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Don’t Play “Let’s Make a Deal” with Candidates’ Compensation in Business and at Work

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As part of the candidate screening process I perform for clients’ internal hiring needs, I ask candidates up front what their salary requirement is. (Reminder: it’s now not compliant in NYS to ask candidates for their salary history.) The salary requirement data point is particularly important for nonprofits to know, given their typically smaller compensation budgets. In a perfect world, employers would advertise the salary range for each job posting based on experience (however, regardless of experience, if the salary range is $65k – $75k, the candidate wants the top of the range).  No good deed goes unpunished.

As I wrapped up a phone interview with a promising candidate last week, the candidate asked if their $50k salary requirement was alright. Puzzled (since I had obtained that information before our phone interview), I asked why they were asking me again. “When I give out my salary requirement, the employer typically comes back with lower salary in their job offer. As part of my last interview process, when I told the employer that my salary requirement was $50k, they came back with an offer of $39k,” they reported.

I was taken aback at the naivete (impacting as disrespectful) of that hiring authority. Why would an (inexperienced or any) hiring authority tender an offer significantly lower than the candidate’s salary requirement? At minimum, you’re insulting a candidate who’s clearly qualified for the job. At maximum, you’re bruising your own reputation as an employer by treating candidates disrespectfully.

“I wouldn’t have wasted your time with a phone interview if your salary requirement was above the budgeted range,” I replied. “I’m sorry that happened to you, clearly the hiring authority doesn’t know how to effectively hire talent.” I’m happy to report that I recommended that candidate for an in-person interview with the client.

How do you ensure that you treat job candidates respectfully when asking their salary requirement (which in turns reflects positively on your recruitment branding and reputation), in business and at work?