[Drbble]

This article contradicts the single largest pro-employee piece of wisdom ("don't walk up to the table with your cards showing") without providing any supporting argument. What does your salary in an unrelated job have any relevance at all to another company? Any company that asks the question has shown that it is not "worth its salt" and so the "trust me" advice immediately dissolves.

I told my personally retained recruiter my previous salary, under promise of confidence, only to hear it quoted back to me by the hiring manager. I watched the same thing happen on the other side when I sat on a hiring committee. Why would anyone believe him? Divulging your current salary is basically asking for that plus 5%.

[tptacek]

To pile cynicism on top of cynicism, remember that recruiters have the same incentive structure as real estate agents: they make their money on deal flow, so they're motivated to spend as little time on you as possible.

Giving a recruiter your current salary allows them to be choosy about where they send you. It may keep you away from lower-paid opportunities, but also might keep you away from more senior roles.

Not generally a fan of recruiters at all, really. If you code and you're good, you'll do better on your own.

[patio11]

Wow, we really think alike. I posted the same thing and then saw this.

[Peroni]

I had originally included a lengthy argument against disclosing your salary to recruiters and I agree with you completely. That element was removed due to the fact that the post was aimed at graduates who most likely won't have to deal with recruiters for a number of years.

[Too]

Similar thing happened to me. Recruiting agent was playing as if they were on my side all the time. They asked what my desired and walk-away salary was "to make sure my desired salary wouldn't sound stupid/outrageous to the company", also under promise of confidence. I smelled something funny and deliberately gave a lower than standard number to test them. Later the company contact quoted me back with the exact same number.

I also found out that they called other companies i had been in contact with for other jobs, without going through the agent, to get and share information about me with/from them. This was what raised my suspicion to the agency first and made me test the salary question. Didn't take the job they delegated in the end, but for other reasons.

I'm not advising against agencies, they can be useful and land you a good job but don't think for one second that they are your friend. They are there to extract as much information as possible from you. Don't tell them anything that might put you in a bad position for the job and your salary.

[rmc]

They asked what my desired and walk-away salary was "to make sure my desired salary wouldn't sound stupid/outrageous to the company", also under promise of confidence.

A good way to even it out would be to reply with "Well I dunno, why don't you tell me what the company's desired salary is, and I'll tell you if it's outrageous?". After all, if the only reason they want to know is to prevent you sounding stupid, they'd tell you that, right? :P

[onemoreact]

The proper way to use recruiters is to quote a high salary as your minimum. If your skills set you up for say 80k-120k then it's easy for you to find an 80k job and hard to find a 120k job so quote 115k. If they call you back it's probably worth your time to listen, and if they don't you have lost nothing.

PS: Now, this can change if you have been looking for a while and really need a job, but there is little reason to start low balling yourself.