Common practice to lie about current salary to potential employers?

[GreenFrog]

It's a gamble as to whether a prospective employer will check your current salary, but that information definitely is readily available, especially if you've been working at a larger corporation. It's not uncommon for large companies to give out your title, duration of employment, and compensation as basic information. Any other information makes them liable for litigation from the employee.

My past company outsourced this information where a prospective employer would have to call a hotline and they'd get an automated response with my title, dates of employment, and comp.

It's a risk to inflate your compensation; a risk I would never, ever take, personally. Granted, you could argue that you were including other benefits, like 401(k) matching and healthcare benefits, if "caught."

 

[bings]

agreed with referencing total compensation rather than salary... rounding up is perfectly reasonable.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]



It's a gamble as to whether a prospective employer will check your current salary, but that information definitely is readily available, especially if you've been working at a larger corporation. It's not uncommon for large companies to give out your title, duration of employment, and compensation as basic information. Any other information makes them liable for litigation from the employee.

My past company outsourced this information where a prospective employer would have to call a hotline and they'd get an automated response with my title, dates of employment, and comp.

It's a risk to inflate your compensation; a risk I would never, ever take, personally. Granted, you could argue that you were including other benefits, like 401(k) matching and healthcare benefits, if "caught."

I believe title and duration of employment. I do not believe comp.

Separately, I don't know what you guys mean by rounding up. I'd can sympathize with 68,500 to 69,000, maybe. Calling it 70K is lying in my book.

 

[otc]

Comp seems unlikely...and super easy to abuse. What's to stop you from calling them up and pretending to be an HR person just to get someone's salary information? Competitors could use it to gauge your pay scales. Never heard of that being something HR releases.

But 68,500 is 70k... I've always been paid pretty round numbers, but most people who aren't are going to round to the 5k mark (or 10k when the numbers get bigger).

Edit: and I would guess people aren't super likely to round down. So someone who makes 36k would probably say 36k since rounding down is bad...but going up to 40k is a big leap. So maybe at a low enough level, you round to the 1k. 68,500 is 70k though...if you are at that point without factoring in health/retirement/intangibles, then nobody is going to call you out on rounding 68.5 to 70.

 

[JohnGalt]



It's a gamble as to whether a prospective employer will check your current salary, but that information definitely is readily available, especially if you've been working at a larger corporation. It's not uncommon for large companies to give out your title, duration of employment, and compensation as basic information. Any other information makes them liable for litigation from the employee.

My past company outsourced this information where a prospective employer would have to call a hotline and they'd get an automated response with my title, dates of employment, and comp.

It's a risk to inflate your compensation; a risk I would never, ever take, personally. Granted, you could argue that you were including other benefits, like 401(k) matching and healthcare benefits, if "caught."

you're probably referring to this:

http://www.theworknumber.com/

A LOT of companies use it. I've checked mine and they had my salary history,

 

[GreenFrog]



you're probably referring to this:

http://www.theworknumber.com/

A LOT of companies use it. I've checked mine and they had my salary history,

Yep. I'm not sure if it's that one specifically, but pretty much the same service.

It contains everything I mentioned above: title, dates of employment, and compensation.

 

[wj4]



you're probably referring to this:

http://www.theworknumber.com/

A LOT of companies use it. I've checked mine and they had my salary history,

I used that all the time at my former employer.


I wouldn't have a problem rounding up $78k to $80k personally. However, stretching it by $10k+ or so when you're under 6 figure is a far cry in my book.

 

[otc]



you're probably referring to this:

http://www.theworknumber.com/

A LOT of companies use it. I've checked mine and they had my salary history,

Crazy. Although it looks like you have to provide permission for them to see income.