# The Quota Attainment Line Standard, Graded Against Your W-2 and Comp Plan

*Grade each attainment, quota, rank, club, and earnings line Pass or Fail on seven written criteria, so it survives a W-2 back-solve without you sharing pay history.*

- Canonical URL: https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/quota-attainment-line-standard
- Pillar: Positioning and materials
- Format: Standard
- Published: 2026-11-04
- Last reviewed: 2026-11-04
- Reading time: 22 min
- Keywords: how to show quota attainment on a sales resume, sales resume W-2 verification, how to list partial year quota attainment on resume, should I put OTE or earnings on my sales resume, President's Club on resume how to word it, can an employer ask for my W-2 before an offer

## Key takeaways

- On a 50/50 plan with $200K OTE, 118% attainment raises total pay only about 9%, to roughly $218K, so a manager who compares attainment to total pay instead of variable pay will see a gap that isn't real.
- Cornerstone Search flags a gap of 30% or more between W-2 earnings and claimed attainment, but that is one firm's practice with no published method, and on a 50/50 plan it takes about a 60% attainment gap to produce it.
- Average AE ramp is 6.2 months in The Bridge Group's AE research, about 52% of a year, so an unlabeled first-year attainment figure mixes a ramp quota with a full one.
- In Refolk's index, only 562 of 248,560 US profiles with an Account Executive title put President's Club in their headline, about 0.23%, so a club claim draws scrutiny and needs a criterion and an award notice behind it.
- Under New York Labor Law 194-a, an employer may use pay you volunteer to set your salary but may confirm it only at the offer stage, and only if you use it to argue for a higher wage, so an unprompted earnings figure gives up protection and gets you nothing for it.
- A quota line passes this standard only if it passes all seven criteria: period labeled, ramp or proration stated, quota basis named, reconciles with the W-2 within a stated tolerance, consistent everywhere, backed by a producible document, and no unprompted pay figure.

This standard is for people who carry a quota (SDRs, AEs, and sales managers) and are about to send a resume and profile with attainment, quota, rank, club, or earnings lines on them. It grades each of those lines Pass or Fail against seven written criteria, built from the checks hiring managers actually run. A line that passes holds up when someone back-solves it against your W-2 and comp plan. You run it privately, and none of it requires handing over your pay history.

## What check will a hiring manager run on my attainment line?

Expect a back-solve. The manager multiplies your quota by your attainment to get the revenue you should have closed. For senior roles, they then compare what your W-2 shows you earned with what your comp plan should have paid at that attainment. If those two numbers disagree, you get questions before you get an offer.

Cornerstone Search, a sales recruiting firm, publishes five checks to run before an offer:

1. **Math Audit**: does quota times attainment produce a believable revenue number?
2. **Quarterly Probe**: what did each quarter look like?
3. **W-2 or comp cross-check**: request documentation for senior AE roles and above.
4. **Off-list reference**: a manager or peer you did not nominate.
5. **Deal-sample verification**: walk through specific deals.

The Math Audit is simple arithmetic. In GSD's version, if quota was $600,000 and the candidate said 118%, implied revenue should be around $708,000. The W-2 step goes further. Cornerstone says a W-2 lets a manager back-solve earnings against the comp plan and triangulate attainment to within about 5%. If W-2 total earnings and claimed attainment are off by 30% or more, the manager asks about it directly.

#### The hiring-side back-solve

1. **Math Audit** - Quota times attainment gives implied revenue
2. **Quarterly Probe** - Manager asks for the quarter-by-quarter breakdown
3. **W-2 cross-check** - Earnings compared to plan payout; a 30%+ gap gets questioned
4. **Off-list reference** - A former manager the candidate did not nominate
5. **Deal sample** - Specific deals walked through and verified

*Every comp-linked line on a sales resume is checked first as arithmetic, then against quarters, pay documents, references, and deals.*

Hiring teams don't all run these in the same order. Cornerstone runs the Math Audit before asking for documents. Revenuebench starts with a former manager's peer ranking, because many employers bar managers from confirming quota figures. Salestalent has the candidate fill in a three-year table, then checks references. Whatever the order, each method tests a line against the same evidence: the dates, the plan, the pay, and the people.

What's thin here: nobody publishes the method behind the 5% and 30% thresholds. They are one firm's practice, not an industry standard. I use them below because they are the only written thresholds I could find. Treat them as a likely reviewer's habit, not a rule.

