Don't Answer THIS Question in a Job Interview!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- 📋💭 How to answer a question that is ILLEGAL to ask in many states: "So, how much did you make at your last job?" or "What is your salary in your current role?" This question has been legally banned in many states because it can lead to a cycle of pay discrimination. And even if you are in a state where this question is legal, you do not have to answer. No company is entitled to know your current or past salary.
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📋 Updated list of states that have banned this question: www.hrdive.com/news/salary-hi...
📋 File a complaint: www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/cont...
💻 How to negotiate your salary: • How To: Negotiate Your...
🍎 Not legal advice, just education.
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🫶🏼 Outline:
0:00-0:49 Hello 👋🏼
0:50-2:41 Your Rights 🫡
2:42-4:29 WHY Companies Ask This 🤔
4:30-6:54 How to NOT Respond to this Question ❌
6:55-9:09 How TO Respond to this Question ✅
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ABOUT ERIN
Erin McGoff is a multi-hyphenated media professional who has built a career as an award-winning documentary filmmaker & viral content creator. McGoff is passionate about making the world a better place through storytelling + democratizing access to quality career advice.
In 2021, her career advice went viral (tiktok.com/erinmcgoff) when she shared her original template for the dreaded job interview question, "Tell Me About Yourself." Since then, Erin has founded her own production company, Grey Films, and continues to grow AdviceWithErin. McGoff credits her success to her ability to research, passion for education, and personal experience as someone on both sides of hiring.
Upon graduating from film school, Erin received a fellowship from the Pulitzer Center to support her debut feature documentary about Laos, THIS LITTLE LAND OF MINES, which went on to receive festival accolades and international distribution. McGoff has also completed three short documentaries, SOUTHERN SUSTAINABILITY (2018), NEW YORK IS SILENT (Pulitzer Center, 2020), and DARROUZETT, TX (PBS, 2020). McGoff has worked with a variety of brands including Google, Microsoft, Meta, National Geographic, Intel, Walmart, ZipRecruiter, Capital One, Hilton, etc. You can view Erin's work at erinmcgoff.com
Today, she has 5m+ followers and continues to work to democratize access to quality career advice.
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#careeradvice #jobinterview #corporate
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20+ year IT professional, but I haven't had to interview for a position in almost 10 years. This channel has been really helpful as I look for a new and enriching job opportunity.
Glad to hear it! ❤
I love your stuff... makes me feel like we work together.
The last time I was asked that question. I stated, "If you have to ask, then you can't afford me.". I then said thank you for your time, but this interview is over, and I walked out. I then found a much better job.
As a manager that conducts interviews, I had no idea this question was illegal, I just thought it was tacky!
"Uhh.. I didn't knew that I applied for my current job..." 😉
😏😏😏
"So how much do you make at your current position?"
"AM I BEING DETAINED????"
"Uh, no, what?"
"I AM SOVEREIGN CITIZEN, I WILL BE CALLING MY LAWYER"
Meanwhile, in Singapore, the employer asks for current salary proof. 🙂
Girl, I was recently laid off and I’m looking for a new position. One company not only asked me what I was paid at my previous position, I also have to submit a TH-cam video, along with a long list of other questions I have to answer in a word document JUST FOR THE APPLICATION.
Wow! I'm intrigued. DO tell
I want to start interviewing for a new job. your videos and shorts have been a huge help and have been making notes of a lot of the content you've published. thank you for doing what you do with helping and educating us, Erin!
Yay! 🎉
Fear of being seen as “litigious” is how women get muzzled every day. I know of one right now. A very strong discrimination suit but won’t even talk to an attorney. Fear is powerful against the powerless.
I recently interviewed for a company who not only asked me my current salary, but also asked me what other companies I was interviewing for were offering me.
Yeah, that's a hard "Nope, I'm withdrawing my application. Have a good day".
"I signed an NDA, sorry!" isn't generally a good situation to be in but its an excellent response to that question.
Always being underpaid is a never ending cycle for me
I watched your videos but i still flopped when I was asked this. I ended up lying and giving them an inflated cost of my current salary. I’m not from US though and i am not sure if it is legal here or not
I was asked the same question several times. The last time I answered with a range where the expected salary falls in 😂. It's not even false info. It's not really elegant but it did the job and I'm in the second round soon.
