Can HR person ask a candidate’s last drawn salary from previous Job? Please discuss by HR ethical point of view.
From Myanmar
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From Myanmar
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Yes HR has right to ask candidate’s previous last drawn salary there is no question of Ethics at all with subject to Indian Territory.
From India, Pune
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494From India, Pune
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Dear Kophyocdce,
How can an HR know the existing salary of a candidate appearing for an interview and fix their pay unless it is ascertained with proofs? Hence, it is of utmost importance to ask about the candidate's last drawn salary. It is not unethical from an HR perspective.
Thank you.
From India, Hyderabad
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How can an HR know the existing salary of a candidate appearing for an interview and fix their pay unless it is ascertained with proofs? Hence, it is of utmost importance to ask about the candidate's last drawn salary. It is not unethical from an HR perspective.
Thank you.
From India, Hyderabad
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I have a different view. The predominant interest behind such a question is to give normally a 10% to 15% increase over and above what he is drawing now. My humble submission is to hire a candidate based on his potential and pay him compensation that is commensurate with his potential instead of offering him a 10% to 15% increase of his current salary. This could become unjust if he were underpaid by the current employer and his potential justifies far better remuneration. So I am not much in favor of asking a candidate about his current salary.
B. Saikumar HR & Labour Relations Adviser Navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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B. Saikumar HR & Labour Relations Adviser Navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Dear colleagues,
I am unable to understand the connection of asking salary details with ethics. If anything, it is far-fetched. There are no scientific, objective, and 100% reliable tests to assess the potential of the candidate, let alone judging it merely during the interview process. Therefore, asking for salary details and knowing salary expectations from the candidate is, in my view, a perfectly sound and fair HR practice involving no ethical issue whatsoever.
Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar HR Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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I am unable to understand the connection of asking salary details with ethics. If anything, it is far-fetched. There are no scientific, objective, and 100% reliable tests to assess the potential of the candidate, let alone judging it merely during the interview process. Therefore, asking for salary details and knowing salary expectations from the candidate is, in my view, a perfectly sound and fair HR practice involving no ethical issue whatsoever.
Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar HR Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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It is perfectly ethical and required to ask the current salary of a person appearing for an interview. It is important for the interviewee to also reveal his current salary as nobody would like to switch to a job at a salary lower than the present one. If one has more potential than his current employer, they will also offer him a higher salary and try to retain him once he discloses that he intends to leave the organization for a higher salary.
From India, Delhi
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From India, Delhi
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Thanks to the learned members for their enlightening responses in favor of the proposition.
True, it is neither unethical nor unlawful in the Indian context to ask a candidate about his salary as it is a predominant practice here. Although I understand that such questions are banned in interviews in the USA by legislation, I am not in favor of such legislation in India. It amounts to dictating the employer on how to conduct an interview, which is a steep interference into his business. However, this is not the issue.
My contention is not from the point of ethics or law but from the point of prudent principles of an interview for the reasons given below:
1) Though there are no perfect tools to assess the potential of a candidate, there are equally no perfect tools to detect whether the candidate is lying about his salary by quoting a higher figure than expected. In such cases, the employer may end up paying more than what the candidate deserves. The risks are even.
2) There may not be very accurate tools to test the potential perfectly, but a skillful interviewer with a sharp mind honed by experience can easily gauge a candidate's potential fairly, if not perfectly, during the interview. It is said that it is not necessary to test every grain of rice to see whether the whole bowl of rice is cooked or not, and it is enough to squeeze two or three grains to know this. This is the skill expected of an interviewer. If there are no accurate tools, then we need to use what is available for assessment as the company cannot ask the candidate to wait for 6 months of his probation to know his compensation.
3) It is found that the timing of the question many times is not mature or is premature. Many times the HR asks this question on the phone even before the actual interview commences, giving an unfriendly impression that the company is concerned more about costs than about people. Another drawback is that this palsy up on the psyche of the candidate as to why he should quote it when he does not know anything about the future job, and the candidate may not respond or mumble something, ending the process. Who knows the company may be losing a potential candidate.
Sometimes, the interviewer pops up this question in the middle of the interview, unsettling his mind with doubts whether the figure will be lower for the job, in which case he fears to be underpaid, and if it is higher, he apprehends to be rejected. Reluctantly, the candidate is likely to lose interest in the interview. Who knows the company may be losing a potential candidate.
