Attract Better Job Candidates Tip #1: Discuss Salary Upfront

Posted November 29, 2022 in
Leaders Leaders
Today, first-world economies like the USA and the UK are still struggling to reset after the pandemic. Staff shortages remain a significant nuisance. Next to inflation, the largest complaint from businesses is the shortage of workers. 42% of companies are finding it more challenging to generate applications.


I met recruiting specialists Matt and James Cooper in Coventry, UK. They are the founders of Get Staffed Online Recruitment, an online flat-fee recruitment agency. Their business has been helping businesses with their recruitment needs for over a decade. We were all there to hear keynote speaker, Marcus Sheridan.


Marcus shared a slide, “The Big Five”, explaining five principles that apply to inbound marketing as much as they do to recruitment. Marcus encourages a culture of listening to the market and answering questions openly and candidly. Matt and James, in the UK, have been practising these same principles steadily for years.


What a position to be in: on stage, we have Marcus Sheridan, the world-renowned inbound marketing genius, sitting behind me, two highly experienced recruitment experts. What can we learn from them to help us attract great candidates immediately?


Start with an inbound mindset.

Placing a recruitment advert on LinkedIn is no longer sufficient. Your potential candidates are searching for jobs that meet their criteria. Your business needs to answer their questions if you want them to apply. Your Linkedin job post, if compelling enough, will set a potential candidate on a path of research to determine if you are a good fit. If your post fails to connect quickly, you will instantly discourage potential applicants, especially the more discerning and goal-orientated ones you’re hoping to attract. So, start with an inbound mindset; and answer the Big Five questions. Do this on your company website blog and through the content you share on Linkedin.


The Big Five

1.  Salary and benefits
2.  Problems
3.  Comparisons
4.  Best of lists
5.  Reviews

Question 1: Salary and benefits

This post promised to share one thing you can do to attract better candidates. Therefore, I will now discuss the first Big Five question. I will address the others in four other posts.


i) Start disclosing salary and benefits

At the top of the Big Five is the one question everybody wants answered –  money. Every candidate wants to know about it, and most companies refuse to answer it. And to you, that should spell opportunity.


When looking at a job post, 70% of candidates (if not more) want to know what kind of salary they can expect. If you could track the mouse movement of anybody browsing your Linkedin advert, you would find every candidate will scroll through your advert looking for the salary figure before they read anything else. So, why hide it? You’re going to discuss that at some point.


So what if I don’t disclose the salary – will I miss out on talent? Matt and James have the numbers on this:


ii) Disclosing salary attracts more applications

According to Matt Cooper, your ad will receive 37% more applications if you show the salary. This number was up from 21% the year before. The number might be higher or lower in your industry, but it’s still high and climbing.


It’s common sense; If you want more applicants, start disclosing salary and benefits immediately.


iii) Disclosing salary improves how your company is perceived

In the USA, The HR Director, or HRD (probably the most respected independent resource for senior HR Practitioners) finds that 48% of all job seekers say that the absence of salary negatively affects their perception of the hiring company.


iv) Disclosing salary attracts more relevant candidates

But won’t I be flooded with unnecessary applications? Is that your next question? Let’s answer it:


HRD asked hiring managers about the effect since they started disclosing salary details. Here is what they found:


42% found that applications were more relevant.



Do you want more relevant applications? Disclose the salary.


v) Disclosing salary saves time


Perhaps you’re still not convinced. You might think, “more applications will make the process take longer.” If so, let’s hear what other hiring managers said:


35% saved time in the recruitment process.





Do you want to shorten the time taken to fill positions? Disclose the salary.


Conclusion


It’s time to approach hiring with an inbound mindset. An inbound mindset aims to answer the questions that potential candidates ask. We now know that salary is the question that comes to mind first, so it’s the one you need to answer first. If you want to do one thing today, you will enjoy the following benefits:

  • You will attract better candidates
  • You will attract more relevant candidates
  • You will reduce the amount of time it takes to fill positions.



And that was just the first of the Big Five. Follow me to find out what the others are. Next, We answer the second group of questions, namely, "Problems".


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