So were you hired with that inflated salary?
Going to be honest, I am not even going to be interviewed for a great time (I'm 15 going for 16 right know) but your explaining skills and charm just makes me watch this video fully! I really appreciate your skill of doing this. I discovered your channel for my schools' president election on last september and I got approved! Thank you so much for everything! :)
That’s amazing! ❤ proud of you!
lil bro has a crush
@@AdviceWithErin Thank you so much :)
@@Christianity_Ronaldo_7 Nope I'm a girl
@@puseuv ayo gay?
My answer would be, "I'm sorry dude, but my employment contract prohibits revealing this info"
Saying "dude" to the interviewer would sound juvenile and disrespectful. 🤦🏻♀️
See these are the kind of social tips I scour the web for 😂
These money questions are so hard to hold strong on in interviews! I interviewed over the weekend for a town clerk position. The mayor and 2 counsellors interviewed me. The mayor was pushing so hard for me to toss out a salary number and would NOT disclose the band. A friend who works in HR told me the band for that type of work in our area is $50-70k (CAD.) If he'd pushed a little more before one of the other counsellors suggested emailing my salary proposal later, I probably would have said 50 because I just earned my accounting credentials and despite lots of other experience, I don't know what I'm worth. I honestly didn't know 50 was low, and I'd joked with my husband before the interview that I didn't think the position was worth it but maybe if they offered me 60... :P Didn't take it, though. I had other concerns.
I was the branch manager of a credit union and another bank asked me how much cash went in and out of my drawer each day. I told him I was not at liberty to tell him that information (a competing bank or credit union can use this information to make an educated guess as to how much money was kept in our vault, among other things). I was never asked for a follow up even though I was obviously qualified. Sometimes you do the right thing and you still get screwed. I'm not sure your technique will work.
Hey thanks to you I nailed my first ever Job interview for a magazine called buissness insider in Berlin 😁🤙
that's amazing!!! congrats!!
Wonderful advice Erin! Thank you for giving me actual words to say instead of a vague "do this"
I really wish this was true aroud the world. Here is Brazil this is the most common question to make, and if you don't answer, or try to avoid it, they will probably disqualify you.
Omg, i just got asked that, and i said 'before getting discarded after saying it, i would like to know if you guys have a budget'. The lady agreed and angryly went to tell me 'maximum this'. Then i said, ok, thank you, and yes that is very low for me. But that was in Mexico. I wish it was forbidden here. Who do they think they are?!
Thank you Erin!❤❤
Thank you! I did not know Any of this.
Wait wait wait so if you ask for the salary range and they tell you, should you then tell them what you’re comfortable within that range or should you not say anything at all?
No such thing as an innocent mistake in this situation.
Thank you - I'm "HR" (not my primary role) in a small company in one of the states where this is banned and I had no idea...
Why are we just not walking out on a company that asks illegal questions?
99% the time they probably are just ignorant. Professionals in hiring know all the illegal questions, so if you’re being asked, the interviewer is probably ignorant.
Self righteous indignation doesn’t pay the bills
Hi Erin! Thanks a lot for your videos. Could you provide some advice for negociation of an internal promotion offer. Especially if it's a new position within the company
On-line applications requires salary expectations before you can submit the application. How do you get around that?
Hi Erin, great video! New Hampshire is not on the list of states. Does that mean there is no band on asking for your salary or was it missed?
I worked in a company in mexico, the manager had pretty low values, he instated to ask candidates for their paystubs!!!!!!! To prove they were making what they said they were making. I hated that!!!!!
Hey Erin Thanks so much for putting this video together! I am about to be interviewed for an internal job position. Since the interviewer will know my current compensation, can I try to negotiate it as well? Any tips?
This has been popping up in EVERY fluffing interview I've had, and it's been annoying to escape that question during interviews and reported one company due to them doing unsafe things and a worker being injured during the time I was there. Again, DURING my interview.
I haven't been in the job market in a decade, but when I was the job application often asked this question and I hated that, especially when I was looking for a professional job out of college.
Never got asked that..I’m in Massachusetts
In the Philippines, some employers ask for actual payslips. 😭
How do u reply if they ask you , why cant you disclose it? Im not joking, i live in Florida and the lack of decorum is rampant.
“I’m not at liberty to disclose, can I ask why you need access to that information?”
