TLDR: Is is acceptable to not disclose you current salary when doing salary negotiations? If so, can anyone say how to politely refuse to disclose it in Japanese?
I want to change jobs (in IT) for the sake of raising my salary 1.5-2 times and I’m aiming for well paying companies (around FAANG level).
So this recruiter tells me that offer from company XXX will depend on my current salary and I should disclose it to them during interview, and I’m not really sure if it is a good idea to do that.
Until now when I was changing jobs in Japan I was rather desperate to be hired, so I played by the rules and told them my salary. But now I’m not – I can afford turning down an offer, so I wonder how really necessary it is to disclose a salary during an interview, and if it isn’t, what are good phrases in Japanese to refuse so?
Edit: the question is only about the salary negotiation stage. I know that one has to provide the payslip for accounting purposes or smth after getting hired.
10 comments
I had luck with not disclosing my salary in my current position. However, when I interviewed for Amazon and Netflix they were pretty adamant.
Tell the recruiter what salary you would move for and let them do the rest of the work. A good recruiter will know what salary the client will dish out.
I told my current company my previous salary and they still gave me way higher than I asked.
My recruiter was persistent because my expectation was completely outside my employer’s budget. They ended up with an offer with my minimal number but recruiter pressed quite hard. Note that you’ll have to submit your witholding tax information (源泉徴収票) from previous employer, which they can “check” your previous salary.
Since it my experience many recruiters and employers here want to know your salary, I tell them but includes all non taxable benefits, I.e. your total comp. I also tell my recruiter my absolute minimum salary requirement and make sure they understand its a hard requirement.
If it’s an internal recruiter THEY would be the ones who want the info and not the hiring manager. If it’s an external recruiter, they would tell you not to speak about your current salary or salary expectations to the company but only talk to the recruiter about it.
Some companies ask for current salary and even old tax documents or payslips even. You can choose not to play by their rules but that might lead to you not being hired. If it’s right or wrong what they are doing is a different story.
If they insist on your current salary information as the basis for their offer, you need to make clear that one of the reasons for your job search is that you feel currently underpaid. Therefore, you are looking for a minimum of X (which obviously shouldn’t be your real minimum).
Of course it’s acceptable, but some won’t be happy about it because they’re used to people just doing anything they want.
Just tell them that you don’t feel comfortable telling them your current salary, and you think the salary should be based on your skills, not your previous salary.
And be ready to walk out if they keep insisting.
If you got a bonus, add the bonus into the calculations.
I also said that my previous salary is not a fair assessment to base my next salary off lf because I was doing a lot of work outside the contract’s terms unpaid (I worked for a ブラック企業).
Ultimately, be stern on what you want/your demand, not what you had.
Btw Amazon (part of faang) has shit wages here so go for other companies. They recently raised wages to be more in line with competitors( I’m talking they were paying 4.5mil for a 6.5mil job ) but the work culture here from my experience is shit in AWS Japan. Go elsewhere
I always tell my current and how much I want to change companies. I also explain that the amount I want is not counting bonus. Never an issue until now (IT) .
Just FYI anyone can find out about your salary – don’t worry/bother about hiding it.