Why Do Employers Want to Know on Your Application...

[rsmith6621]

......for employment how much you made at you previous employers??? What is it they can determine or rational from that information.They certainly wont be able to verify that with those employers.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. They want to know to see if they can match it.

Or if they can get away with giving you less.

That's been my experience, anyway...


:shrug:

[LuvNewcastle]

2. They want to pay you as little as possible.

The amount of compensation you've received in the past is a good indication of what you'll accept in the future.

[DJ13]

3. Afraid that their low pay would make for a disgruntled employee?

Especially if that new hire is settling for far less than prior jobs paid.

[mahina]

4. To see if you are in their ballpark

money wise.

[Ex Lurker]

5. If you made significantly more in your last job

you may be overqualified for this one and leave when a better one comes along. There may be other reasons, but that's one.

[markpkessinger]

6. To keep the upper hand in salary negotiations . . .

. . . which is also why many job ads will say, "send resume with cover letter and salary requirements to ...". For just about any job, they have a range they figure they're likely to have to pay. But they try to avoid telling you what that range is, because if you demand less than that, they want to be able to take advantage. If at all possible, you should try to get the prospective employer to make the opening bid in salary negotiations, but it can be tough to pull off.

[JNinWB]

7. "They certainly wont be able to verify that with those employers. "

Most previous employers will verify the dates employed and final PR amount. They won't offer these numbers, but will generally confirm numbers, if provided.

Previous employers want to help these employees get off unemployment, which adds to this previous employer's UI rates.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Here is the way it worked for me

When I was laid off whenever I would be called in for an interview after filling out the application the first question would be:

Are you going to return to your old job when they call you back?

There is no right answer to this question.

If I said of course I will be going back unless you can match the same pay and benefits I was receiving on my previous job which they won't. Which meant no job for me.

If I said sure I will stay with your company for less money my other employer pays they knew I was either an idiot or a liar. Which of course also meant no job for me.

There it is.

Don

[JustAnotherGen]

9. For my current company

They asked for that info - AND put the salary range in the posting. They were deliberately looking for someone outside of the company to give different perspective to their positioning of the product. Pretty standard in my industry. Now almost six years later vie moved into an entirely different role and have to deliberately hire from outside of the company. I have a very specific employment background I'm looking for (law enforcement) but with a strong financial analysis and understanding of social engineering, patterns, psychology etc etc.

Being just outside of NYC it's allowing HR to take out the laid off Bankers who were making 600 K a year and instead get to me all of the Police Officers god damn Chris Christie laid off because he's a jerk that would be thrilled to make 90 K a year plus the potential for a 30% bonus.

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. In cases, they are looking for level of responsibility.

You can be a "Customer Service" professional at minimum wage or have a similar background with different responsibility (mission critical arena, high profile project, Company spokesperson, etc) at $100k - and still hold the same title on paper. They want to make sure that if they are considering you for the $100k job, that you have held similar responsibilities and that if they are hiring you for the former, that you aren't overqualified and will bolt at the first chance. It isn't necessarily about beating your old salary (everyone knows there is MUCH more to job satisfaction than pay) - but about being within the range of what you used to make, +/- some amount, but not to the extremes in either direction.

Also, there are a handful of questions a company is allowed to answer about former employees:

1. Start and End Date?
2. Starting and Ending wage?
3. Functional title?

and the killer:

4. Is this person eligible for rehire?

That last one is the one that gets HR out of the 'you gave me a bad recommendation' lawsuits. A company only has to say "no, they are not eligible for rehire" and that blows the dogwhistle that you wouldn't be considered there ever for any reason.

One company I worked for even broke down #4 into catagories: (eligible, but not in a sales role, eligible, but not handling cash, eligible, but not dealing directly with the public, etc...)

For HR law, they have to use this consistently, not randomly and not as the opinion of the person fielding the reference call. Each person has the right to know what 'rehire eligibility' status will be entered into their file at the time of termination, though many people don't know to ask that question. (You can always call later and ask - by law, if they use that system for their protection, they have to tell you).

One last suggestion for you:

If you are concerned about what a former employer is saying to prospective employers - game it. Find a friend (preferably a business owner for cover) and ask them to call. Have them ask first for your former supervisor (by name) to see if the company allows anyone to give references and speak to reference requests. Likely, they will be sent to HR. Either way - have them ask as much as they can think to ask and that way you will know what your former employer is saying (or willing to say) to future bosses.

[Posteritatis]

13. Good explanation. (nt)

[whistler162]

11. Those are tame.. I filled out aa application which wanted

your SS# and other not allowed information. This from a credit counseling service, so I knew they want to prescreen applicants for debt worthyness. I filled out the app and subitted my resume but used non-usable data for the illegal questions. Never got a call from them, SURPRISE.

The new job, as of Monday, will likely run a criminal background check but I was also expecting a drug test given I will be indirectly or sometimes directly dealing with children. Technical support of PC's etc. in various school districts. Civil service and what should be a good health insurance policy, at 50 a few health issues(minor as long as I am careful), combined with a interesting job offsets a 20% reduction in pay.

[Bucky]

12. They want to see if you're smart enough to write down "will discuss"

It's a total power play. They just want to make you think they're the boss just because, you know, they're the boss.

Seriously, it's all a negotiation, of course. So information is a key tool for them. When you meet, you're just as entitled to ask what the previous person in that position was making. You'll make less, probably, but then again the person you're replacing was with the company longer than you (since you're not working there yet).