming dates of employment.
So how would it be possible that a company could figure out your last salary without you or your previous company telling them?
Re: How could someone find out your last salary?
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I know that my company checks every employee's credit history before they are hired, so I imagine there are many ways for employers to find your previous salary.
I think the solution would be to be honest about your former salary and then mention that you believe your experience might put you in a higher salary range for this particular position.
A little late on this, but I work in HR and run background checks everyday. We use a third party vendor to verify previous employment (among other things). Generally we are looking for title, dates of employment,rehire eligibility, reason for leaving and salary. Sometimes if we're lucky the previous employer will give an interview on the candidate. Most companies have a policy on what information they will give out. It doesn't matter if you give me your supervisor as a reference, I am looking to verify employment and that will generally go through an HR department. Like pp, some companies use the The Work Number to verify information.
There's no reason you should hide your previous salary. The company you are interviewing wants to make sure they aren't wasting their time or yours. Even if you give a salary range that you are expecting, when they make you an offer you will probably compare it to what you were making.