“What’s your Salary?”

If you’ve ever got a new job, changed jobs or started your own venture, you must have been asked one of these as the first question when someone comes to know about it: “What’s your salary?”, “How much does it pay/do you make?”, “What’s the pay like?” or something along similar lines, asking you about how much you’ll be making so that they can estimate what your bank balance looks like. Well, this got me thinking, why would people ask that as a first question? Maybe because:

1. They want to compare it to how much they make.
2. They know it pays low and want to rub in your face.
3. They know it pays high and want to ensure what they’ve heard is true.
4. Gossip about it later with someone else.
5. Some godforsaken reason.
   Maybe they genuinely want to know the pay, because they’re planning to make a switch? But then, why would you not use Glassdoor or Payscale for that?

Move over Salary

There are various reasons because of which I believe that this question should not be asked (unless and until you’re asking it to your immediate family):

1. The other person might be making a fortune and might not want to share that information, or simply be shy to share it (People make money. Get over it!)
2. The person on the receiving end of the question might not be making a lot of money, and hence doesn’t want to share it (Yes, some people do stuff just because they like it and for a hundred other reasons. Surprise!)
3. There are better questions to be asked. As simple as that. A “Heard about your new job, Congratulations!…” could be followed by “…What will you be working on?”, or “…What made you switch firms?”, or “…Will you still be around or are moving somewhere else?”, or a plain and simple “…Hope you have a good experience there.”, or a gazillion other good questions that do not make the other person uncomfortable.

My point being, If you really want to know how much a firm or position pays, just google it, let’s stop asking people this question and have better conversations. Makes sense?

(What have I started answering with? “Salary? Haha, Just enough to have 3 good meals a day, a shelter to sleep, good clothes to wear, and keep me happy”. Alright, maybe that’s mean, I’ll come up with something else.)