We’re changing our salary requirements
This year we’ve removed the compulsory requirement to show a salary on any job listing posting with us.
This may come as a surprise to some, who know we’ve been supporters of #showthesalary - a global movement encouraging all organisations to list salaries on job ads and publicly calling out those that don’t - for the past few years. We still are strong supporters of #showthesalary
But we feel the move is the right one.
Does it mean we no longer believe that it’s important to give candidates an idea of salary before they apply? Definitely not. We still strongly recommend that employers include a salary in the job ad, for reasons we’ll talk about more below.
But we also hear from some organisations that showing the salary in the initial job ad is a barrier to placing a listing. It might be that…
The salary will genuinely be based on experience and qualifications rather than fixed for every candidate.
The job itself is flexible in terms of hours or responsibilities and the final salary offered will flex with those changes.
They truly don’t know what the salary is just yet because budgets are in flux.
They are worried that a salary may put off some candidates either because they feel it’s too low (and don’t realise there may be room to negotiate or additional benefits) or conversely because they feel they aren’t experienced enough or talented enough for the pay rate.
Internal policies restrict the public advertising of salaries.
We don’t want employers to potentially miss out on our fabulous pool of jobseekers because our criteria prevent them from listing with us. And we don’t want our fabulous pool of jobseekers to potentially miss out on making a connection that would be a great fit because we wouldn’t host a job ad without a definitive dollar sign.
So we’ve decided to relax the criteria around salaries.
What will happen now?
When you list a job with us, you will have the option to show a salary. But this element will no longer be compulsory. The salary box gives you the option of listing a fixed salary - annual or pro-rata for part-time roles or an hourly rate, a salary range or a salary expectation such as dependent on experience.
We do still recommend adding a salary to a listing wherever possible.
Why? Because statistics and studies show that it’s a good idea.
Four reasons to show a salary on your job listing
#1 Candidates want it
A host of surveys and studies show that knowing the salary is important to applicants. In our survey of jobseekers last year, 63% said it was important to know the salary before applying. This sentiment is reflected in surveys across the world - particularly when it comes to younger applicants.
#2 Informed applicants are better candidates
Every person who applies for a job has financial commitments and knows how much they need to meet those. Showing a salary allows them to assess whether the job will allow them to meet those needs before applying. That means those who do apply have already overcome one hurdle - they are more likely to be active candidates who would accept the role if offered.
Yes, if the salary is on the low side, some good applicants may be put off. But many people, especially those moving to the not-for-profit or charity sector from corporate jobs, appreciate that the pay may be lower. But they may be willing and able to accept that for a job that ticks other boxes like job satisfaction and values alignment.
#3 You reduce the risk of wasted time
If you don’t advertise a salary up front at some point during the recruitment process, you will still need to talk about money. When this happens later in the process, and it’s nowhere near the level the applicant wants, it’s a waste of everyone’s time. It’s a waste of an employer’s time to invest in assessing a candidate who was never likely to take the job and may not even have applied if they’d known. It may also mean needing to advertise, which costs more time (and money).
And, it’s a waste of an applicant’s time and can leave an overall negative impression of the organisation.
#4 It helps to reduce pay disparity
One issue with not showing salaries and leaving negotiations until later on in the process, is that those negotiations are often based on what the candidate is earning in their current role. If they are being underpaid, then the chances are that they will continue to be underpaid even if the negotiated rate is a little higher. Studies also show that women and people from minority groups find it harder to negotiate higher salaries.
The bottom line is that we still believe fair salaries are important and that organisations should strive to be transparent. But we acknowledge that recruitment can be tricky. In making this move, we aim to remove some of the barriers so that we can continue to connect high-quality jobseekers with high-quality roles.
We still strongly encourage employers to, at the very least, show a salary range. We are also in the process of creating a search option that enables jobseekers to search our listings and filter only roles that do show a salary.
If you have any questions feel free to get in touch at hello@dogoodjobs.co.nz