Dude I don't even *_see_* Florida on the friggin' list she posted! I even hit CTRL + F and searched "Florida" on the page! And, nothing. Not on there. I guess it's a free-for-all here in sunny Florida... They just ask whatever they want.
Hey Erin, what about Tennessee?
❤😊Thank you.🎉
What does it mean when they tell you there is no pre-defined budget for this role?
but they always ask for this information their aoplications
ty
Ii it my understanding that when I am filling out an application and I am listing my previous employers that I don't have to list my pay rate?
Living in Russia, changed 12 jobs at my 33 (yeah, used to hop a lot when was starting my career). Never ever was asked this question - 'What are your salary expectations?' was the most common. 'What is more important - your salary or a good team' was the wierdest one.
I've filled out a few applications in person and they had salary or pay on there for the past work histories, should I not have put my pay on there for those jobs?
I have documentation - this happened to me recently on the application in NC where it is illegal
But - it's at a state agency. So idk if it's legal for them but not for local businesses? Had to fill it out to be interviewed but haven't heard back from them.
@ShayKMBR My state is apparently not on the list, so I guess it's legal to ask here. Thus video is kinda misleading. She should've started the video with, "This only applies to these states: ..." So that we don't waste our time. But of course, she's a business person, so of course she's going to be much more manipulative with the information to keep your interest and make you watch a full 10 minute video for her own greed. Since TH-camrs rely on watch time for their ad money.
That's why I take these career helper/coach channels with the tiniest of salt specs because they're trying to sell you something as much as corporations are trying to avoid paying as much.
Even though most of these people make over a million dollars and don't need more than that, but greed corrupts people's sense of honesty and morality.
@Jake38nine dude how was it misleading? She provided you with the info for which states this was an illegal question. Granted not at the beginning but not at the end either. In fact it was before she gave you coping mechanisms. Not to mention just because it is legal to ask the question doesn't mean you have to answer it. Use her statements everywhere including where it is legal because she told you not to threaten legal action.
What if it’s your first real job out of college? How to you answer that question?
I'm in the same boat. I've worked before, but I went back to school for something completely different. I've never had a salaried position before, so it's a whole new world trying to figure out what salary I think I deserve.
I recently interviewed for a position and they would NOT tell me the salary band. They eventually asked me to get back to them with a salary proposal. While they were still pushing me to answer what I wanted to be paid one of them said "You must have some idea what you'd work for. You wouldn't take $10k, right?" "No, that's not minimum wage." "So you DO have a number! What is it?" "No I just know minimum wage is higher than that." 🙃 A friend who works in HR later told me what the salary band should be for that position and it turns out the number I almost threw out when they kept pushing is the bottom of the band my friend told me. I think that's what they were hoping for, that I wouldn't ask for a fair number.
Also, companies won’t be interested in hiring you if you’re litigious.
If you’re genuinely a good liar like Azula from Avatar then can’t you still answer the question with a lie and say you earned a lot more than you did?
no one's as good as azula
watching your videos in times of recession and getting no response from recruiters 😭
Every interview I have had in the last 6 months has asked this. FML.
I am outside US. I sometimes lie 10-20% higher in the application form to look myself not to be underpaid in my current or previous role. But HR staff will cross check the pay with the hr/boss in my previous workplace. They will find out ultimately. But It depends on whether they accept the lie and accept the excepted salary bargain.
You just contradicted yourself. You say don't lie, then you tell us to lie and say we "can't" tell our salary.
Answer is in the last 2 mins of the video
To this question, I always reply "I will not let you know how much I make in my current position because I do not want your decision on how much you pay me based on my current salary. If you cannot handle that, then I think we can end this interview now. If you need my previous salary slips, you will have them, after we sign a contract."
Standard answer: Oh, my current salary range is $75 -150K yearly. What is the salary range for this position?
Hold up, if you say "well I'm not at liberty to tell you...." the next obvious question to that is "Oh, well why not?" And since you have lied in a manner that allows for further questions, you have set yourself up for a chain of lies that you will very quickly get trapped in - and no one wants to hire a lair who lies to them. So this is terrible advice, as you have advised people to lie, even though you said you don't like lying, and this lie has no out, since it leads to more questions, especially from a curious and uninformed interviewer - or from someone in the roughly half of states that know very well they can ask you this, they are going to absolutely want to know why you think you can't tell them.
