[K&J]

I just wanted to get a feel for whether people are putting their UK salaries and NZ$ equivilants on their CVs.

I work as a public sector consultant and I was on a good salary in the UK and have taken a significant pay cut for a temporary position in Australia. I know that I shouldn't hope for anything close to my UK salary, so if I quoted it on my CV would it be off putting for potential employers. Alternatively would it help me secure a high salary / better position by quoting it?

I'd be interested in hearing what others have done and how it has worked out.

[CJ22]

Not only do I not put past salaries on my CV, I won't give those salaries when asked at interview. I'm up-front but polite about it. One doesn't begin a negotiation by letting the other guy know your bottom line. Most people I've interviewed with respect the logic of that position when it's pointed out to them (though I've encountered a few agents who would not - but they can bite me).

This policy has directly resulted in my getting a bigger-than usual pay-offer. Potential employers are all too willing to offer you 'x thousand' over what you're currently on, expecting that will be enough to entice you over. If they don't know what to bid, then they often over-bid, especially if you encourage them into it.

At the end of the day, your CV serves one purpose and one purpose only - to get you an interview. Any information that is surplus to that goal doesn't belong on the CV. You can discuss salaries at interviews if you want to, but there's no need to post what you'll 'settle for' ahead of time. No boss worth working for is going to reject you for interview because you didn't advertise your current or previous salary, so why confuse the issue?

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

At the end of the day, your CV serves one purpose and one purpose only - to get you an interview.

Absolutely agree.

I never put previous salaries on Cv in the UK, for the reasons pointed out above, so certainly not going to do that here.

If the remuneration package of a role, the expectations of employer and potential employee match (or can be agreed) then all systems go. Previous salary has no bearing on the situation.

[TrentBridge]

Sound advice, but if you also have to fill in an application form and the form asks for previous or current salary don't you have fill that in the required box?

[K&J]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll go with what you have suggested.

Whilst I would never have put my salary down if I was applying for a job in the UK for the reasons you outline, I was thinking that as I'm 100% sure that a NZ employer wouldn't beat my previous UK salary might it just edge them up a bit in terms of what they offered. But I think you are right.

[CJ22]

Sound advice, but if you also have to fill in an application form and the form asks for previous or current salary don't you have fill that in the required box?

As with a lot of those kinds of forms, those questions are often asked for the benefit of the asker, not the askee. Just don't put anything. If they're so retentive that they wouldn't interview because you missed out a box, then you probably don't want to work there :no

I applied for a job through an agent I'd never used before. They insisted that before they could pass on my CV to the potential employer, they need a photocopy of my passport. I said I wasn't prepared to give some stranger I'd never met before a photocopy of my passport, but he insisted he couldn't deal with me unless I did. I told him to forget it. Sometimes an impertinent question deserves an impertinent reply.

Whilst I would never have put my salary down if I was applying for a job in the UK for the reasons you outline, I was thinking that as I'm 100% sure that a NZ employer wouldn't beat my previous UK salary might it just edge them up a bit in terms of what they offered. But I think you are right.

The thing is K&J, you want them to be thinking about those things after you've interviewed and had a chance to let them know how amazing you are, not before. At the CV stage, you're just one of a pile and they're not going to be thinking about wanting you enough to do you any favours salary-wise. If they think you might be too expensive, they'll just file you in the floor-level receptacle provided. Negotiate the price after you've sold them on the goods.

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

The thing is K&J, you want them to be thinking about those things after you've interviewed and had a chance to let them know how amazing you are, not before. Negotiate the price after you've sold them on the goods.

Spot on. Totally agree.

[bob_the_engineer]

Absolutely not! You’ll scare them off, I can’t expect anything approaching a UK salary.

I was very well paid in the UK, I could increase my salary by three (recent uk offer), but I wouldn’t live there for all the flat screen HDTV’s in China :laugh.

I’m not rich in NZ, I’m not poor, but I am happy:raebanana

Bob