This issue came up when I recently finalized a placement in which a candidate nearly doubled his salary. In summary, though it can be a bitter pill for employers to swallow, I argue that it doesn’t really matter what a potential hire is making…what is truly important is their worth to the employer. Sometimes a candidate has been making a salary that is less than market rate…or has a salary in mind that they require to leave the “devil they know”. Though it may be frustrating for a prospective employer to pay twice today what the candidate was making yesterday…I encourage them to consider that candidate against their other candidates for the position, and not worry about the differential between their prior salary and their requirement for a new position. The measure of a successful search is getting the ideal person to fill the vacancy, isn’t it?

Employers, what do you think?