“WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER QUOTE THE TOP OF YOUR SALARY RANGE”
Once again I will begin this entry with a reminder to everyone that we are in a Candidate’s Market! There are more open positions than there are available, qualified professionals. Therefore, it will become crucial that you as decision-makers embrace change and enhance your skills in order to attract the top talent you need. Your competitors need these individuals as much as you do and will be doing everything they can to hire the best candidates.
One area many HR professionals are not always comfortable with is what dollar amount to offer their potential new hire! Furthermore, if they are comfortable with selecting a dollar amount, they may not be aware of an issue that recruiters deal with on a daily basis.
When you list, post or advertise a specific position, there should be a LAW that you can NOT post the “SALARY RANGE.” This also holds true when you are interviewing a candidate! The key word in the sentence is RANGE! Put your self in the shoes of the person interviewing for the position you have available. If the HR professional tells you that this position has a range of $60,000 to $85,000, what number did YOU hear?
Of course, you heard $85,000!
The problem with this now is that your candidate may be making $65,000 and now they want the $85,000 because YOU said it was available! This situation can become difficult once you have decided to extend them an offer and they are still hoping for the $85,000! If you had NOT listed a “RANGE” then the candidate would have probably been thrilled when you extended them an offer of $70,000!
This would have been an increase of $8,000!
The best way to handle this problem is to never list a “Range” when dealing with salary. If you are listing, posting or advertising an opportunity, at the bottom of your description use the words, “Salary commensurate with level of experience.” You can also use, “Salary depends on experience.” Another example is, “Competitive Salary.”
It may initially take some extra effort sorting through the Candidates who apply and are outside of your “Salary Range.” However, it will save you the “heartbreak” of extending an offer to your favorite Candidate only to have it turned down solely based on SALARY!
Nancy J. Phillips, CPC
