Application agony: what to put in the salary spot

October 18, 2012

Application agony: what to put in the salary spot

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By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star

You're filling out an application -- online or on paper -- and it asks what you earned in your last (or current) job.

Or it asks what you expect to be paid in this job.

Either way, your heart sinks. Your answer could ruin your chances.

And, if you're filling in online blanks, you can't even submit the form without putting something in the salary spot.

What should you do? That's one of the most frequent worries I hear from job hunters.

Applicants say what they earned in the past isn't relevant, especially for career or industry changers in a down economy.

And they're afraid of lowballing or pricing themselves out of contention.

I asked several career counselors what they advise clients. They agreed you have to put down something if asked.

Leaving the salary question blank is more likely to cause your application to be tossed for failure to follow directions.

So what do you put in the blanks?

Nothing -- until you're researched the company, the job and the industry in your geographic area.

When you understand the current range for the position, then choose a midpoint number for your salary expectation or list the range that you know is reasonable.

If it's required that you list your past pay, don't lie. A lie, if caught, will toss your candidacy for sure.

But you can try to finesse any big difference between what you made before and what you expect to earn in the new job. Look for somewhere else on the application where you can explain that your career interests or financial needs have changed.

If there's no opportunity for an explanation, it may be best to reassess your application. This job may not be the best fit for your skills or experience.

Employers are wary about hiring someone who they think will leave as soon as something more fitting arises. Even if that's not true for you as an applicant, it's a reality in today's job market, so it's best when your salary number fits what they expect to pay.

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3 Comments

JD on October 18, 2012 10:46 PM | Reply

I've often refused to play and put a space in the field so that the ATS knows something was entered. I've also put $1.

Are there employers who screen applicants out for high AND low salary requirements in ATS? I might if I were screening desperate to trim the applicant pool; what a strange concept.

Thoughts?

Barnaby Sonnenschein on October 21, 2012 11:17 AM | Reply

It all depends on the company. Some don't care at application time, but some do. I worked for a very large company screening resumes, and we would assign a point value to how far someone deviated from the salary range for the position. If their salary requirement was more than $10k deviation either too high or too low, the candidate quite possibly wouldn't be considered for an interview, Also, if someone left the salary information blank, they would receive the maximum negative points and also probably not get called for an interview. It was just one way to screen people out I suppose. I now work for another Fortune 100 company, and they could care less if applicants list anything in the salary area. Since you don't really know, it's best to put your true salary, or what you expect in the job. Hopefully you are familiar with the market, or have been paid a fair market value up to this point.

David on November 5, 2012 2:45 PM | Reply

I usually put "Fair market rate". Sometimes I add "I would like to first look over the employee benefits package before coming up with a figure."

When I started my previous job, my employer paid for the health insurance for me, my wife, and my three children at no cost to me. That and other benefits are worth a great deal, and that is hard to work into a blank line.

Application agony: what to put in the salary spot

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