Author: Team PCN

fintech jobs in Europe hiring process job descriptions job market jobs in Amsterdam salary negotiation salary range

Why is including salary range in job descriptions not always a good idea?

Times are changing, and so is the job market. For New Yorkers, job posts without salary range information are becoming a thing of the past. Beginning from November 2022, employers advertising jobs in New York City must include a good faith salary range for every job, promotion, and transfer opportunity advertised. The main purpose of providing this salary transparency is closing racial and gender wage gaps in the job industry.

When opening LinkedIn, it is also not rare to see discussions about including salary range in job descriptions. No matter if you’re a software engineer, data scientist, marketeer or a project manager, salary is most probably one of your priorities while applying for a new position. Therefore, the majority of people are in favor of the inclusion of salary information in job postings. Then what is holding the job market back from listing the salary range on all job posts? Do only employers and recruiters benefit from not displaying the salary range or might there be an advantage for applicants as well?

Why do employees want to see salary ranges on job descriptions? 

According to the UK-based Worker Survey in 2021, the need for a higher salary is the biggest reason why employees are looking for new opportunities and want to switch to a new job. With the recent increases in inflation and energy crisis, probably financial concerns have begun to shape people’s preferences on job hunting process more than ever.

While skimming a job description applicants are seeking to find salary information or at least signaling words like “competitive compensation”. Therefore, receiving direct information about minimum and maximum salary that one can expect from a vacancy is a very convenient way of finding a good match for the job seekers. Posting jobs including salary information also makes the employer more reliable in the eyes of the applicants.

However, this is only the bright side of the picture. Once the applicants receive the salary range information, most of the time they anchor the maximum salary and can overvalue their skillset or experiences. This results with a higher percentage of rejections and requires the job hunting process to last longer. Furthermore, putting the salary as your priority can prevent you from evaluating other factors that have a bigger impact on your career and daily life in the long-term such as work-life balance, adding value or flexibility. 

Salary negotiation

No salary range means smaller room for salary negotiation

Salary negotiation sounds intimidating for most of the candidates. However, it is actually a part of the hiring process from which they can easily benefit. The lack of salary information actually provides room for salary negotiation for the candidates as well as it does for the hiring team. If you still have concerns, you can learn how to ace this process through our recruitment tips series. If employees are valued, you should receive a fair and equal pay regardless of the information provided in the job description.  

Since many people value job transparency, finding insights about the salary range of a company is not difficult in the age of the internet. Many job review platforms such as Glassdoor, Jobcase or Comparably provide real insights from former or current employees of the companies. These reviews that are based on real experience can be considered as more valuable and reliable for a potential applicant than the one that a company or a recruitment agency provides.It is non-negotiable for hiring processes to be transparent in order to sustain fair and sustainable recruitment. However, there is more than one way to do this.

If you’re interacting with a good recruiter as a candidate, you need to be able to feel that they’re not only considering the requests of their clients but building a bridge between the companies and your expectations.

Join our talent pool and check our open roles to work with expert recruiters and make your hiring process as transparent as possible.

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