## The seven criteria for a quota line

A comp-linked line passes when it meets all seven criteria below. Each one is written so two people grading the same resume reach the same verdict. A comp-linked line is any line whose number comes from your comp plan: attainment, quota size, stack rank, club or award, or earnings.

> **Rule:** All seven, or it does not ship
>
> A line passes only when it passes every criterion. One Fail means you label it, rewrite it, or cut it before the resume goes out.

### 1. Period labeled

- **Pass:** the line says fiscal or calendar year and gives start and end dates, or names a fiscal year whose dates appear elsewhere on the resume.
- **Fail:** "118% of quota" with no period, or a year with no indication of fiscal or calendar.
- **What it proves:** the reviewer can line the figure up against the right W-2. **How it lies:** a fiscal-year figure checked against a calendar-year W-2 looks like a gap even when it's true.

### 2. Ramp or proration stated

- **Pass:** every line reads "full year", "prorated N months", or "ramp".
- **Fail:** a first-year percentage with no label.
- **What it proves:** the denominator is the quota you were actually measured against. **How it lies:** a ramp quota is smaller, so an unlabeled ramp figure reads as full-quota performance.

### 3. Quota basis named

- **Pass:** the line or its role summary names what the quota measured (bookings, ARR, revenue, or margin), says whether it was individual or team, and says how much was net-new where renewals or an inherited book counted.
- **Fail:** a percentage with no basis.
- **What it proves:** the reviewer can compare like with like. **How it lies:** an inherited book, one outsized deal, or a quota cut partway through the year can inflate attainment without any change in skill.

### 4. Reconciles with the W-2 within a stated tolerance

- **Pass:** base plus target variable times attainment times multiplier, adjusted for payout lag, draws, clawbacks, and SPIFs, lands within ±5% of your W-2 total for the matching period. If it doesn't, a named adjustment you can document explains the whole gap.
- **Fail:** an unexplained gap outside ±5%.
- **What it proves:** the figure is consistent with your pay. **How it lies:** comparing attainment to total pay rather than variable pay understates the movement, and arrears shift money between years.

The ±5% is my default, borrowed from Cornerstone's "about 5%". If your plan has heavy SPIFs or accelerators, write down a wider tolerance and the reason before you calculate. A tolerance chosen after you see the gap is not a tolerance.

### 5. Consistent across roles and platforms

- **Pass:** the same figure, period, and basis appear on the resume, every tailored version of it, LinkedIn, and any portfolio.
- **Fail:** any difference, including rounding (118% in one place, 120% in another).
- **What it proves:** you're reporting a record, not a pitch. **How it lies:** a reviewer who finds two numbers assumes the bigger one is the inflated one.

### 6. Backed by a document you can produce

- **Pass:** you can name a file for the line, such as a W-2, pay stub, comp plan, quota report, attainment letter, or award notice, and you can retrieve it today.
- **Fail:** "my old manager would confirm it", with nothing on file.
- **What it proves:** the line survives a request for evidence. **How it lies:** a document that exists only on a former employer's system is not producible.

### 7. No unprompted pay figure

- **Pass:** no earnings, OTE, base, or commission dollar figure appears on the resume or profile.
- **Fail:** any pay figure, or quota, attainment, and OTE listed together so pay can be worked out.
- **What it proves:** you have kept control of when pay enters the conversation. **How it lies:** a dollar figure looks like confidence but works as a voluntary disclosure (see the pay-history section below).

## How attainment turns into W-2 earnings

Your W-2 reflects attainment only through the variable part of your pay. So a change in attainment moves total earnings by much less than the attainment percentage suggests. Here are three definitions you need to do the back-solve yourself:

- **OTE** (on-target earnings): base salary plus target variable pay at 100% attainment.
- **Payout:** target variable times attainment times multiplier, where the multiplier is the accelerator rate above 100%.
- **Draw:** an advance against commission, either guaranteed (not repaid) or recoverable (offset against later commission).

The table below is a set of worked examples, not survey data. It assumes a 50/50 AE plan on the $200,000 median AE OTE from The Bridge Group's AE research, with a roughly 50/50 base-to-variable split as reported for AE plans.

| Attainment and multiplier | Implied total earnings | ±5% band | vs OTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80%, 1.0x | $180K | $171K to $189K | -10% |
| 100%, 1.0x | $200K | $190K to $210K | 0% |
| 118%, 1.0x above 100% | $218K | $207K to $229K | +9% |
| 118%, 1.5x above 100% | $227K | $216K to $238K | +13.5% |
| 130%, 2.0x above 100% | $260K | $247K to $273K | +30% |

Two things follow from that table.

