- Make sure the role is clearly defined for the future employee. Often we hear from candidates who start looking for a new position when the current position they are in doesn’t match what they were told during their interview. Salary may have been acceptable during the offer, but not if the actual position does not match what they were told.
- Due to internal equity issues, try to interview candidates who are in the salary range. If you do have an exceptional candidate who is outstanding and outside the salary range, is there a senior role they could interview for at your organization? These candidates are hard to locate, so look to see if there is a place for them in your company in a different role.
- Ask good questions when discussing salary. Let the candidate know you will require salary information verification. Ask about the candidate’s true base, bonus (how much and when does the bonus pay out), incentives (cell phone, laptop, car allowance, etc), stock options, pensions, 401(k), benefit costs, paid lunches, etc. This information will help you when determining the salary offer.
- Do you have good information on what the current marketplace is paying for your job roles? Let the candidate know you have researched the role in your efforts to be competitive in the job market. In addition, let the candidate know why people enjoy working at your organization. This will help the candidate in their decision making process on accepting the offer or not.
- Working with a recruiter helps to alleviate some of these concerns. The recruiter will know what salary the candidate is looking for in their next opportunity, and will share this information with you to help make sure the salary offer is competitive for the candidate and the marketplace. Sometimes clients feel confident negotiating salaries with candidates even though they are working with an agency, but they fail to realize that the recruiting firm has been working with the candidate for some time and may know the candidate on a level that the client does not. It’s almost always better to let the recruiting firm handle the negotiations to seal the deal and get a favorable response for everyone.
Your future employee will benefit going into the new role of the company knowing they were treated fairly in the salary negotiation process. The person will feel loyal, work harder and be committed to the company. If they feel that they were not treated fairly, then your company may be just a stop for them in their career as they keep their options open to future opportunity at other organizations.
