This is a very important reminder to all candidates—do not lie about your salary. It is natural and realistic to seek an increase in salary when seeking and considering other opportunities. Unless there is some special circumstance, both recruiters and clients are aware that candidates desire salary increases in order to accept a new role in their careers. A lateral move is often entertained if the candidate is extremely overpaid or perhaps has been out of work for an extended period of time. However, candidates often lie about their salaries (either their bases or total packages) and this always results in unfavorable situations during the offer stage—either the client withdraws the offer or the candidate ends up looking suspect even if we (as recruiters) do our best to smooth things over in the face of a lie.
We always ask candidates to disclose honest and detailed information regarding their base salaries and total compensation packages (if there is some type of base plus bonus or commission). Clients take this information into account when they review candidates information. Clients will often decide to pass on a candidate, for example, if the salary is too high. It would be a waste of time to entertain a candidate who is out of budget. That being said, this salary information is most important during offer stage as the compensation offer is based upon the candidates’ current and targeted salary.
*** This advice is even more important as most clients ask for paystubs at offer stage to confirm salary. If candidates are lying about salary, it is going to be uncovered and the offer will completely fall apart due to this lie. It really isn’t worth it. Our goals are aligned—we want to get you the increase you want and likely deserve, but we can only do so if a truthful conversation about salary occurs from the start.
So bottom line to all candidates—lying about salary will get you nowhere and only end up in a shattered offer and a group of very disappointed and disheartened people. It is also a very small industry so having the reputation of a liar is not a good thing and can spread through the grapevine quickly. The moral of the story is to tell the truth and good things will come!