If you make 60k in your current position, and maybe get a 5k bonus a couple times in the past, and answer $70k to the question, it's just rounding up so not lying. Do you seriously make exactly $60,000? No you probably make $58,240 or $60,320 or some weird number like that. So whatever number you tell them is a "lie" if rounding is a lie. Slap your bonus on, round up to the nearest $5k and tell them that. It's not lying, it's just rounding, which is entirely acceptable. They will be satisfied, it won't go further than that, and you won't have lied and told them you are making some ridiculous figure for your position. Plus they will know that unless they think you hate your current job, they will have to pay your more than $70k or whatever it is in order to hire you. Win.
Also, it's hilarious that you think companies won't try to hire without a salary target. My company does that, not all the time, not every time, but more often then you'd think. No budget, just the whim of the whoever is hiring going "oh that's too high" after interviewing and asking what the various candidates want for the position, and then not hiring good candidates. If my company does this, 100% others do it too.
So I'm in a state where it's not illegal for them to ask this per your list (TN). Observing your comment about not outright lying to them, how do I answer this question if asked? If I tell them, " l can't tell you that," that's actually a lie. Because in my state they can ask this. Gotta love TN....
You could still not be permitted to answer by your current/past employer. Just because they're allowed to ask doesn't mean you're allowed to answer.
@@JennaGetsCreative thanks so much for the reply!
I'm in TN...I always say $5k--$10k more than I'm making. I understand her saying not to lie...but I feel like that's a reasonable amount of money to say you're making and someone wpuld believe you; as opposed to some astronomical number which doesn't sound genuine
Girl, that hair color. How are you not bold.....
I take very good care of my hair 😅
I feel like this is for way too professional jobs. People who have degrees and are bachelors and pokemon masters. Lol.
I wouldnt advise people who desperately need a job to negotiate salary in this market because more and more employees rescind their offers after the person who was offered tries to negotitate.
Companies rescinding offers simply because someone attempted to negotiate is extremely rare (and a huge red flag)
@@AdviceWithErin Ive seen a lot of posts on Reddit but yeah, I wouldn't work for those companies anyway. I can afford to pick between companies but just saying, desperate people in need of a job might have to accept the first offer until the market stabilizes.
I love you, girl. But, you woke on the Brad Mondo side of the bed.
I have no idea who that is but thank you!
@@AdviceWithErinHe's a hairstylist with a huge social media following, fun content, and literally the best hair 💅
@@WxBuggin Exactly! He's also extremely upbeat and hyper sometimes. I get what you were trying to do with your comment/response. But, check him out so you can see what you were giving during this video. As someone who is subscribed to your channel and often comments positively, I have no need to come for you.
re: shoulders. Please, as a woman who likes looking pretty as much as you do, I BEG you, don't make us women look like we try to make money off our physical attractiveness. MEN don't bare their shoulders to make videos, ( shrug GENerally speaking. wink) Let's be as strong in OUR self-valuing of our INTELLIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE and our capable skills, AND as NOT self-valuing (( in our public Life,)) in letting the world know about our cute body parts, as MEN are! PLEASE! Men DO get more respect and higher incomes than many of us BECAUSE they dress at work the ways they DO. We need to SHOW the world what we know makes us VALUABLE in the workplace : NOT our bare shoulders et cetera, but things in our brains, brawn and personalities... ... EXACTLY like men know these things about THEMselves. Look at news anchors -- a perfect example historically of how men dress for success and win over those who do not. There are INNUMERABLE examples in ALL lines of Honorable Work, examples which reinforce this principle of Truth.
bestie i don't think showing my shoulders has affected my success but pop off!
... Men do not get higher salaries on average than women working the same job because of the pants they're wearing, but what's in them. I quit my last job because I was paid less than my male counterparts, despite the fact I: a) worked on more projects b) worked longer hours (salary) and c) was evaluated higher on my performance reviews. I dressed professionally.
Please do not spread this misinformation that the gender pay gap has anything to do with what men vs women wear to work. It's really gross (and incorrect).
Also, news anchors is an interesting example to choose because female news anchors, especially in the past, were pushed to wear more revealing things because the men in the audience liked it.
