Say you see an interesting job posting that prompts you to "send resume with salary history." What do you do?

Potential Pitfalls

There are potential drawbacks to providing your salary history. If you're willing to take a salary cut, revealing an earnings history higher than the range for the opening may price you out of the running. If you were underpaid in previous positions, stating your history may lead an employer to think you'll work for cheap, thus shaving thousands of dollars off your salary offer. A lower salary level may also give the impression that your work experience isn't good enough. Moreover, you may be leery about disclosing your income history to a total stranger.

Even if an ad requests a salary history, many employers would still consider qualified candidates who omit this information. You can sidestep the salary history request by mentioning in your cover letter that you would be delighted to discuss salary information once a mutual interest has been established.

An Opportunity to Market Yourself

But consider the flip side: Busy hiring managers often sort through thousands of resumes to find a suitable applicant, and they use a salary history as a way to find a candidate who fits the position's pay range. Companies want to interview applicants they know they can afford. As a way to weed through thousands of resumes, some employers require a salary history and immediately discard applications that omit this requested information.

If you decide it's in your best interest to present a salary history, use the opportunity to market yourself. Include information about your key accomplishments, allowing hiring managers to see your real real value.

Use Your Resume

The easiest way to create a salary history is to open your resume file in your word processing program and save it as a new document (i.e. YourName_salaryhistory.doc). Leave in the heading that contains your name and contact information so the salary history layout matches your resume layout. Next, remove all sections other than your work history, leaving in employer names, dates and job titles. Below each position, add in one or two of your top accomplishments, followed by your total compensation, including bonuses, stock options, tips and benefits. You may also include starting and ending salaries for each position in which your salary increased. Title your page "Confidential Salary History."

If you are applying online using your Monster resume, set up one resume that contains your salary history in the document. Just log into your My Monster account and click the Resumes link. Find your main resume and select Copy from the menu. View/Edit that resume. Click on the Additional Info link at the top, then enter your salary history, keeping in mind that you just need to provide basic information, such as employer name, job title and earnings. You don't need to include details about your accomplishments, because your resume already contains this information. Then when you reply to the posting, select the version of your resume that contains this salary information.

Sample Salary History

Judy Jobseeker
1 Address Lane Anytown, MA 00000 | 215-555-5555 | jobseeker@monster.com

Top-Producing Sales Representative

Confidential Salary History

XYZ COMPANY – Anytown, ST
Sales Representative, 5/09 to present

• Average $350,000 in monthly gross sales, consistently exceeding quota by 15% and ranking number 1 out of 35 reps in territory.
• Won and currently manage numerous Fortune 500 accounts, including GHI Co, JKL Co, MNO Co and other industry leaders.
• Compensation: $45,000 per annum plus commission

123 COMPANY – Anytown, ST
Sales Representative, 12/07 to 5/09

• Used prospecting, cold-calling and solution-sales techniques to generate and close 36 new accounts in first six months.
• Achieved President's Club membership for outstanding sales performance.
• Compensation: $38,000 per annum

456 COMPANY – Anytown, ST
Customer Service Representative, 7/03 to 12/07

• Commended for outstanding customer service delivery: "Judy's work is of the highest caliber...she is diligent in her follow-through with all customers and possesses a strong sense of accountability" (supervisor's comments).
• Compensation: $28,000 per annum

789 COMPANY – Anytown, ST
Customer Service Associate, 5/02 to 7/03

• Gained knowledge of hardware and software solutions, including high-speed networks, storage, backup systems, disaster recovery and systems/network management.
• Compensation: $10.50 per hour