Recruiters asking for payslips, can I refuse?

[Dal1]

This question is for recruiters. I am not currently seeking other employment but has always been curious about what recruiters would do if they asked for my current payslip to prove what I earn and I refuse to give it to them? They use this to base your salary offer on. So basically to pay you less if you earned less than what they were prepared to pay.

I took my current job to gain more experience in my field and am still studying (almost done). So I accepted a lower salary as I was inexperienced in the industry and an undergrad.

By the time I apply for a new position, I will have a few year's experience as well as a relevant degree. Problem comes in now that recruiters might base offers on current salary/payslip.

In your opinion as a recruiter, would you still be interested if I told you I won't give my payslip as it is irrelevant now and I want my next salary to be based solely on experience, education and skill? Or would I be told well if you don't want to cooperate we can't/won't help you? I know I can refuse to give it, but will the recruiter accept and go on my experience and education, or tell me they can't help me if I don't want to follow their rules.

I am certain if they see my payslip it would lower the offer, even if I'd be on par for a market related salary by then.

 

[cguy]

Some do, and some don't. You will likely find that it depends mostly on whether or not the company(s) they are currently hiring for insist on it or not. My suggestion is to not get too worried about it - give it to them if they want it, and make sure that you tell them the minimum you are willing to work for. Not giving a payslip will make them think that you earn quite a bit less than the market related pay for the position - if you do in fact earn much less, it makes sense to withhold if possible, otherwise they will low ball you with confidence. Don't tell them then that you won't give your payslip "as it is irrelevant". In a statistical sense it is relevant, and they know it, which is why they want it.

I should add that I realize that this is a fairly controversial view - a lot of people (primarily employees, who have never been on the hiring side of table) get into a huff at the notion of their "privacy being violated" (it's really not - you're about to discuss salary with someone - you're just about to give them your "worth" in currency anyway - all you're really holding back by refusing to give them your history is how much of an opportunist you're trying to be, or how badly you were being screwed - sure, that is information that is under your control, but it's hardly like being asked how much you earn at a party).

The reality is that if you state your minimum and the company wants to hire you, meeting this bar is their primary concern - I've hardly ever heard someone bring up a candidate's prior salary as a way to knock down their cost. It has once or twice been a cause for a no-hire though - if it is way to low relative to the asking salary for no seemingly justifiable reason.

 

[creeper]

I tend to take a different approach. If they start asking for payslips, I start mentioning that if we are talking money already, this is the minimum amount I require. And not a thumb suck. Depending on location, role etc., I've developed a simple financial model. It doesn't make sense to move for 10% more when the job is 50km further away from your current job, taking travelling cost into account. Even if you move closer, especially in Gauteng, the cost of renting / buying closer to the new job offsets the savings (it is a generalisation, but most of the time, it is true).

 

[RVQ]

You approaching it the wrong way, payslips are shared with your potential employer and your unwillingness to share it might put you in a negative light. Also many recruiters usually get commission based on your offer, so its in their best interest to negotiate the highest salary possible. If you got the experience, certifications and references to backup your claims then just be honest and state the salary you asking for when providing your payslip.

 

[CamiKaze]

You approaching it the wrong way, payslips are shared with your potential employer and your unwillingness to share it might put you in a negative light. Also many recruiters usually get commission based on your offer, so its in their best interest to negotiate the highest salary possible. If you got the experience, certifications and references to backup your claims then just be honest and state the salary you asking for when providing your payslip.

They will simply tell you that they can't negotiate a 20 - 30% increase on your current salary at your potential employer as that is what the potential wants to take advantage of.
A recruiter once told me, why must the potential employer give me a market salary if my previous employer low balled me? Because that means that the potential employer must now fix what the old company failed to do...

 

[Dal1]

You approaching it the wrong way, payslips are shared with your potential employer and your unwillingness to share it might put you in a negative light. Also many recruiters usually get commission based on your offer, so its in their best interest to negotiate the highest salary possible. If you got the experience, certifications and references to backup your claims then just be honest and state the salary you asking for when providing your payslip.

