I was scrolling through my Google News feed when I came across this article about why some employers don't put the pay for the job in the advert. Now before I get too far into this, I want to talk about my experience and why anyone should listen to me about the subject.
Some of might know, but for those who don't, my prior career was working as a recruiter. I've worked with Conduent (formerly Xerox), PeopleReady Skilled Trades, Digital Intelligence Systems, and a few other place. My job was solely to work with clients and hiring managers to fulfill their hiring needs. I would create the job postings, review the applicants, conduct interviews, and make my recommendations to hiring managers.
Early on in my career, I learned how adding pay to a job ad can help it or hurt it. I was working on virtually the same job, but the clients were different. The job was working at a call center. One client was paying $14/hr. while the other was only paying $8/hr. Obviously, I had more candidates apply for the $14/hr. job and it made finding qualified candidates easy. Meanwhile, the $8/hr. job took far more work. Most of the candidates that applied for the $8/hr. job were $8/hr. candidates, and I don't mean to say that to be disrespectful to anyone, but top tier candidates are hard to find at an $8/hr. pay rate.
Leaving off the $8/hr. didn't help either because people would show up, and talk to other people there or over hear someone else talking about the job that paid more and it made them question why they couldn't make that higher pay rate. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that leaving the pay rate off the job ad only made my job harder. Like I said, people talk and I'd have a certain number of people scheduled to come in for interviews for one job, but then they would stop wanting that job for the higher paying job. Leaving the pay rate didn't stop that from happening, but it did cut back on the issue.
Wouldn't be the last time I'd play with putting a pay versus not putting a pay, but one thing I learned for certain was that leaving the pay rate off caused more problems than it fixed. I was finding that I was wasting time talking to people who wouldn't take a job paying less than a certain dollar amount, or they'd be interested in the job, stay for about a month or so and then find something that pays better thus leaving me to find a replacement. I got to a point where the only reason I would leave the pay off of a job ad is because I didn't have a pay rate at the time of posting.
So then why do employers leave off the pay rate?
The reason I mentioned all that is to say that not all employers leave off the pay rate for the same reason. Each recruiter and hiring manager has their own ways of doing things, but here are some common reasons that employers would leave off the pay rate.
1) Low pay rates make a job less attractive
I mentioned earlier that I worked on two jobs that were exactly the same but with different companies and pay rates. Less candidates applied to the lower paying job, and that's the first reason employers leave the pay rate off a job ad. Employers know that potential applicants want a job that pays well, and will skip applying for job with low pay rates. In order to make sure there are enough qualified applicants to screen and interview, they leave the pay rate off.
2) To Pigeon hole candidates into lower pay rates
Employers will often times leave the pay off of a job ad because they can't ask what someone is making or has made in the past, so what they will do is they will leave the pay rate off the job ad even though they know they would be willing to pay up to $60k per year to employ someone. The reason for this is simple: saving money. Let's say you have a candidate who is making $18/hr. and they are hoping that the new job pays at least $22 an hour. The employer may be willing to pay up to $22/hr. but they won't tell the candidate that, instead they will ask the candidate what salary he is willing to take, and like most candidates, the candidate will give a conservative number like $19-$20/hr. when they really want, and/or need, the $22/hr.
Obviously this benefits the employer because now they know that the candidate is willing to take less money than what they originally were going to offer, thus, effectively pigeon holing the candidate into a lower pay rate. Conversely, if the candidate were to say something like $25/hr., the employer would immediately disqualify that candidate from further consideration.
3) To keep current employees content
Imagine you've been working at a company for 5 years and you finally get that big promotion only to find out that the person they've hired to do your old job is making more than you did starting out in that same role and just a little bit less than you are in your current role and it took you an entire 5 years just to get there. That kind of stuff makes employees resentful, and that's why they tell employees not to talk about their pay with other employees because it causes resentment and the same thing happens with job ad. Someone sees a job ad for the same job everyone else has been doing for the last two years but it's paying more now then they currently make people will leave, so companies try to keep that from happening by not posting the pay rates.
My Advice for Job Seekers...
Here's the part where I give my two cents on how to level the playing field and not allow yourself to get pigeon holed into a salary that's not quite enough. Some of it you may have heard, and some of it might be completely to the contrary of what you've been told, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
First off, what you're worth and what you need to make your bills are two very different things, but a good way to figure out what base salary you need is to look at your fixed costs and total them up for the month. Fixed costs are any monthly payment you have to make for the foreseeable future such as car payments, rent/mortgage, and things like that.
Once you have that total, figure out how much that is in a yearly salary AND how much that would be in an hourly rate. For example, let's say the bills come up to $2,000 per month. Multiply that by 12 months and you get $24k per year, and that breaks down to about $12/hr. Remember that this is before taxes, so in order to get $2k per month after taxes you need at least a minimum of $13/hr. or $26k annually.
The reason you want to have this number already figured out is that a lot of times applicants, when asked about pay, will give a dollar amount that isn't necessarily what they need to make bills because they feel guilty for asking for a certain amount. Knowing exactly how much you need gives you the confidence you need to ask for the amount you need to make your bills.
If a job ad doesn't have a salary listed the first thing you want to do is find out what the average rate for that job is nationally and locally. If you're looking at a job listing for an IT Analyst, search how much they make on average nationally and then locally. If that lines up with the salary you need, then apply for that job, and be ready to ask about the pay if they don't mention it during the phone screen or interview.
If they don't make any mention of salary in the interview or phone screen, then ask. I know this is one of those things that might be contrary to what people have told you in the past, but in the end, there is literally no reason to show up for a first job interview or a second interview if the job isn't going to pay you what you need. I mean, how much sense does it make to show up to an in person interview for a job that's paying less than you want when you could've just asked when they called to set up the interview how much the job paid? None. Both you and the hiring manager would be wasting each other's time, and hiring managers already know exactly how much they can pay for the job, so there's no harm in finding out how much the job is paying.
The next two things are know your rights and don't allow yourself to get pigeon holed. Make sure to check your local and state laws. In some states it's illegal for a potential employer to ask how much you make or have made in the past. Should someone ask you how much you make or have made in the past, regardless of how you feel about it, tell them you don't feel comfortable discussing that, and instead tell them exactly how much you're looking for.
The reason reason you want to deflect on current or past salary is so that the company won't offer anything less than what you really want for the job. If you tell an employer that you're currently making $15/hr. and you want $20/hr., why would they give you $20 when they know you're only making $15 for the same, or similar job, somewhere else. What would mostly likely happen in this scenario, is that the company would offer something like $18/hr., and most people would jump at that even if they really did want, or need, the $20/hr.
Looking for a job, or a new job, sucks. It has and it always will, but make sure you are getting your money. Don't let someone telling you not to talk about salary during the first interview allow you to get pigeon holed into a job that pays you less than what you want, or need, but you also have to be realistic as well. If a job ad doesn't have the salary listed, do a search on the average salary for that job and be ready to talk about should you apply and call about the job.
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