As someone who speaks to clients and candidates pretty much constantly, I’m often asked for advice by people on both sides of the interview desk.
After all, I review more CVs and screen more candidates than most decision-makers simply because most decision-makers have plenty of other duties in their business. I have a better idea than most candidates of what hiring managers will prioritise – and, of course, I know exactly what the client I’m talking to about wants.
As we head into one of the traditionally busiest seasons in our world, I thought I’d take a look at the big question I’m asked most often: the salary question.
Should Job Postings Include Salary?
Opinion is pretty split on this one, at least among employers and recruiters. I’ve yet to see a candidate who doesn’t want at least a rough idea of their potential pay ahead of time. I’m sure many of the people reading this will be able to remember a time when they either didn’t even apply for a job because they weren’t sure of the pay or they only found out at the end of an interview that the prospective role paid less than they could accept.
We all want a job we can pour our passion into, but in many cases, you find that out after you’ve applied. You base your application on three questions: Where would I be working, what’s the job, and how much would I be paid? And the potential employer responds based on their own three questions: Can they do the job? Will they fit in well in the business? Do they fit the budget?
In applying, in screening applications, and in the interview process both sides invest a lot of effort in answering the first two questions. But sometimes that last question on both sides isn’t answered at all until the others are done. And it can be the dealbreaker!
For me, then, I always advise clients to be transparent about salary in the same way I try to be transparent about the whole process in both directions.
That’s not to say I won’t work with people who don’t reveal salaries, but I think sometimes we make life harder for ourselves that way.
If you’d like to discuss the salary question, if you want my advice on other topics, or if you want to talk through a potential NetSuite opportunity, drop me a line today. I’ll be happy to help.
