Our Wired Sussex members often ask me to give them tips on how to put together the best possible job descriptions and I’m more than happy to help, but what they don’t often realise is just how crucial it is to display the salary.
More often than not employers hide the salary information on job ads or list it simply as ‘competitive’ as they want to prevent the details being leaked to competitors or to see what they can get for their money. What I don’t think they realise is that in doing so they’re ultimately deterring jobseekers from applying.
When I was looking for work I’d make sure that every application I sent was tailored to the job I was applying for. Sometimes this would take a few hours to get right to truly demonstrate my skills and explain how they are relevant to the post. I believe most other quality jobseekers will be doing the same, yet there’s a high probability that they won’t waste their time on an application if they don’t know whether the salary matches their requirements.
In times where there are certain skills shortages across the UK (PHP developers for example), it’s important to entice your talent by selling your company to them. You can do this in many ways which doesn’t always need to mean a fat salary offering. Job seekers will look at company culture, benefits, clients and a variety of factors which will add value to the opportunity, so employers shouldn’t feel shy about not being able to offer top whack. Instead job seekers will value their honesty, know where they stand and be more likely to apply; and the data we collect will help you all too.
Here’s to publishing salaries – I would love for it to be the only way!