I do still feel they will offer less thinking "it's such a leap from the current salary already" and I might not know what they were prepared to pay. This certainly gives them the advantage in negotiations. As far as I know, some agents gets the difference between what the company was willing to pay and what offer you accepted (for a certain time period).
In the case where the agent purely earns commission, I then trust that he will fight for the highest salary. For a fixed amount, I'm not so sure as the candidate is not his client, the hiring company is. Also, he thinks of himself first, then his client and last of the applicant.

 

[cguy]

They will simply tell you that they can't negotiate a 20 - 30% increase on your current salary at your potential employer as that is what the potential wants to take advantage of.
A recruiter once told me, why must the potential employer give me a market salary if my previous employer low balled me? Because that means that the potential employer must now fix what the old company failed to do...

Because the potential employer wants to potentially employ you.

 

[cguy]

I do still feel they will offer less thinking "it's such a leap from the current salary already" and I might not know what they were prepared to pay. This certainly gives them the advantage in negotiations. As far as I know, some agents gets the difference between what the company was willing to pay and what offer you accepted (for a certain time period).
In the case where the agent purely earns commission, I then trust that he will fight for the highest salary. For a fixed amount, I'm not so sure as the candidate is not his client, the hiring company is. Also, he thinks of himself first, then his client and last of the applicant.

Regardless of the commission incentive structure, the agents won't fight for the salary to be higher or lower, they will fight for the candidate to get hired, since otherwise their commission is 0 (in the immediate sense), or much lower on $/hour basis if they have to process many more candidates. What this means is that they will try convince the candidate to take less, and the employer to pay more until eventually they cross, and a deal is made. It really doesn't make any sense for them to have more than a trivial bias one way or the other.

 

[RVQ]

I think the lesson here seems to be stay away from recruitment companies. Just contact the various companies direct, I know in the IT industry pretty much everyone is looking for good proven skill...

 

[Dal1]

They will simply tell you that they can't negotiate a 20 - 30% increase on your current salary at your potential employer as that is what the potential wants to take advantage of.
A recruiter once told me, why must the potential employer give me a market salary if my previous employer low balled me? Because that means that the potential employer must now fix what the old company failed to do...

That's my point. I accepted a lower salary while I knew I had some but not direct experience. When I will be looking for something else, I will have the experience with the education that goes with it so will want a market related. Nothing to do with previous salary as I have "made up" for my shortcomings at that time.

 

[shooter69]

I would refuse to give it to them. I have had a heated conversation with a recruiter in cape town a couple of years ago because when I asked why they need my payslip the recruiter informed me that on average the companies will not offer more than 14% of your current salary and they need proof of that current salary.

The funny thing about this is that the positions are all advertised for way more than what my current salary was at that time.

I then went for interviews directly with companies and they gave me what they advertised the position for. Did not even ask me for proof of income.

Stay away from recruitment companies.

 

[esvi]

A recruiter once told me, why must the potential employer give me a market salary if my previous employer low balled me? Because that means that the potential employer must now fix what the old company failed to do...

That's nonsense. Nobody is "fixing" anything by paying you what you are worth.

 

[cguy]

That's my point. I accepted a lower salary while I knew I had some but not direct experience. When I will be looking for something else, I will have the experience with the education that goes with it so will want a market related. Nothing to do with previous salary as I have "made up" for my shortcomings at that time.

You will have education and experience, but your experience is from working at a level that didn't require the level of education you now have. This should temper your market related target. You should give your requisite salary, and if asked why you think you can justify 30% (or whatever) more, tell them it's because you have completed a significant upgrade to your education. It's entirely reasonable.

 

[CamiKaze]

That's nonsense. Nobody is "fixing" anything by paying you what you are worth.

Yeah, this is from the recruiter, not from the company itself.
Keep in mind that recruiters will try their best to get commission, so they will try their best to sell you to a company at a lower price to cut out the competition from other recruiters, as there is a lot of competition in the recruitment world.

