Posted by Saundra Lee on Tue, Oct 12, 2010 @ 12:56 PM
Last week, I was speaking with a man currently working in a Big 4 accounting firm and was interviewing with our client for a Corporate Accounting role. He was a very confident interviewer because he had done so much research on the company and had the ideal experience for the job but he was unsure about one question....what to say if they asked about money.
There are really two parts to that question.
- What are you making?
- What are you looking to make?
1. "What are you making?" is a very straight forward question and should get a straight forward answer. I understand it is something that you don't tell the person next to you at work or use it as pick-up line but the interviewer does get to know this. Of course, you are not required to divuldge your past salary but keep these two things in mind.
- If they are interested in making you an offer, most of the time they will ask you to sign a release form to do a background check which usually includes education and employment verification as well as W9.
- If you do not give a straight answer and come off secretive or defensive about your last salary this could make you appear less confident that you will be paid what you are worth. It is best not to wave a red flag on this topic.
Think of it like the doctor's office getting to have your social security number.
2. "What are you looking to make?" is what I call a "future" question. Past and present questions need to be answered with actuals or facts as where future questions can be anwered in theory or with intangibles.
See my Vlog on that part of the money question and please comment with your experiences with this interview question.