**The 30% flag depends on pay mix.** On a 50/50 plan, total earnings change by about half as much as attainment does. A 30% gap in total pay therefore means about a 60% attainment gap without accelerators, or 130% attainment with a 2x accelerator. On a 70/30 or 40/60 plan, the same fixed 30% threshold fires in different places. If your plan isn't 50/50, recompute the table with your own split before you decide a line is safe.

**Timing moves money between years.** One public comp plan, filed by Volcano Corp, paid 80% of calculated quarterly commission within 30 days of quarter end, and paid over-plan commission annually after board approval. Under a plan like that, a strong Q4 lands on the next year's W-2. Clawbacks typically run 3 to 12 months after a deal closes, so a deal that churns can pull money out of a later year. A recoverable draw paid in a weak quarter is recovered later. Before you call a gap unexplained, list every one of these that applied to you.

## How to grade each line, step by step

Run the eight steps below once per role, in order, and record the result for each line in a ledger. Expect roughly an hour for the first role and less for each one after it. These time estimates are mine, not measured.

#### Grading procedure for comp-linked lines

1. **Inventory every comp-linked line** - List every attainment, quota, rank, club, and earnings line from the resume, LinkedIn, and portfolio, copied exactly as written. Done is a numbered list.
2. **Label the period** - Mark each line fiscal or calendar year with start and end dates. Done is dates on every line.
3. **Flag ramp and proration** - Mark any partial year or ramp period. Done is every line reading full year, prorated N months, or ramp.
4. **Name the quota basis** - Record bookings, ARR, revenue, or margin, individual or team, and the net-new share. Done is a basis beside every attainment figure.
5. **Back-solve against your W-2** - Compute base plus variable times attainment times multiplier, adjust for payout lag, draws, clawbacks, and SPIFs, and compare to the W-2. Done is a gap within tolerance or fully explained by a named adjustment.
6. **Check consistency across platforms** - Compare every figure across resume versions, LinkedIn, and portfolio. Done is identical numbers, periods, and bases everywhere.
7. **Map each line to a document** - Name the producible file behind each line. Done is a retrievable file per line, or the line is softened or cut.
8. **Remove unprompted pay figures** - Strip earnings, OTE, and base figures and check the target employer's state law. Done is a resume that shows performance without volunteering pay.

A few notes on the steps that take the most judgement.

**Step 1** has to cover every version you have sent, not just your master resume. If you tailor per posting, the same attainment line can drift by a point or two between versions. [Refolk](/candidates) builds each tailored resume from one record of your history, so a figure you've fixed once carries into every version instead of being retyped.

**Step 4** is where you answer Revenuebench's question before it's asked: "What was the quota, how was it set, and how did the rest of the team do against theirs?" If you don't know how the rest of the team did, write that down now. It's a gap a reference may fill for you, for better or worse.

**Step 5** is the one people skip. Do it for the variable portion only, then add base. If the result is outside tolerance, check the period first (step 2), then the payout lag, then draws and clawbacks. Most apparent gaps on true claims come from one of those three.

Use this ledger row for each line. Keep it private; it's your working file, not something you send.

**Quota line ledger row**

```
Line #:
Text as written:
Where it appears: resume / tailored versions / LinkedIn / portfolio
Period: FY or calendar, start date to end date
Ramp or proration: full year / prorated __ months / ramp
Quota basis: bookings / ARR / revenue / margin; individual / team; net-new share __%
Plan: base $__ , target variable $__ , multiplier above 100% __x
Back-solve: base + (variable x attainment x multiplier) = $__
Adjustments: payout lag $__ / draw $__ / clawback $__ / SPIF $__
W-2 total for matching period: $__
Gap: __% (tolerance stated in advance: __%)
Backing document: file name and location
Pay figure on public materials: yes / no
Result: Pass / Fail, and which criterion failed
```

*One row per comp-linked line; fill every field before grading Pass or Fail.*

## How quota lines go wrong: failure modes and false positives

Most failed quota lines aren't lies. They are true numbers stated without the context a reviewer needs, so the reviewer's arithmetic produces a gap. Each failure below says what the reviewer sees and the check that stops it.

