Question

I was offered a position after three interviews. In the offer the title was changed from Assistant to Senior Assistant and the salary was $5k more than was originally discussed. The offer also included a 5% bonus after one year. Of course there were other benefits, major medical, etc. All this was in the written offer which I accepted. Great, right? Yes and no.

lying about salaryThe next day I gave my letter of resignation and two weeks’ notice. In my last week of work and three days to go, my new employer advised I had passed my background check and said they just needed my latest pay stub.

I lied about my salary on the application I had completed a week earlier. (I took a salary cut to get my current job, so I gave my prior higher salary.) After they questioned me I panicked and was not honest. I then tried to make it right but they rescinded the offer just the same. I am not a youngster and so I know better. I thought if they knew my real salary they would not have offered me what I am worth, given my experience, skills, and successful career so far.

I tried to get my current employer to take me back but they would not. I was a great worker but I think they felt slighted. Now I am actively looking and I don’t know how to address the dreaded question about why I am not employed. This was the biggest mistake I have ever made. I’m devastated. Thank you for any suggestions.

Nick’s Reply

I’m very sorry to hear what happened. Your experience is a painful reminder about why I advise people to never disclose their salary history and to never lie about it.

Lying about salary is not necessary

Your salary history is confidential and private and employers have no right to it. But as you’ve found, if you disclose your salary they can hold it against you later, as they did in this case. If you keep it private, you’re safe. In fact, I wrote a short PDF book about this, but you don’t need to read the book to get the main ideas:

Keep Your Salary Under Wraps

While some companies will end the interview process if you won’t disclose salary, my readers tell me that most employers back off when the candidate politely but firmly declines — and if the employer is really interested in hiring them. Lying about salary is simply not necessary, and disclosing your salary is definitely not advisable if you want to get the best offer!

If an employer is going to make “advancing your candidacy” contingent on knowing your salary, what do you think working there would be like?

Hide your cards and negotiate

While no law I’ve ever encountered obligates you to disclose your salary, and while it may even be illegal for an employer to ask, what happened to you is probably not a matter of law. (Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.) It’s a matter of what you agreed to when you signed that offer. When you accept an offer, you accept the company’s rules, which likely require all new employees to turn over past pay stubs. You may not be legally required to hand them over, but if you accepted that offer you probably entered into an agreement to do so — and that allows the employer to fire you or to rescind their offer if you don’t.

So, how do you avoid a job offer that’s too low? You play your cards close to the chest and you negotiate a higher offer. Don’t wait until you’re in the interview process or at the point of getting an offer. Learn how to handle salary negotiations now.

Get back up on the horse

You fell off the horse. You lied about your salary. When we make mistakes, I believe there are three rules good people follow. (1) Fess up. “I blew it. I lied.” (2) Apologize. “I’m sorry.” (3) Make a commitment. “I’ll never do that again.” Of course, the fourth rule is to perform on the first three.

Then you put this behind you and move on. Your life and career aren’t over. You already know you’re good at your work. Focus on demonstrating that going forward. As for what to say about why you’re not working, it’s somewhat similar to explaining why you’re unemployed because you got fired:

What’s Better: Quit or get fired?

My advice is simple: Never disclose your salary history when applying for a job, and never lie about your salary. Don’t put yourself in a position to get busted. Then negotiate from a position of strength.

Is lying about your salary ever wise? Do you politely decline when asked for your salary history? Is there something else this reader could have done — or should do next?

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25 Comments
  1. “While some companies will end the interview process if you won’t disclose salary”
    I also end it if they’re refusing to give a range and demand to know what I want instead.

    Any employer who refuses to give a range is trying to lowball you. Any employer trying to lowball you is one that will not respect you in the slightest and is likely cutting the wrong corners.

    • @David: One of the most difficult things for job seekers to learn is that their own power, right and obligation to end an unproductive or unfavorable interview process is as important as their prerogative to get out of the way of a speeding truck bearing down on them.