I have female friends in banking who have been told by bosses numerous times that they needed to wear more makeup, wear high heels, wear more "feminine" attire (it was pretty clear what was implied with that word).
I have pretty shoulders like any OTHER woman, or even like any muscular, masculine MAN's "pretty" shoulders, meaning any MAN who does NOT show us'all his SURELY cute & yummy shoulders while at work, as I DON'T, but who as a man presumably often shows them to his cherished wife. Also : calling it "gross," or even, "misinformation," (and the correct Clearly Definable Word perhaps being searched for in one's mind might alternately be "incorrect," or "deceptive,") but calling it a weird, vague, meaningless, faddish word about some incomprehensible type of "information," as a response to my stating that it's self-valuing to NOT show off my shoulders in public places where I'm earning money, is just plain WRONG. Why? Because these are MINDSETS of caving IN to the men who demand that women "look" right in order to get the same jobs that THEY, the men, have, it's caving IN to those FEW, REMAINING men who are still in abusive power positions, men who allow ONLY the women who cave IN to them to get... or worse, KEEP "the job" ...or "get the movie role" ...et cetera. These types of men do NOT have to "look like that" in order to get and stay stable in keeping THEIR similar jobs. And: telling me to "pop" off is much like the "folk off" figure of speech. It smacks of a narcissist's unthinking reaction, of anger whenever he (or she) is criticized in even the slightest way. YOU GIVE US A GOOD CHANNEL, and it's FULL of valuable information. But automatically reacting with rude, flippant curtness implies that you feel UNcomfortable in trying to INSTEAD type something more logical, brainy or wordy to defend your point of view -- debating why you think bare shoulders ARE acceptable in showing how Capable and Smart one truly IS. You two are making yourselves SEEM to us'all NOT as great as you ARE and can BE, by these impulsive things you SAY, (as WELL as by what you seem to wear in the workplace presumably.) So OKAY now go ahead, HATE on me for displaying a brainy argument instead of my pretty body parts in this public forum, but I seek ONLY to EMPOWER WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE, and I hope you're United With me in THAT at least, whether ya tell me to blink off or choose to hate on me, (claiming it's "gross" and some weird faddish word which means nothing REAL or whatEVER,) for me to state MY perspective of what I, personally, PREFER to look like and what I prefer/ wish others would ALSO not expose... ...in order for us'all to STAND UNITED against these men's IDIOTIC MINDSETS of putting DOWN women's inspiring, dazzling Capabilities, which value us mostly as their stupid boring eye candy or as bodies they literally practice at thinking about inappropriately, but NOT as the POWERFUL Feminine Spirits we ARE. Still, I JUST CAN'T BACK DOWN ABOUT THIS. I stand UP for what I have conviction about, like ALL OF US WOMEN should do!
@@Chris-qp9bi Your entire reply was rude, and so was this one. A little online etiquette for you: breaking up your post into paragraphs (you can do this by hitting the enter / return key twice) makes it easier to read.
I did also say "incorrect" in my response to you - which I'm sure you read, because you responded excessively to my "gross" descriptor (and yes, it's gross to suggest that women make less money because they choose to reveal a shoulder - which men working in some sectors also do). Your explanation for why women make less money than men (the gender age gap) is misinformation. Misinformation is the practice of spreading incorrect information online as though it is true. It may be your opinion, and you would be incorrect/wrong in that case.
Go ahead and hop on Google Scholar and find for me a peer-reviewed, scholarly article where the writer(s) actually did the requisite research on the topic of the gender pay gap (there are many) that attributes a primary or major or even any cause of the gap to women revealing their shoulders or otherwise the type of clothing women wear VS men (I'll save you some time, I already checked and there are none).
Your assertion is demonstrably not based in fact - either from a scholarly research perspective or on an anecdotal level (the person who did the video apparently has not had any negative repercussions outside or some psycho losing their mind in the comment section, and I have not personally experienced a clothing-based pay differential based on what I do / don't wear - but rather a genital-based pay differential).
You can not like that someone wears clothing that reveals their shoulders, and you can also mind your business about it.
Your replies here are unhinged. It would probably do you some good to self reflect and identify why you are having such a visceral response that you want to get into a semantic argument about it (I did not use misinformation incorrectly in my comment and if you feel I did, then you clearly don't understand the meaning of the term).