you can't ask about salary

I’m not doing much hiring these days, but I did in the past. We tried to be careful about what questions we asked in a job interview. It is not just the individual questions you ask in an interview, but also how the interview is structured and if there is a panel assisting you, then what is the process for scoring each candidate.

 This structure seems to be right on the mark and one I used in the past:

 Come up with a list of questions that are relevant to the job — not the person.

• Ask the same set of core questions to the applicants and score each one on how they answered the questions.

• Don’t discuss the scores or results within the group until each person has done their own scores.

• Compare those scores among interviewees to see who scored best.

 Then there is this from an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal on the topic of hiring mistakes, “The survey found hiring managers are likely to cross the line when it comes to questions around salaries, with 39% of hiring mangers saying they “always” asked about salary history despite it being illegal to do so in 30 states. But those sorts of questions are also of limited use to employers, who often have preset salary levels based on location, industry and experience. “A person’s previous salary doesn’t have any bearing on the future salary,” Toothacre said. “There are too many inconsistencies between location, industry, function, and size of the company to use a previous salary to inform a future salary.” This latter statement is very true. The same job in Mississippi is not going to be paid at the same level in Seattle, Washington—that I know for sure. Just remember the reason for the higher salary is a “higher cost of living” for that region. For example, I know someone who rented a two-bedroom apartment (around 1,200 sq. ft) in Tacoma, Washington for $2,100 a month.