 

[creeper]

You approaching it the wrong way, payslips are shared with your potential employer and your unwillingness to share it might put you in a negative light. Also many recruiters usually get commission based on your offer, so its in their best interest to negotiate the highest salary possible. If you got the experience, certifications and references to backup your claims then just be honest and state the salary you asking for when providing your payslip.

Stating it outright that it is wrong is a bit ...wrong. This is my approach, and has worked a few times. If you want to follow the usual approach, then let it be.

 

[reactor_sa]

You will have education and experience, but your experience is from working at a level that didn't require the level of education you now have. This should temper your market related target. You should give your requisite salary, and if asked why you think you can justify 30% (or whatever) more, tell them it's because you have completed a significant upgrade to your education. It's entirely reasonable.

That's like saying your existing company will pay you significantly more just for another degree. Not true from my experience in the corporate environment.

 

[Napalm2880]

In the past I've refused to hand over my payslip and the recruiter said it was a requirement for the application - at which point I gave in and handed over my last 3 months payslips. Surprise, surprise, I was offered 10% on my current pay which was completely non-negotiable.

IMO it should be illegal for companies / recruitment agencies to ask for your payslip. This is personal information. The company hiring should have salary bands for the advertised position and pay you according to what they can afford, your experience, your education, and your reputation in the industry. Salary bands should be based on the companies own experience in the market as well as market research and reports - available (at a price) from most recruitment agencies.

Recruitment agents in this country are lazy and will throw you at any prospecting company - don't think they're looking after your best interests. They probably won't even read your CV. They're only interested in the churn of commission. i.e. place as many candidates as possible. Commission fees are also ludicrous - around 10-15% of the employees annual salary.

 

[vic777]

I agree. Pay the candidate what they are worth. This is another reason I believe in technical tests, if the candidate has the experience, can demonstrate it practically in a test, and if you want a degree and they have the degree, what does the current salary have to do with anything? Get an idea of what the market related salary is and pay them that.

A company that underpays will, in time, just lose the employee, and with that employee goes a ton of domain knowledge which is very hard to replace.

We recently appointed a new dev. We got tons of CV's from recruiters and most of the CV's weren't relevant to the position since most recruiters don't bother to understand the requirements, they try to match on keywords only.

 

[Zoopy]

Any good company would not ask you for your payslip. It's simply irrelevant to negotiations unless their offer is lower than what you're currently getting. These are your skills, this is the salary I'm looking for, let me know if that works for you.

This is why platforms like Offerzen are gaining in popularity- candidates are no longer being exploited so that they can be put on the back foot during negotiations. You list all your skills and capabilities on your profile, put your expected salary up and companies approach you based on that. I was on Offerzen for 2 months and interviewed with a number of companies, none of which asked what I'm currently earning. It was simply not relevant.

I also don't buy the "recruiters will negotiate the highest salary possible" spiel. Recruiters work for companies, not candidates. A company's win-win situation is getting the most qualified candidate for the lowest they can get away with paying them. A recruiter, as someone in an industry drowning in competitors, has some obligation to ensure the company 'wins' too. I know plenty of stories of recruiters who told candidates "how can you expect to just jump a salary band", despite the experience those candidates built up in their spare time placing them in a position where their current company is greatly underpaying them. I was outright told by a recruiter that they ask for payslips so that candidates can't 'cheat' their clients by asking for more than a 5%-10% increase. Imagine that? Asking for more than 10% is 'cheating' your new employer.

If I get mail or calls from recruiters and they ask what I'm currently being paid, I cease communications. The IT industry is small enough that you don't need that nonsense in your life. I know very few mid-senior people who had to get their current jobs through recruiters. Word of mouth and industry connections are the way to go. It's how I got my current one.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

The only time I would see a payslip being required was if the company was offering less than what you were currently earning, in which case proof would be acceptable that they need to improve their offer.