> **Watch out:** True claims fail the back-solve too
>
> A fiscal-year attainment figure checked against a calendar-year W-2, with Q4 commission paid in arrears, produces a gap on a perfectly true claim. Label the period and the payout lag on the line or in your ledger.

1. **Period mismatch.** The reviewer lines up a fiscal-year attainment figure against a calendar-year W-2. Commission paid in arrears pushes Q4 earnings into the next W-2. *Check:* state the fiscal-year dates and know your payout lag.
2. **Ramp read as full quota.** A first-year percentage measured against a ramp quota reads like full-quota performance. Cornerstone flags candidates who claim 100%+ attainment in month one at a new company without explaining pipeline inheritance. *Check:* write "ramp" or "prorated N months".
3. **Quota basis hidden.** The figure includes renewals or an inherited book. Revenuebench names a large inherited book of accounts, one outsized deal, or a quota cut partway through the year as the usual inflators. *Check:* name the basis and the net-new share.
4. **Attainment compared to total pay.** Base is fixed, so 118% attainment moves total pay by only about 9% on a 50/50 plan. A reviewer who expects an 18% jump sees a shortfall. SPIFs, guaranteed draws, and clawbacks distort it further. *Check:* back-solve variable pay only, then add base.
5. **Benchmark misread.** RepVue's cloud sales index reports 42.69% average attainment, which is 100 minus the 57.31% of reps who missed. That's the share of reps at quota, not a mean attainment percentage. Comparing a personal 118% against it is a category error, whether you make it or the reviewer does.
6. **Club treated as attainment.** One published example resume describes a President's Club awarded for combined quota attainment, new-logo count, and expansion revenue. If the reviewer assumes club means top attainment, your attainment line and club line can seem to contradict each other. *Check:* state the club criterion and the cohort size.
7. **Team context missing.** A candidate at 140% looks weak once the reviewer learns the whole team averaged 160% because the quota was set artificially low. *Check:* give your rank, or the team's attainment, next to your own.
8. **Unprompted pay.** A dollar earnings figure is a voluntary disclosure. Listing quota, attainment, and OTE together lets a reader work out pay anyway. *Check:* remove the pay figure and break the combination.

Once you've back-solved each line, sort it with this matrix. The vertical axis is whether you can document the explanation. The horizontal axis is how far the back-solve misses your W-2.

#### What to do with each line after the back-solve

Horizontal axis runs from Small gap vs W-2 to Large gap vs W-2. Vertical axis runs from No document to Named document.

| Quadrant | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Small gap, documented | Pass; send as written |
| Large gap, documented | Put the cause on the line, such as ramp, arrears, or basis |
| Small gap, undocumented | Find a document or restate as a rank a reference can confirm |
| Large gap, undocumented | Rewrite to what you can prove, or cut |

*A large gap is survivable when a document explains it; a small gap is not safe when nothing backs the line.*

> A true number with no period, basis, or ramp label fails the back-solve exactly like a false one.

## How to read attainment benchmarks without misusing them

Benchmarks tell you how unusual your number is, which tells you how hard a reviewer will look at it. They are not a target to beat on the page. The figures below come from different studies with different samples and definitions, so read each row on its own terms.

| Role | Share at quota | Sample | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | 60% | 351 companies | Bridge Group SDR study |
| AE | 48% | 158 companies | Bridge Group AE study |
| AE, prior edition | 51% | Prior edition | Bridge Group |
| Cloud reps, all roles | 42.69% | ~47,000 reps | RepVue via QuotaPath |
| Enterprise AE | 38.2% | Unverified method | Secondary aggregator |
| Manager | Not established | - | - |

How to use this table:

- **These are shares of reps at quota, not average attainment.** None of them tells you what a typical attainment percentage is.
- **Sources disagree widely.** Ebsta's benchmarks found 78% of sellers missed quota, a much bleaker picture than The Bridge Group's 48% at quota. The definitions and samples differ, so don't cite one as if it settled the matter.
- **Manager attainment is not publicly benchmarked.** If you're a manager, team attainment and rank among peer managers carry the weight. I found no public distribution to compare them against.
- **The enterprise AE figure has no stated method.** I list it so you recognise it if a reviewer quotes it, not so you rely on it.

Ramp needs its own context, because it decides how much of a first-year figure is real.

**6.2 months - Average AE ramp in The Bridge Group's AE research**

That's about 52% of a year, so a first-year AE attainment figure without a ramp label mixes two different quotas.

