Having had experience on both sides of the hiring and applying
process, I can honestly say that stating salary is quite harmless
and probably helpful to both parties.
In this day and age, info as early as possible is helpful to all
parties. Let's not kid yourselves by saying its bad practices
etc.
C'mon in many countries like in the UK / US, the big companies
PUBLISH their starting pay for fresh grads, then the guaranteed
increments upon confirmation, plus the 2nd, 3rd, 4th year career
progression pay packet. The really good companies put it out pronto
to tell the market - we are good, we pay good, come. They throw
down the gauntlet to the competition as well by saying - we want
the best try matching that.
The rest of the industry then takes that as a benchmark to
measure themselves and to budget.
Given the number of surveys & websties that detail salaries
in various industries in various levels, c'mon, dun kid yourselves
by thinking your previous salary is some skunkworks top secret
classified info.
Asia, including Singapore, is in a way very backward. I've
seen big Singapore companies or MNCs based in Singapore do
roadshows in the UK (such as in London) putting themselves forward
trying to hire foregin talent. But they are unwilling or cannot
even recognise that they have to be more transparent with their
pay. Even though the market expects that from them cos many UK
employers are like that (look at their advertisements). They come
up with the usual crap like "we pay competitive rates" which piss
off the people attending the talks. They merely end up sounding
evasive.
Job applicants should similarly consider putting the previous
and expected salary levels as your bargaining tool, its also part
of the homework that everyone should do. Fact of the matter is that
for the position that you are applying, unless it is a standalone
position in the entire company, there is already a figure they will
pay which cannot vary too much to avoid upsetting pay parity. They
won't let employees talk among themselves and getting upset.
As for the confidential info thingie... NDA is always a good
excuse... but you can turn it to your advantage as well. Give some
hints then say I'll tell you everything only when I'm on board!
C'mon if its a listed company, its easily obtainable info. If
not, it depends on the job scope you do - a tech guy can't be
expected to know the financials. Sales guys would probably be
expected to know how to extrapolate individual targets to
team/division targets. Financial guys - fall back on the NDA
excuse.
Yawn gotta koon...