Another consideration in the legibility space is how permanent you expect your time working for a nonprofit to be. If you are returning to industry and negotiating pay, they will not care about how much you theoretically could have been making, they will care about what you were actually paid.
That doesn’t sound right to me? Transitioning to a non-profit means a significant pay cut even if they don’t formally pass up pay. If I were to return to tech, my current salary is low enough that I wouldn’t expect it to affect our negotiations at all? And if instead I was being paid 2⁄3 of what I’m currently paid, it’s still wouldn’t have an effect?
If you’re trying to maximize your income in standard jobs in the private sector you want to get multiple offers at the same time and have them bid against each other. In which case it doesn’t matter much what your previous role paid?
(And this is ignoring that in 22⁄50 states [EDIT: 15⁄50] it’s now illegal to require salary history)
I think that’s right for someone who has an established private-sector job history. If someone is starting off in the non-profit sector but thinking it may not be permanent, salary could be seen as a proxy for level of responsibility in the non-profit role that is difficult to manipulate / embellish.
I think the things you bring up a reasons why the effect that I mention might not be as strong as one might naively expect, but that’s not a reason to expect that it wouldn’t have an effect at all.
Even if there is a penalty either way, passing up pay could increase that penalty, in expectation.
Even for those with multiple offers, initial offers will be based in part on (perceptions of) current pay. The negotiating technique you mention can be useful, but also has a lot of downsides, and a candidate’s current job is often considered the main BAFTA.
Even if it’s illegal to ask for salary history, one might want to volunteer it. Also in most of the states you mention, the ban only applies to the state itself, not to private employers, or only to specific cities.
in most of the states you mention, the ban only applies to the state itself, not to private employers or only to specific cities.
Thanks for pointing that out! I count 15 states (AL, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, ME, MD, MA, NV, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA) where the ban includes private employers and is state-wide.
Another consideration in the legibility space is how permanent you expect your time working for a nonprofit to be. If you are returning to industry and negotiating pay, they will not care about how much you theoretically could have been making, they will care about what you were actually paid.
That doesn’t sound right to me? Transitioning to a non-profit means a significant pay cut even if they don’t formally pass up pay. If I were to return to tech, my current salary is low enough that I wouldn’t expect it to affect our negotiations at all? And if instead I was being paid 2⁄3 of what I’m currently paid, it’s still wouldn’t have an effect?
If you’re trying to maximize your income in standard jobs in the private sector you want to get multiple offers at the same time and have them bid against each other. In which case it doesn’t matter much what your previous role paid?
(And this is ignoring that in 22⁄50 states [EDIT: 15⁄50] it’s now illegal to require salary history)
I think that’s right for someone who has an established private-sector job history. If someone is starting off in the non-profit sector but thinking it may not be permanent, salary could be seen as a proxy for level of responsibility in the non-profit role that is difficult to manipulate / embellish.
I think the things you bring up a reasons why the effect that I mention might not be as strong as one might naively expect, but that’s not a reason to expect that it wouldn’t have an effect at all.
Even if there is a penalty either way, passing up pay could increase that penalty, in expectation.
Even for those with multiple offers, initial offers will be based in part on (perceptions of) current pay. The negotiating technique you mention can be useful, but also has a lot of downsides, and a candidate’s current job is often considered the main BAFTA.
Even if it’s illegal to ask for salary history, one might want to volunteer it. Also in most of the states you mention, the ban only applies to the state itself, not to private employers, or only to specific cities.
Thanks for pointing that out! I count 15 states (AL, CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, ME, MD, MA, NV, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA) where the ban includes private employers and is state-wide.