conversely, I spoke to some new graduate starters at the civil service dept I left 8 yrs ago after 8 yrs service. they were being started on a lower salary and significantly less benefits than I did 16yrs previous.

As to why we don’t advertise salaries, it’s politics really,

Wages will be one of the biggest overheads for most companies. Any employer will pay the minimum they can get away with in order to attract and retain staff. Some don’t even bother with that second bit.

For the perfect candidate who is currently in another job, an employer might have to offer more than they originally intended; conversely, someone who will probably do and is currently unemployed is likely to accept a considerably lower offer.

Wages will be one of the biggest overheads for most companies.

True

Any employer will pay the minimum they can get away with in order to attract and retain staff.

On the contrary, I always try to max the amount I pay my staff. Hire fewer, better people. Pay them more than the market rate, enjoy their outperformance and reward them for it. Handsomely hopefully.

One very bright person was negotiating her salary with me last year. I told here that she was doing a very bad job at negotiaition….as she was massively underselling herself and gave her more than she wanted to prove it.

fWe don’t advertise salary and by the end of the year my team will have hired 500 people, with the whole resourcing function bringing 1600 people into the business this year. That’s 1600 experienced white collar, skilled people, in a market with significant skills shortages. Not bad for a broken recruitment process.

One large company who must have a high profile doing ok in recruiting doesn’t mean the process is not broken.

We don’t advertise salary and by the end of the year my team will have hired 500 people, with the whole resourcing function bringing 1600 people into the business this year. That’s 1600 experienced white collar, skilled people, in a market with significant skills shortages. Not bad for a broken recruitment process.

Where do I sign up for my new job? 😉

We don’t advertise salary and by the end of the year my team will have hired 500 people, with the whole resourcing function bringing 1600 people into the business this year. That’s 1600 experienced white collar, skilled people, in a market with significant skills shortages. Not bad for a broken recruitment process.

How many still work for you?

On the contrary, I always try to max the amount I pay my staff.

Yep, pay peanuts, get monkeys…

I applied for a job at an insurance company after being made redundant. I told them I was earning more than the advertised upper range of the salary in my previous role (which I was). To my immense surprise they actually matched it, despite a) it being more than the range in the advert and b) me not actually having that job at the time. So companies aren’t always shit. That same company had a salary range for one grade of £26-£94k though. Slightly mental.

Not divulging at least an approximate salary is bloody annoying though. Job titles can vary so much it’s nice to know if it’s a £25-£30k job, or a £90k-£100k job!

As above, particularly frustrating for my sector as the same job title at the “same” level of seniority within the business can pay you from £25k to £100k+ – trying to find the level that I actually operate at is practically pot luck at times when they don’t show salary.

Having been on both sides of the table (not often, but some), if you’re penny pinching on salary (incoming and current) it either means it’s an “unskilled” position with high turnover or the person doing the recruiting/salary stuff isn’t going to be responsible/accountable for the employees directly affected.

“We only employ the best people” – “We pay market rates” – not only found on cartoons.

how many still work for you?

Of the people who started this year? 96% as of the end of November.

I should add that although we do have a high profile in our industry we also have a (deserved) reputation for not paying as much as many of our competitors. My team are very open about this and will tell a candidate that if their only motivation is to maximise their package then they’ll almost always get a better offer elsewhere. We “sell” on career development opportunities and the profile of the projects we have. That said, no-one in my department would refuse to discuss salary with a potential candidate, even if they might sometimes not give a specific figure or range.

Once, whilst post uni unemployed, had a job interview where they asked me what salary I expected, I gave them a range, they did’t say much. Few days later offered me a job £5k below my minimum value and when I declined sent me a slightly arsey email explaining why i was being unreasonable 😕 I said no again, a few weeks later got another offer within my range, by which time I had got a different job. Not sure based on that they’d have been a good company to work for anyway.

@stumpy01

They wouldn’t budge at all, so I ended up turning it down. It’s funny how £multi-million International companies who are telling you moments before that they sell this many thousand products/year at an average price of Y and profits are booming blah blah struggle to find £3k when pushed……

It makes decision making easy though if there’s a bait & switch as you describe.