SDR ramp is shorter, at 3.0 months in The Bridge Group's SDR report. Cornerstone says new hires typically reach 60 to 80% of quota in months 6 to 12. How ramp quotas are usually structured, in tiers or as a percentage per month, is not established in any public benchmark. Your own comp plan is the only source for yours, so pull it before you label a first-year line.

The Bridge Group's AE study also reports a median annual AE quota of $960,000 and a quota-to-OTE ratio of 4.6x, up from 4.2x. That ratio matters for criterion 7. A reviewer who knows it can estimate your OTE band from your quota alone. Quota size still belongs on the resume, because it is the scope signal. Just don't hand over the rest of the calculation by adding OTE next to it.

## How to word President's Club and rank lines

A club or rank line passes when it names the award or rank, the period, the criterion, and the cohort, and you can produce the award notice or ranking report. Rank is often the strongest line you have, because a former manager can confirm it even where policy bars them from confirming quota figures.

Club claims are rare enough on profiles that reviewers notice them. In Refolk's index of professional profiles:

| Market | AEs with "President's Club" in headline | All AEs | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | 562 | 248,560 | 0.23% (derived) |
| UK | 12 | Not queried | n/a |
| US to UK raw ratio | 46.8x (derived) | - | - |

**0.23% - US Account Executive profiles in Refolk's index with President's Club in the headline**

562 of 248,560 profiles; a claim this rare gets checked, and the award notice is what backs it.

The UK count of 12 is too small to support a share, and the raw US to UK ratio partly reflects market size. Don't read it as evidence that UK firms run fewer clubs. The US headline claims in Refolk's index come from a spread of employers, including XPO, KnowBe4, Verkada, Gusto, Weave, and Edmunds. So the award varies by company in criteria and selectivity, which is exactly why the criterion belongs on the line.

Ranking resume guides tend to stop at format. QuickResumeAI's example, "128% of a $1.1M annual quota, 7 of 8 quarters at or above target", is a good format, but it says nothing about period type, ramp, basis, or reconciliation. The template below adds those.

**Comp-linked line formats that pass all seven criteria**

```
Attainment: <N>% of <$X> <individual/team> <net-new ARR/bookings/revenue/margin> quota, <FY name> (<start> to <end>), <full year / prorated N months / ramp>
Consistency: <N> of <M> quarters at or above target, <FY name>
Rank: #<R> of <C> <AEs/SDRs/managers> on <attainment / net-new bookings>, <FY name>
Club: President's Club, <FY name>, awarded on <criterion>, <top N of C> <role>
Manager: Team of <C> at <N>% of <$X> team <basis> quota, <FY name>; <K> of <C> reps at or above quota
```

*Replace the angle-bracket fields from your ledger; keep the order so every version reads the same.*

## Should earnings, OTE, or pay figures appear at all?

No. Leave earnings, OTE, and base off the resume and profile, and let performance carry the line. A pay figure on public materials counts as a voluntary disclosure. In at least one major market, that lets the employer use the figure while restricting when it may check it.

New York Labor Law 194-a sets out the mechanism most clearly:

- An applicant may disclose pay history voluntarily and without prompting.
- The employer may factor that voluntarily disclosed information into the salary it sets.
- The employer may confirm wage history only when an offer with compensation has been made and the applicant responds with prior wage information to support a higher wage.
- Employers may not pose an "optional" salary history question.

In other words, disclosure in New York runs one way. An unprompted figure gives up your protection without making early verification legitimate. Other states draw the line elsewhere:

| State | Rule on pay history |
|---|---|
| New York | May use volunteered pay; may confirm only at offer if cited to ask for more |
| Delaware | Employers can verify salary after extending an offer |
| California | Cannot use pay history even if volunteered |
| Virginia | Newest statewide ban, extending to all private employers; check the effective date |

> **Note:** Counts of ban states disagree
>
> One source counts twenty-two states and twenty-three municipalities with bans; another, checked against statute, counts eighteen states plus DC. Michigan and Wisconsin originally prohibited bans altogether. Check the statute for the employer's state, or a maintained list such as HR Dive's, at the time you apply.

Two limits on this criterion:

- **Whether an attainment percentage with no dollar figure counts as "wage history" is not established.** I found no statute or official FAQ that addresses it. Attainment and quota are performance facts and belong on the resume, but don't assume they are protected or unprotected.
- **This is not legal advice.** If a recruiter asks for your W-2 before an offer, ask which state's law governs the role, and read that statute before you answer.

