Hiring is currently very competitive with a shortage of skilled professionals who are in high demand. This means that when it comes to negotiating salaries, candidates often have the upper hand. But budgets are tight and often companies have a specific figure in mind when hiring for a particular role. What happens when a candidates asking salary is more than what has been earmarked and what should be the basis for settling on an offer amount?

The candidate perspective:

Salary is no longer the only reason people make a career move. Often they’re looking for better working conditions or more challenging projects to work on. But that doesn’t mean that salary can’t be a deciding factor or that candidates should accept a role because of the job title even if it doesn’t come with a pay rise. When switching jobs, candidates typically expect an increase of 10 to 20% on the basic salary that they’re currently earning. Anything less is pretty much an insult to their expertise. Which after all is what they’re being hired for.

Very often we see companies lose out on an opportunity to hire a great candidate because they believe a role is only worth so much, even if the candidate is worth more. If a person has specific skills that a company needs and can benefit from it’s worth paying for them.

The company perspective:

It can be tempting to hire someone more junior for the role because they’re cheaper. But can they really do the job? It’s one thing to plan to train them up, but is that practical? Are there the internal resources to do that effectively? Plus there’s no guarantee that the candidate will stay once they have attained the skills provided.

Defining a role is only the start of the hiring process and generally there will be some requirements that need to be compromised on as not all candidates will tick all of the boxes. Some candidates will have more experience or specific skills, while others may be a better cultural fit. While it’s good to have a ballpark figure in mind for a specific role, the salary offer should ultimately depend on the candidate and the value they bring. Finding the right person and offering them the salary they want increases the chances of retaining them over time. That’s where the real value in hiring right comes in.