Can recruitment agencies ask how much you earn?

MiddleOne

Hi,

I am currently putting out the feelers for a new job and have emailed my CV off to a couple of recruitment agencies. It's been a while since I've been on the market for a new job so I don't know what they are allowed to ask and what they can't ask. I know the obvious ones e.g. your age, but are they allowed to ask you how much you are currently earning?

So far, two have called me back and both asked how much I am earning now. Personally, I don't see how that is relevant. I am guessing they want to know for their own records and it's nothing to do with finding me a better paid job. Are they allowed to ask me that? I tried to skirt around it both times by saying instead the salary I was looking for and both times the recruitment consultant asked me straight out what I was on now.

kidneyfan

Anyone can ask you anything. You don't have to answer.

mitresize5

tell them what your next job expectations are and tell them your current salary is -10% to -20% below that.

Dont worry about stretching the truth as by the end of the process they will have told you more lies than you could ever hope to tell them :-)

Bandana boy

Of course they can ask what you earn , you are a product they are trying to sell not a customer.

Somebody with an expectation of 100K who is currently on 35K is probably not being realistic and will just waste the recruiters time and possibly their customers time who at the end of the day is who pays.

runawaybishop

MiddleOne wrote: »

Hi,

I am currently putting out the feelers for a new job and have emailed my CV off to a couple of recruitment agencies. It's been a while since I've been on the market for a new job so I don't know what they are allowed to ask and what they can't ask. I know the obvious ones e.g. your age, but are they allowed to ask you how much you are currently earning?

So far, two have called me back and both asked how much I am earning now. Personally, I don't see how that is relevant. I am guessing they want to know for their own records and it's nothing to do with finding me a better paid job. Are they allowed to ask me that? I tried to skirt around it both times by saying instead the salary I was looking for and both times the recruitment consultant asked me straight out what I was on now.

Yes they can ask you. They cant discriminate based on the below:

Gender: this means man, woman or transsexual
Civil status: includes single, married, separated, divorced, widowed people, civil partners and former civil partners
Family status: this refers to the parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary carer or parent of a person with a disability
Sexual orientation: includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual
Religion: means religious belief, background, outlook or none
Age: this does not apply to a person aged under 16
Disability: includes people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions
Race: includes race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin
Membership of the Traveller community.

howamidifferent

Why can't they discriminate based on intellectual disability? Surely if someone is intellectually disabled they can't be considered for many jobs that require a certain minimum level of intelligence?

MiddleOne

Bandana boy wrote: »

Of course they can ask what you earn , you are a product they are trying to sell not a customer.

Somebody with an expectation of 100K who is currently on 35K is probably not being realistic and will just waste the recruiters time and possibly their customers time who at the end of the day is who pays.

I realise it's the company who pays them but they don't need to know how much I earn to match me with right job. By the time they called me back they had my CV so, assuming they read it, they would be aware of my experience and qualifications. They would already know i'm not a recent graduate looking for a senior exec's job. I'm not a senior exec, just using that as an example.

Mrs OBumble

Indeed - which means that they can discriminate based on your employment status, current salary, height, weight, physical attractiveness, where you live etc.

You're right in that they can only collect data which is relevant to your dealings with them. But current salary is: it lets them know whether the level you are on is at all related to the level of the position they're wanting to fill. No point in talking to you about it if you're currently on 60k but the position is only paying 30k.

howamidifferent wrote: »

Why can't they discriminate based on intellectual disability? Surely if someone is intellectually disabled they can't be considered for many jobs that require a certain minimum level of intelligence?

They have to make reasonable accommodation for disability.

Being a shop-assistant requires you to be able to handle cash and deal with customer questions.

Saying "you can't be a shop assistant because you have an intellectual disability" isn't allowed.

But "You aren't suitable for this particular job because you cannot handle cash and find dealing with strangers very stressful - and we cannot afford to have another person with you all the time to do the things you can't handle" is probably ok.

Gongoozler

MiddleOne wrote: »

I realise it's the company who pays them but they don't need to know how much I earn to match me with right job. By the time they called me back they had my CV so, assuming they read it, they would be aware of my experience and qualifications. They would already know i'm not a recent graduate looking for a senior exec's job.

They'll be looking for a person that the client can pay the least for. That's why they want to know, that figure is what they can say you're worth.

This is really not rocket science.

Tell them what your salary expectations are instead if you feel it's more productive.