4) It amounts to pricing a person but not a position, which is not a prudent principle of an interview.
5) Instead of asking him about his salary details, the interviewer can best leave the timing of the question to the candidate himself or postpone it until the interview process is over. By paraphrasing it differently, by asking him how much he would like to quote for this job. At this time, both parties are comfortable to discuss it in the context of his salary and the job profile, and both parties recognize each other as equal partners in the selection process, as the employer is as much in need of a potential candidate as the candidate is in need of a job.
We may agree or disagree with respect, as every view has its own substance, and most likely, subjects like this may not have a right or wrong answer. What is important is to have different views and discussions on the issue, which the querying member and other members would like to hear and know, and learning happens.
Other views are welcome.
B. Saikumar HR & Labour Relations Adviser Navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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True, it is neither unethical nor unlawful in the Indian context to ask a candidate about his salary as it is a predominant practice here. Although I understand that such questions are banned in interviews in the USA by legislation, I am not in favor of such legislation in India. It amounts to dictating the employer on how to conduct an interview, which is a steep interference into his business. However, this is not the issue.
My contention is not from the point of ethics or law but from the point of prudent principles of an interview for the reasons given below:
1) Though there are no perfect tools to assess the potential of a candidate, there are equally no perfect tools to detect whether the candidate is lying about his salary by quoting a higher figure than expected. In such cases, the employer may end up paying more than what the candidate deserves. The risks are even.
2) There may not be very accurate tools to test the potential perfectly, but a skillful interviewer with a sharp mind honed by experience can easily gauge a candidate's potential fairly, if not perfectly, during the interview. It is said that it is not necessary to test every grain of rice to see whether the whole bowl of rice is cooked or not, and it is enough to squeeze two or three grains to know this. This is the skill expected of an interviewer. If there are no accurate tools, then we need to use what is available for assessment as the company cannot ask the candidate to wait for 6 months of his probation to know his compensation.
3) It is found that the timing of the question many times is not mature or is premature. Many times the HR asks this question on the phone even before the actual interview commences, giving an unfriendly impression that the company is concerned more about costs than about people. Another drawback is that this palsy up on the psyche of the candidate as to why he should quote it when he does not know anything about the future job, and the candidate may not respond or mumble something, ending the process. Who knows the company may be losing a potential candidate.
Sometimes, the interviewer pops up this question in the middle of the interview, unsettling his mind with doubts whether the figure will be lower for the job, in which case he fears to be underpaid, and if it is higher, he apprehends to be rejected. Reluctantly, the candidate is likely to lose interest in the interview. Who knows the company may be losing a potential candidate.
4) It amounts to pricing a person but not a position, which is not a prudent principle of an interview.
5) Instead of asking him about his salary details, the interviewer can best leave the timing of the question to the candidate himself or postpone it until the interview process is over. By paraphrasing it differently, by asking him how much he would like to quote for this job. At this time, both parties are comfortable to discuss it in the context of his salary and the job profile, and both parties recognize each other as equal partners in the selection process, as the employer is as much in need of a potential candidate as the candidate is in need of a job.
We may agree or disagree with respect, as every view has its own substance, and most likely, subjects like this may not have a right or wrong answer. What is important is to have different views and discussions on the issue, which the querying member and other members would like to hear and know, and learning happens.
Other views are welcome.
B. Saikumar HR & Labour Relations Adviser Navi Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
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Dear Kophyocdce,
The employing company is right to know all about work experience, wages, and family details of a person they are going to recruit. Why do you think it is unethical to know about a person whom I am considering for a job? This attitude gives an impression that the candidate has nothing of potentiality to support his claim to meet the requirements of the employment.
It is common and general practice to fill out a form before an interview, where all details are provided along with references for the employer to verify the authenticity of the information furnished by the candidate. This action is ethical and holds sanctity under the law.
From India, Mumbai
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The employing company is right to know all about work experience, wages, and family details of a person they are going to recruit. Why do you think it is unethical to know about a person whom I am considering for a job? This attitude gives an impression that the candidate has nothing of potentiality to support his claim to meet the requirements of the employment.
It is common and general practice to fill out a form before an interview, where all details are provided along with references for the employer to verify the authenticity of the information furnished by the candidate. This action is ethical and holds sanctity under the law.
From India, Mumbai
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