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My guess is that a mild refusal would be acceptable to Google. They are unlikely to be put off by a change of subject. A hard refusal might annoy them, if they persist in asking. I suggest naming a very high figure first, to gain benefit from the anchoring effect. Then mentioning your salary will make it the anchor for the negotiation. Google has a reputation for paying high salaries. If you are looking for advice on negotiation, I suggest searching for 'anchoring' as well as 'negotiation, to get more evidence-based advice. Good luck.

If it's helpful to know what other Google employees make my compensation details are here.

I'm a manager at a financial firm and I've hired people. I'd consider it pretty normal not to want to say. "Everyone" knows that trying to get the other person to name a number first is a common negotiating tactic, no real grownup is going to take it personally or get upset about this. I don't know how "normal" a company Google is in this way, but I'd guess it's pretty normal. If you are challenged on this, you can try stating it as a rule: "I'm not prepared to discuss my current salary, I'm here to talk about working for Google." Or, "As a policy I don't disclose my current salary. I'm sure you understand." Or make up some blah about how that's proprietary information for your current employer and you don't feel comfortable disclosing it. If they absolutely refuse to process your application without this (which is a bad move on their part if they really want you, but some companies are stubborn that way), other options are to fudge your number upwards somehow, though personally I wouldn't try the ones that actually involve telling a literal lie: * Give them a wide range of expectations instead of your current salary. Say that of course it depends on the other details of the offer, any other offers you might get, etc. * Roll in as much stuff as you plausibly can (adding in bonuses or other moneylike benefits, and making an adjustment if the cost of living in Googleland is higher than where you live now). Example: I could add my salary of $80k, my last year's bonus of $5k (or next year's bonus, or my average bonus in percentage terms, whichever is highest), and my $2k transit benefits for a total of $87k. * Round up to the nearest $10k and say it's an approximate figure. So if I make $87k I might say I'm in the ballpark of $90k. * State a range (e.g. if I made $69k I might say I make something in the high 5 figures, or somewhere near the $70-80k range) * Lie outright, but plausibly.

This reminded me to ask about a similar question: I am currently interviewing. Assuming I get an in-person interview, that will involve a long flight. I feel like I shouldn't tell my current employer that I'm interviewing until I have an offer, but in order to hide it I presumably will have to take holiday on fairly short notice, have a plausible reason for why I'm taking it, and generally act like I'm not taking a long flight to an interview. There's a chance that I'll have to do this multiple times. (Though ideally I'd take multiple in-person interviews in the same trip.) I don't particularly like the idea of doing this. It feels deceitful and stressful. How bad an idea would it be to just let my employer know what's going on?

Almost everyone finds an explicit refusal to answer offputting. Don't do it. But that doesn't mean that you should actually answer. Usually a good choice is to answer a different question, such as to make them an offer.

I would advise googling to find average salaries for similar positions, especially with google.

I don't feel qualified to answer your question, though if I were to make a guess, I wouldn't expect them to be put off by refusal. Assuming Google behaves at least somewhat rationally, they should at this point have an estimate of your value as an employee and it doesn't seem like your current salary would provide much additional information on that. So, the question is, to what extent Google behaves rationally. This ties to something that I always wonder whenever I read salary negotiation advice. What is the specific mechanism by which disclosing current salary can hurt you? Yes, anchoring, obviously. But who does it? Is the danger that the potential employer isn't behaving rationally after all and will anchor to the current salary, lowering the upper bound on what they're willing to offer? Or is the danger primarily that anchoring will undermine your confidence and willingness to demand more (and if you felt sufficiently entitled, it wouldn't hurt you at all)?