      I’ve seen some of the smartest, most capable and unflappable people succumb to intimidation from employers simply because they incorrectly believe the employer is in ultimate control of the hiring process. The moment you succumb to that misconception, you’ve already lost your edge in negotiating the job and the compensation. All of HR practice is founded on the trick of making the job seeker believe they are a supplicant — not someone to do business with. All of HR is based on the conceit that the the object of desire is the job rather than the candidate.

      Employers intimate that any inquiry about the salary for a job reveals a poor work ethic, and career counselors even advise job seekers to never bring up salary for fear of offending the employer. Yet you should cough up your salary information like it’s your social security number on a job application. (BTW, you should not give up your SSN so readily, either: https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/7696/wanted-hr-exec-with-the-guts-to-not-ask-for-your-ssn )

      Know what to share, and when to walk away. Employers do it all the time!

    • Exactly right!

  2. It might depend on culture and market, but, mostly I will ask the candidate salary info upfront. If I find a superb candidate, my client might be open to negotiate above their budgeted range according to experience and sometimes might even be flexible on skills level if they find someone they really like, especially in a skills-scarce market. But at the end of the day, nobody has an unlimited budget. If I am wasting the candidate’s time, it is best to know upfront. OR advise them their expectations are not realistic? Bottom line is, in our market everyone will eventually ask for a payslip when they put the offer together to ensure that all benefits and taxed / non-taxed perks are taken into account.

    • @Leonie
      Aside from presenting a range, or asking the canidate the range they are looking for, what does a payslip from a prior employer have to do with “ensure that all benefits and taxed / non-taxed perks are taken into account.”

      At the risk of making assumptions, the [new] employer (like every company) pays someone to make sure taxes and benefits are deducted correctly.

      • @gregory, We have a situation where big companies have completely different benefits to smaller or medium sized businesses and contributions can be structured vastly different. Our market is not as regulated as perhaps the US might be. And candidates are often not aware of the differences, which means they will be out of pocket if we do not compare apples with pears. I am not talking about compulsory statutory deductions, but benefits.

    • Here are my guidelines about disclosing your salary to a headhunter or third-party recruiter who has a fiduciary obligation to who is paying the fee (the employer), but who is still determined to do right by their job candidate:

      https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/6608/should-you-disclose-your-salary-history-to-a-headhunter

      The rules are different about disclosing salary to the employer or to a recruiter in the HR department.

    • You can get that info by asking for target salary early on. No one cares about giving that out.

      If you publish range and ask for target you can automatically screen out people who are too expensive.

  3. So, the potential employer thought the candidate was worth a certain amount of money,but they needed their competition to confirm that valuation. Nice!

    • @Mike: You’ve hit on one of the biggest fallacies about why employers “need” your salary history – “We need it so we can make a competitive offer.”

      They actually need it because they have poor management.

      The best response is what you suggest: “You mean you have so little competitive edge in assessing a job candidate’s value that you’re going to rely on a competitor’s (or any other employer’s) assessment (salary)? Why would I want to work for a company that doesn’t know how to determine a candidate’s value themselves?”

      More here:
      https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/14156/job-offers-cost-or-investment

  4. I’m not a lawyer either, but in CA and NY (and probably many other US states) it’s illegal to ask for current compensation or salary history – on the application, or during the background check prior to hire. A simple web search, focusing on a reputable source within one’s state, should answer this question for anyone curious.

    • @Dave: Good point. But it’s important to check the wording of these laws. The law may prohibit the employer from asking, but it doesn’t prohibit the candidate from disclosing it — and there are already clever ways for employers to get the information.

      Additionally, these laws seem to have no teeth; that is, consequences if an employer violates them. Here are some issues you should be aware of:

      https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/11203/salary-history-law-california

  5. On another note, never ever give your notice or quit your current job until all background,drug tests, and all other pre-employment activities are completed. And you have an official start date. I always told future employers that I won’t give my notice until everything is buttoned up.
    False positives on a drug test, although rare can happen. I read somewhere that poppy seeds can cause a false positive for heroin. Or on a credit check, you might have a ding that you didn’t know about.

