Money Matters!

If You Communicate You Don't Have To Negotiate!

For years the talent market has authored millions of comments about negotiating. The part of the process where candidates and companies become adversaries and work to outsmart each other in an effort to close an offer. Yes I described it that way because it accurately depicts what occurs thousands of times a day. But this shouldn’t be.

You have candidates who use published salary data, advice from career services counselors, and anecdotal feedback from friends and families to share some validated and some wildly ridiculous salary expectations. 

You have Recruiters and Hiring Managers making attempts to stay within budget, below midpoint, and sometimes at the very bottom of the range. In some dastardly situations you have those who really are attempting to low ball an offer.

And last but not least, every LinkedIn career coach with a fancy LinkedIn header title, stars, bells, and emojis swearing that they can get you your dream job and increase your salary by $75,000. For context however they neglect to share that the person was being underpaid or had been in a job that was misaligned with their education or experience. They never say – I was able to get my client a salary $75,000 above market. 

Also worth noting is the cute hot topic that has lacked context but has been rich with likes and emotions, “put the salary in the job posting”.

So I’m here today in an effort to bring some sanity to the discussion about total compensation, transparency, and communication.

Full disclosure – I have worked for large organizations with solid compensation strategies and practices. I have managed TA teams that extended offers to candidates working on all 7 continents. I’ve also partnered with and supported peers and friends across a variety of industries. In short, I know my ish and this ain’t just something I read about. 

First and foremost, organizations that value people will create and continue to evolve their compensation strategy. Compensation is not limited to wages, and includes other elements that have a financial value to both the company and employee. There is an undercurrent of compensation factors, equally available to the majority of your employee population; vacation, sick, insurance, retirement planning, relocation, tuition reimbursement, etc. Salary is often aligned with exempt vs. non-exempt grades. So when a manager has a job opening more often than not the position is aligned with a salary grade, with a defined range: minimum, mid point, and maximum. Cool – let’s keep going.  Now we know what we’re working with. So when the Recruiter posts the job why not just tell the whole story about the total compensation package? Because some Recruiters believe that if they publish the top of the range the candidate will ask for the top of the range. So what? As a Recruiter you SHOULD BE well equipped to facilitate an intelligent conversation with a candidate. 

Recruiters can and should share the total compensation package in the job posting. During the phone screen, while discussing the company, department, and position please also discuss total compensation. After doing so ask the candidate “can you tell me about your compensation expectations (not just salary, everything). Incentives, financial obligations, etc. Don’t be shy. Equally important is being realistic. I’ve heard candidates ask – what if they try to lowball me? My answer is always the same – why would you want to work for a company that would low ball you? From this discussion, good Recruiters (I said GOOD Recruiters) will be able to ascertain what a candidate will say yes to. 

Finally, candidates from underrepresented groups are less likely to negotiate, for fear of being perceived as difficult or even ungrateful. Rather than create awkward moments, Recruiters can and should present all available compensation elements. All of them.  A study published by Robert Half indicated that 68% of men and only 45% of women negotiate their salary. When analyzed by age, 65% of candidates age 18-34, 55% of candidates age 35-54, and 38% of candidates age 55+ negotiate their salary.

Now that we have all of our cards on the table let’s keep going. The candidate interviews, performs exceptionally well, and there’s consensus that an offer should be created. Recruiters will then review the salary range, possibly also conduct an internal equity analysis, and determine where the candidate best aligns within the range to draft an offer. They may follow established compensation guidelines or actually work with the Compensation team to create the offer. Factors to consider may include the person having potential but still room for competency growth, aligned with the middle of the group, or leading the pack. IF the organization has created healthy relationships between HR/TA and Hiring Managers the Recruiter will discuss the full offer with the Hiring Manager. To be safe, especially for key roles, this discussion will also address any room for flexibility should there be a need for an adjustment. 

Now, allow me to go back to where I started. Communicating not negotiating. As a Recruiter – did you have a thorough conversation with the candidate during the initial contact? In addition to the interview team debrief, did you also host a debrief with the candidate? Here are a few questions you should be asking the candidate: 1)Did the interview team validate that the role and opportunity is what we advertised? 2) Do you remain interested in this role? 3) If we prepare an offer have you shared with me all of the aspects of total compensation that are important to you?

I absolutely love being a Talent Acquisition Professional. I have been fortunate to learn and grow, to the benefit of my career, the organizations that I have worked for and with, and candidates. For this reason I have followed this process for years. I have no desire to approach this phase of the process with distrust and anxiety. I have no desire to create a modified version of Game of Thrones trying to outwit a candidate. And win what? Why spend days and weeks courting a candidate just to create 48 hours of unnecessary drama? Why? As a matter of practice I will not create an offer unless I have a great degree of certainty that the candidate is prepared to say yes. Yes to the aspects of a compensation package that I have available to me. And yes to what the candidate shared with me.  And if a candidate does not immediately say yes or asks for something different, in that very moment I engage in conversation. Do the details of the offer differ from what we discussed? Is there any information that was omitted? Might there be other offers that you are considering that impact your ability to acknowledge what we’ve discussed?

The cat and mouse game is useless. It expends time unnecessarily. Companies – if you are serious about valuing talent, prove it. Candidates – if this is a company that you want to work for be honest, and be prepared to say yes or no. The steps utilized to reach this stage of the process do not have to be contentious. And there should only be winners as an outcome.

Now, I'm prepared to have this discussion. Are you?