The art of the job listing is a delicate balance. You want to make sure a candidate has enough background information to understand what they’ll be doing, but you don’t want to ramble. A good job listing should catch the eye and create a sense of excitement. Including a salary range can bring in workers by the dozen — but many recruiters choose or are expressly told not to. Many companies would rather tailor salary to an employee’s expectation, saving them cash at the new worker’s expense. While this may work occasionally, it lowers the overall quality of hires and expends more resources long term.
Adding the prospective salary of the open position can help boost your numbers and your image. In this piece, we’ll be going over the benefits of including a salary range in your job posting.
Displays Honesty and Integrity
For the vast majority of the American public, they work so they can earn a living. That’s the cold, hard truth, and something that employers tend to ignore. When asked in an interview why a candidate wants to work for the company they’re not going to say they’re just doing it for money. Employers tend to punish this kind of thinking if it doesn’t benefit them, and most employees who answer this way will probably be told they’re not the right fit.
This refusal to talk about compensation has extended into job ads, and many companies simply don’t include salary in job ads. Unfortunately for employers, this sort of tactic is disingenuous. People work for money so that they can live secure lives, and can tell when a business is avoiding that reality. When people see a job ad with a salary, their opinion of your company improves significantly. You’ve respected their need for money, and are displaying how they could better their lives tangibly.
A Straightforward Ad Shows Confidence
An excellent job advertisement is centered around the role. What your new employee will be doing, what experience/certifications they’ll need, and the compensation they’ll be receiving make up the bulk of the description. Including benefits shows potential employees some of what they’ll be receiving, but adding salary tells them everything they need to know. It also alleviates some of the strain put on recruiters and hiring managers, as they won’t have to haggle with top talent as much later on in the process.
Putting a salary range in your job ad tells applicants that your company is organized and systematic — and that you know what you want.
Attracts A Larger Volume of Applicants
People want to know how much money they’ll be making at your company, it’s as simple as that. While benefits, flexibility, and PTO are all top priorities for the modern worker, cash is still king. A recent Glassdoor survey confirmed what we already knew, a whopping 67% of job seekers are looking at salary above all else. If you make the jump and include the salary range in your description, talent will understand exactly what reward they’re aiming for when applying. They’ll be able to decide right away whether or not they think it’s enough. As a result, the candidates who make it to the interview will be confident in their desire to work for your organization.
Being transparent when it comes to compensation and an accurate salary range from the beginning of the recruitment process leaves less room for surprises and misinterpretation down the road. Creating more transparency from the start of your interaction with a candidate does wonders to establish trust and confidence in one another from the very beginning.
