Comment by Sandra McCartt on August 31, 2010 at 2:47pm

As a recruiter i have to have a salary range in order to represent my candidate. If a candidate tells me thay are "negotiable" my answer is , "Great , my client will be delighted to be able to get someone with your background and qualifications for 50K a year".

When the candidate starts screaming NO, no no. We have now established that they are not totally negotible. So let's get real. We as third party recruiters are going to try our best to get you the best package we can get within our client's guidelines. If we have a salary range from the client we will let the candidate know if their asking salary is within the client range.

Negotible will not work as an answer. If the candidate doesn' t really know, ie; coming out of an academic environment into the commercial sector we can provide some guidelines.

If candidates refuse to give a range then i have to have salary history then figure a lateral, a 10% increase or what kind of cut they are willing to and can take depending on employment status and other factors.

Candidates who refuse to give asking range or salary history get dropped off the radar both by us as recruiters and our clients. No point in wasting everybody's time if the candidate can not or will not consider what the company can offer.

Comment by Shawn Olsen on August 31, 2010 at 5:01pm

Sandra, very good points. As a recruiter, I use salary as one of the key items to disqualify applicants (especially if what they are requesting is scientifically outside of our range). On the flip side, we just made an offer, and the person countered for more, even though we gave him more than what he requested when he applied! Candidates need to understand that offers have been rescinded for less, and that is not the way to start off on a good foot with an employer. At least provide the salary history so we know where you have been, then we will make a fair offer.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on August 31, 2010 at 9:35pm

Had a candidate do the same thing two weeks ago. The HR director thought about the counter askin for more about a minute then said, "Tell her we will miss her and our original offer not being acceptable we will withdraw the offer, next.

Candidate was horrified, said she just wanted to be sure she was not selling herself too cheaply and wanted to accept the original offer. Sorry Brunhilde, there is no offer but now we know what you were worth an hour ago at this point with this group you are worth the big goose egg.

Don't listen to the recruiter, what the hell do i know, i just do this for a living. Speaking of that i need to go find another candidate who already knows what they are worth so i can prove what i'm worth.

Comment by Moyomade Adediran on September 1, 2010 at 10:52am

Hmmm....My approach to this goes thus. I honestly don't think it's fair to candidates disqualifying them based on what they have indicated as asking salary. In most cases, if the asking price is above what my client is willing to offer, I advice appropriately. If it's below the range, I can also advice to jack it up a little. My reasons are simple. We all have different expectations from life and desired living standards, It will be wrong to judge or disqualify someone based on his/her expectations because we never shared his/her past experiences and we don't know their ambitions as well. Secondly, I was once an applicant, so i try to see myself in between an applicant and a representative of the employer.

Come to think of it when you have realized the candidate is an exceptional talent your employer should hire , especially when he/she possess the desired competencies needed for the Job, I won't have a choice other than to manage the situation to make my customer (the candidate) and the client happy. It has to be a win-win situation.

On the flip side, going by history of past salaries of the candidate could also be a means to breaking the tie.

Cheers,

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