MiddleOne

runawaybishop wrote: »

Yes they can ask you. They cant discriminate based on the below:

Gender: this means man, woman or transsexual
Civil status: includes single, married, separated, divorced, widowed people, civil partners and former civil partners
Family status: this refers to the parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary carer or parent of a person with a disability
Sexual orientation: includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual
Religion: means religious belief, background, outlook or none
Age: this does not apply to a person aged under 16
Disability: includes people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions
Race: includes race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin
Membership of the Traveller community.

Thanks for that. I didn't think they could ask you your age, although one also asked me what year I did my Leaving Cert in! Considering I have a degree and a masters, I couldn't see what she was gaining from finding that out aside from wanting to know how old I was. If she was clever enough she could have worked it out based on when I started working.

MiddleOne

[QUOTE=
Tell them what your salary expectations are instead if you feel it's more productive.[/QUOTE]

I did. They still pushed me on what I was on now.

kidneyfan

MiddleOne wrote: »

I did. They still pushed me on what I was on now.

Just lie triple your current salary.

Bandana boy

it is a balancing act , While its beyond Daft saying you earn 105 K when you earn 35K , you will certainly lose out on offers of 50K becasue of it. And your chances of jumping to 70-105K are as close to zero as make no difference . It is a nonsense strategy

If on 35 K looking for 50K I would say current 42-43K and explain you have not moved salary while taking more responsibility in work hence the need for a decent jump for next role .

If I saw a salary expectation of 60K for a 50K role I would dump CV with out looking further.
I would also admonish recuiter for wasting my time.

skallywag

I think it's a perfectly reasonable question for a recruitment agency to ask you, as it's (nearly always at least) very relevant to matching you to a potential new position.

I do not really understand your reluctance to share this information with them? Is it not in both of yeer interests that they find you a new position which you are happy with, financially and otherwise?

Jim2007

runawaybishop wrote: »

Yes they can ask you. They cant discriminate based on the below:

Gender: this means man, woman or transsexual
Civil status: includes single, married, separated, divorced, widowed people, civil partners and former civil partners
Family status: this refers to the parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary carer or parent of a person with a disability
Sexual orientation: includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual
Religion: means religious belief, background, outlook or none
Age: this does not apply to a person aged under 16
Disability: includes people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions
Race: includes race, skin colour, nationality or ethnic origin
Membership of the Traveller community.

Of course they will discriminate on these items, the trick is not let you know they did it. Mean while people waste their time applying for jobs they are never going to get or even worse attending interviews.

mrDerek

When asking potential candidates that question... my logic is a lot of places differ in wage scale some companies are cheap bastards others just throwing their money away, you cant expect a reasonable service from recruiters if they have no base to work off of. No point approaching somebody with a 45k job when they are already on 50k but didnt disclose this, wastes everybodies time.

Mc Love

Do your research, find out how much should be on and tell them that figure

ejabrod

I was asked in the last few days. I added €10k to my current and stated that I wanted to improve on that by 10-15%.

Recruiter advised that the role she had contacted me about was €17k more than what I told the recruiter I was on (my actual +€10k)!!!

seamus

Jim2007 wrote: »

Of course they will discriminate on these items, the trick is not let you know they did it. Mean while people waste their time applying for jobs they are never going to get or even worse attending interviews.

Recruitment agents actually are much freer in this regard because they're basically a broker between you and the employer. They can really only fall foul of the equal status act if they refuse to take you on as a candidate or refuse to put you forward for a role on any of these bases.

That is, a recruitment agent could quite easily say, "This is really more of a young person's company, they're out partying four nights a week, I'm not sure if it'll be for you", without getting in trouble - because they're not the ones doing the hiring.

If however they point blank refused to put your CV forward because of your age, then that could be an issue.

allibastor

Nearly all do this.

I have met a few who actually get annoyed when you dont answer. One in particular had a young girl who was 3 months into recruitment and told me, someone with 6 years at it, that all professionals do this.
I nearly laughed in her fat little face! poor girl then said it was being difficult to not answer as the job wont know what to offer.

I explained the whole market rate for skills and shortages etc and she hadnt a clue. Then explained agency workers directive, wage agreements and salary guides.

Eventually she got it, but then never submitted my CV for the role.
I spoke to the client after that, he was actually annoyed I never applied direct as he would have taken me, but I pointed out his agency's issues and lack of understanding. Dont think they were used again.