Nothing to declare
It’s not that long ago that the subject of salaries was a taboo subject, but with large institutions such as the BBC coming under intense scrutiny, the issue of who gets paid what continues to rear its head with sensible views on both sides of the argument.
We talk to people every day who are torn between the balance of openness across their workforce whilst respecting people’s privacy to keep some element of their remuneration confidential.
Given RMG’s role in recruitment, we are often at the forefront of discussions about salary, guiding our clients (and candidates) to determine appropriate levels of pay as well as the wider debate regarding whether to specify salaries on job adverts.
To gather some external data on the subject we recently published a poll seeking views from our networks representing both clients and candidates’ views. What was particularly interesting however was the breakdown of our internal voting versus the overall poll results.
Should salary by shown on a job advert?
But when extracting inhouse views - there’s a huge swing!
RMG inhouse results
To delve deeper into the debate we spoke to some of our most senior consultants ( who all voted not to show either a salary or a salary range) to understand their thoughts - here’s what they said.
Oliver Duke – I am consistently able to find stronger candidates for my clients when the salary isn’t displayed – something I know that is never possible if shown at the start of the process. It’s my job as a search consultant to know the requirements of my clients and find great candidates that fulfil the brief precisely. Having a salary attached to this places unnecessary constraints on the process.
Anita Caldwell – I consider this from both a client and candidate perspective - both sides suffer if a candidate rules themselves out purely on salary without having fully assessed the wider opportunity. I see a job advert being a ‘taster’ to attract candidates and give the recruiter or inhouse talent team the chance to open a door and engage with the candidate. If salaries are shown, a candidate viewing the advert will make their own conclusion immediately to rule themselves in or out without being presented with the full facts.
From my experience running hiring processes for almost 30 years a great candidate will always be interested to hear about the real potential of the role and future development prospects too. My advice would always be to keep the salary out of the job advert to give employers the chance to build rapport with new candidates, helping to prevent snap judgements based on limited information. Making that personal connection first leads to far better recruitment decisions.
Giles Hampson- In the same way that we wouldn’t expect a candidate to publicly display their current salary in a LinkedIn profile or public CV I would never expect a client to display a salary on a job advert.
We regularly work with companies where there is a perceived salary range; they would expect to pay a certain salary for some experience and over budget for other experience that has a clear ROI. Whilst this make sense – it’s far better that this is kept as a discussion rather than written down.
To publicly state a salary is to either set an effective ceiling on what can be paid (as then a hiring company cannot go above that for fear of disgruntling current staff) or to rule out less experienced candidates who are genuinely ready for progression.
Salary is something that is increasingly negotiated at offer stage and the vast majority of our clients pay the right salary for the right person - It should not be something that is cemented from the outset, it has to be open to negotiation on all fronts.
Managing recruitment processes and mapping future talent requirements are complex processes. In the same way that most businesses wouldn’t consider running all their financial year-end audits without the support of an external auditor, we believe recruitment processes are the same. If you are thinking about ways to improve your internal hiring we would be delighted to share our experiences with you. Please get in touch hello@rmg-uk.com for more information.
