Should You Reveal Your Current Pay in Job Interviews?

Tim Elliott (0:00)

This is Mira Business FM, it's the Morning Drive. It is, is it Thursday morning? It's Thursday morning already. David Mackenzie is back in the room with us. It's nice to see you.

David Mackenzie (0:09)

Yeah, and you.

Tim Elliott (0:09)

Thursday morning. Do you feel, at the moment, Dubai's really busy now, right? There's traffic everywhere, but I feel like it's, the weeks are flying by.

David Mackenzie (0:18)

Yeah.

Tim Elliott (0:19)

We're well into October.

David Mackenzie (0:20)

I know, and I think we've had a really quiet year in recruitment terms, then suddenly, it's like we've been sort of walking around Kite Beach, and now everyone's having to run really fast. But I still don't think the economy's caught up. I think the signs are very good. Certainly, in recruitment terms, they're good, but stuff is still not landing. I think it'll be early next year before they land.

Tim Elliott (0:41)

Yeah, but we're definitely kind of getting momentum going. I feel like a swan on a lake.

And you know, because I'm quite busy at the moment, and you're trying to look.

David Mackenzie (0:51)

I love the way you said swan and not duck.

Tim Elliott (0:54)

Well, because I was going for poised, slightly more poised and a bit more serene.

David Mackenzie (0:58)

Gravitas.

Tim Elliott (0:59)

Well, yeah, it's not true. But, and you know the little feet are going like crazy underneath.

David Mackenzie (1:06)

Yeah, but I think you're right. That's exactly what the UAE feels like. Saudi doesn't feel like that, by the way.

Tim Elliott (1:11)

Really?

David Mackenzie (1:11)

Saudi feels really quiet at the moment.

Tim Elliott (1:15)

When were you last in Saudi Arabia?

David Mackenzie (1:17)

A week and a half ago.

Tim Elliott (1:18)

Oh, okay.

David Mackenzie (1:19)

Yeah, I'm going next week again as well.

Tim Elliott (1:21)

Right, okay. Well, it just feels like things are really catching up.

This morning, it's all about, really all about salary. The salary question, the interview question that you don't actually have to answer, but you kind of do have to answer. So there's a, it leaves people in such a quandary. It is nerve-racking, strangely familiar, while it's kind of unfamiliar in a job interview. I can't even put this into words, but you know what I mean. So, you've done the research, you've rehearsed your answers, the interview's going well.

Then the interviewer leans back and says, so what are you on at the moment? Or similar? Okay, this is where we're going to start. What do you say when a recruiter or an interviewer asks that? So that's what we're going to ask you today. David Mackenzie is the MD, he's the capo tutti di capi at Mackenzie Jones Recruitment Consultancy.

David Mackenzie (2:19)

Thank you.

Tim Elliott (2:20)

The big boss.

David Mackenzie (2:21)

Nice.

Tim Elliott (2:22)

It's a tough one though, isn't it? Do you tell the truth? Do you go high? Do you go low? What do you do?

David Mackenzie (2:27)

You know what my answer is going to be.

Tim Elliott (2:30)

I think I do.

David Mackenzie (2:31)

Honesty is always the key. But I get where this is coming from because I know there's a whole piece behind this.

And I think we talked about it this morning already. When you're being interviewed, there are two types of people that you've got to have this discussion with. You're going through a recruitment company or going direct to a client. They're probably different answers, by the way. So recruitment company, you have to be super honest because our job is to get you the right package. We negotiate on your behalf.

Our relationship with the client is we're very transparent and very honest. So we tell the client exactly what you're on and what you're expecting. And if the client is too much, we go, fair enough.

Tim Elliott (3:13)

OK. So that I understand. So if I was to come to you and say, David, get me a job, you never know. You're going to say that. That might happen sooner rather than later, the way this is going. But for most people, when you're sat in a different situation, you're sat in front of the three people interviewing you for a particular position, it's a corporate position, that's where the real dilemma is. First of all, you have to kind of remember your script and try and get it right and not mess it up. But also, you've got to work out whether it's appropriate to answer in a particular way. Is it even appropriate to ask the question in some jurisdictions? I find it a really difficult thing.