advice needed: company wants a salary history

[Fool]

I'd imagine Mxy has had to give his salary history more than once. Places that contract out there work ask for this. I don't know what others might.

[UxKa]

"Butterson" is a nice touch. It totally sounds like the last name of a guy from Wisconsin.

No offense, UxKa. Wait, you live in Wisconsin right?

Nope. Never have either.

[UxKa]

Also... I wouldn't do that because it's just a bargaining chip for them. More or less so if they think you will be an asset and want to hire you, they sure as hell know how much they won't have to pay you or they'll know if you're out of their league (though that's probably fine up front anyway, but you don't want to be on the getting shortchanged side). I'd go with the desired salary route. That way you're either out of their league, or you're happy with your bargaining chip rather than them realizing they can cut their potential salary for the position by X% because that's still around the top of your personal pay scale. If the position, your qualifications, and the job market deserves X salary, then put that out there instead of giving them the upper hand.

[Uncle Mxy]

I'd imagine Mxy has had to give his salary history more than once. Places that contract out there work ask for this. I don't know what others might.

Nope, never. I've generally told would-be employers what I want, pretty-much at the get-go. I've been involved in the hiring of people to try and complement me, and it's clear there aren't a lot of folks out there with my specific mix of skills. So, I have a solid sense of my market price.

Tell them "Desired Salary" or somesuch, and see if they call you back. Really, the only goal of these kinds of things is to get an interview. At that point, you're probably interviewing with someone different than who vetted your resume and then you can recalibrate what you say to try and get the job, assuming you even want it after hearing the details.