When you do bring pay in, during negotiation, the ledger from step 5 lets you do it with documents that already reconcile.

## Final check and how to keep the lines current

Before you send, run the checklist below against every comp-linked line. Then re-run the procedure whenever a fiscal year closes, a W-2 arrives, or you change your resume. A line that passed last year can fail this year when a clawback lands or a new version drifts.

#### Ship check for every comp-linked line

- [ ] Every attainment line names fiscal or calendar year and gives start and end dates.
- [ ] Every line reads full year, prorated N months, or ramp.
- [ ] Every attainment figure names its quota basis and whether it was individual or team.
- [ ] Where renewals or an inherited book counted, the net-new share is stated or recorded in the ledger.
- [ ] The back-solve of variable pay plus base lands within the tolerance written down before calculating, or a named adjustment explains the whole gap.
- [ ] Payout lag, draws, clawbacks, and SPIFs for each role are listed in the ledger.
- [ ] Every figure is identical across the master resume, all tailored versions, LinkedIn, and portfolio.
- [ ] Every line has a named file you can retrieve today: W-2, pay stub, comp plan, quota report, attainment letter, or award notice.
- [ ] Every club line states the criterion and the cohort size.
- [ ] No earnings, OTE, base, or commission dollar figure appears on the resume or profile.
- [ ] The salary-history law for each target employer's state has been checked against statute.

To keep the work current:

- **Save documents while you still have access.** Export comp plans, quota reports, and award notices before you leave a company. Many companies never issue attainment letters, and after you leave, most of this sits on systems you can't reach.
- **Re-check benchmarks each edition.** The Bridge Group and RepVue figures move between editions. AE share at quota went from 51% to 48% between the last two AE studies. Replace the numbers in your head when a new edition is published.
- **Re-check the law when you target a new state.** Bans are being added, and the counts already disagree between sources.
- **Grade new versions, not just new lines.** Every tailored resume is a new chance for a figure to drift. Refolk scores your fit against each posting from the same history it writes from, so the attainment line it tailors is the one you graded here, not a fresh paraphrase.

If a line can't pass, the answer is almost never a better adjective. Restate it as something you can prove, such as a rank, a quarter count, or a basis-labeled percentage, or cut it. A resume with four lines that reconcile beats one with six where the reviewer finds a gap in the fifth.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I list partial-year quota attainment on my resume?

State the proration on the line itself: write the attainment, the quota it was measured against, and either "prorated 7 months" or "ramp quota" with the dates. A first-year figure measured against a ramp quota reads like full-quota performance unless you label it. Average AE ramp in The Bridge Group's research is 6.2 months, so hiring managers expect most first-year numbers to include ramp. They penalise a ramp figure that isn't labeled, not ramp itself.

### Should I put OTE or earnings on my sales resume?

No. An earnings or OTE figure is a voluntary disclosure of pay, and in New York an employer may factor volunteered pay into the salary it offers. Quota size, attainment, and rank show performance without giving away your pay. Put quota, attainment, and OTE side by side and anyone can work out what you earned. Save earnings for the negotiation, when you choose to use them to argue for a higher number.

### How should I word President's Club on my resume?

Name the award, the period, the criterion, and the cohort: for example, President's Club for the fiscal year, awarded on combined attainment and new-logo count, top 6 of 40 AEs. Club criteria often go beyond attainment, so the line should say what it was actually given for. Only about 0.23% of US Account Executives in Refolk's index put it in their headline, so expect to be asked for the award notice.

### Can an employer ask for my W-2 before an offer?

It depends on the state. Where a salary-history ban applies, employers are restricted from seeking pay history. New York bars even an optional question and allows confirmation only at the offer stage if you cite prior pay to ask for more. Delaware allows verification after an offer. Where no ban applies, some recruiters do request W-2s for senior AE roles. Check the statute for the employer's state, because published counts of ban states disagree.

### What if my old company never issued attainment letters?

Use what you can produce: the comp plan, commission statements or pay stubs, and quota reports exported while you still had access. Many companies don't issue attainment letters, and many employers bar managers from confirming quota figures. That's why some hiring teams start with a former manager's peer ranking. If you have no document for a line, change it to something a reference can confirm, such as a rank, or cut it.

---

*From the Refolk guide library. I revise these guides rather than replacing them, so the current version is always at https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/quota-attainment-line-standard*