Question:

I hope to get your advice regarding a question that came to me by email from the HR department of a company I applied to. They were asking for my salary requirements before talking with me any further. I am not sure if I should disclose what I make now as that could be a deterrent to a prospective employer. Should I include my bonus and vacation pay as part of my salary disclosure?

Answer:

I would recommend the following options, and I would consider each carefully based on your current knowledge of the company/industry thus far, and how stringent they might be about this. I typically pose the question like this: What are your salary expectations? In general, I do respect the fact that someone may be hesitant to disclose salary at such an early stage of the game, especially when the conversation so far is simply be email. But I can't speak for all recruiters or HR departments. I certainly can’t speak for headhunters – as they may indeed require you to disclose this information from the very beginning. I do, however, always encourage honesty, because you can't prove otherwise.

• You can state that you are hesitant to disclose until you know more about when the perimeters of the job are, and possibly have a chance to discuss in person.

• Don't bother trying to include what your vacation/benefits are worth. Too often people do that, trying to put a dollar figure on it, and that is a bit convoluted. 

• You can be completely honest and state what your BASE salary is currently, (then just clarify that this is base, not inclusive of full benefits), so they know you aren't trying to plump those numbers up.

• If you were expecting to be at (for example) 5% higher by this time, but know it wasn't going to happen because of the reduction -- you can state that your expectations are in the 90-95k range. You are likely better off disclosing what salary you are aiming for (minimum), not what you currently make.

• You can try to ask what the salary range for the position is.

• You are the judge and trying to understand the tone of a question from an employer is difficult when posed by email. You can certainly say that you would rather discuss this by phone, if even briefly.