Talented candidates for a job are all different, but there is one thing that they will all be looking for and that’s the best salary they can get. In today’s competitive market a company wanting to attract top talent to it must offer the chosen candidate an attractive salary.

The salary negotiation, however, brings hidden dangers if handled badly. Inevitably the company will want to recruit at the lowest salary they can whilst the prospective new hire is looking to increase it as far as possible. The moment a candidate knows the top end of the salary range they will strive towards that figure. The anticipated result is that both parties meet halfway so that everyone is happy! Too often this doesn’t happen

In the UK many senior jobs are advertised on a Circa £70k (salary about figure). This then becomes the expectation of the candidate whilst the Company will often have a salary figure between £65k to £72k in mind. So having identified their preferred candidate the company will come enter into salary negotiation and start at a salary bid below the one advertised(£68K) with a promise of an increase or bonus after a number of months satisfactory work.

The difficulty with this tactic is that it upsets the relationship with the preferred candidate at the earliest possible stage and the candidate now feels that the company is less trustworthy than anticipated. The result is that the prefferd candidate turns the offer down (causing wasted time and face as the company struggles to offer the post to the second or third candidate). If the preferred candidate accepts the job then it often results in early disgruntlement and the causes for early departure or lack of motivation.

The best position is for a company to make the salary a fixed one at their preferred rate of  £68K and to negotiate on a “reward package” which includes a bonus. Naturally the bonus will be based upon measurable results but the candidate will most likely accept this as a benefit that has been successfully negotiated from the company. As such he/she will congratulate themselves on gaining something that wasn’t on the table in the first place. Whilst the company can work within the salary scale they had originally envisaged paying whilst saying to the candidate that they have driven a hard bargain.

In this way both parties can be satisfied without any loss of face.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Articles, Recruitment.