    Now the poster can’t collect unemployment because they voluntary left their employment.

    Hate to say it, but if I was in this situation, I would have taken my paystub, which is usually in a PDF. Convert it to Word, modify the dollar amount and convert it back to a PDF. Here you go nosey employer!! It’s not what you make but what you are worth and what market rate is. I thought the days of asking for current salary were over. For employment purposes.

    • You are correct about notice.

      One time I put in a two-week notice. It took six weeks to complete the background check.

      My saving grace was that I was working as a contractor. And the company with the contract had not terminated that contract with their client. So the kept me on, with the understanding I would not give notice. But never again.

    • @Kelly: Yes!

      HR has a nasty habit of saying “You’re hired! Quit your old job! Here’s your written offer and start date!” — even before all background checks etc are completed.

      That’s irresponsible and it should be illegal. Consider this job seeker’s fate:

      https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/14932/another-exploding-job-offer

  6. Would it be fair to ask the perspective employer to see the paystubs of the incumbent or any of their employees in similar roles? If not, then why should anyone divulge their salary to a total stranger who has no business asking what you make.

    • @None: I’ve suggested that “in your face” response to an employer that wants your salary history. What’s the big secret about the salaries of other people on the team you’re being considered for?

      The hiring process is rife with inconsistencies and hypocrisy that’s self-serving to the employer. Will they give you the boot if you ask a question like that? More important, what questions could they ask you that would make you give them the boot?

  7. @Nick, I disagree about confessing to the next interviewer. I would simply say I gave notice to my old employer and the new employer was unable to complete the paperwork.

    Or better yet,
    I left the old employer because of the reason and I’m interviewing now to find an employer with the following attributes. You seem to meet my criteria. Let’s discuss.

  8. I’m having a hard time reading everything in that post because that was just bait. It seems like a completely illegal tactic. The candidate can’t even get unemployment benefits because they quit their job. They should be able to sue, especially if the company already made the offer. Did they have any paperwork implying that they could rescind the offer if the candidate failed to produce a paystub? This just seems ridiculous and a waste of everyone’s time.

    • I’m sure it was covered that the candidate would need to supply a pay stub. It was to be regular practice. NY and CA made it illegal.
      But regardless an employer can recind employment at any time and a prospective employee can decide not to work for an employer at any time during the hiring process.

  9. @Nick
    I do not give my salary information to a perspective employer. I tell them that I cannot disclose it and leave it at that. If they push for it, and that hasn’t happened yet, I would tell them to call the employer and ask them. If the employer wants to give out that information, that’s their choice. I’d be willing to bet that employers would not call a previous employer to ask that question. Based on what I know about my previous employers, they would not disclose it. But, you never know.

    • @None That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone suggest to the employer that they should call your old/current employer and ask them. Brilliant and smart! And I agree — no prospective employer will do that because you’re making them realize THEY would never answer that query if an employer called THEM! I love it!

  10. As an aside, my current position did not require a drug test, background check, or mental health screen.

    I was introduced to the owner with “This is XXXX. He and his wife are customers, and he knows how to sew”

    The owner then started explaining salary and bebefits.

  11. I have to agree with Nick that this tells you what it would be like working at this company. Essentially,they sprung this requirement on you at the last minute.In my experience, in working at US companies for 36 years, I’ve never had anyone ask for a paystub from my last employer. I think this is a very odd practice, and I find myself wondering why they’re doing this.

    If someone pulled this on me, it would be a dealbreaker.

    • It used to be a requirement about ten years ago to provide a recent paystub. I have been asked before, but it was years ago. I used to say I’m seriously underpaid, so thats why I am looking. my salary requirements are still the same. BUT a lot of states like NY and CA have made it illegal.