What a good recruiter should tell you about your salary

Every few weeks an employer asks us to fill a role at a salary that has not moved since 2022. We could take the brief, run the search for six weeks and then explain why nobody accepted. We would rather have the conversation on day one.

The number we use

Each desk keeps a record of every offer accepted and declined in its sector over the last twelve months, with the salary, the location and the level. That is the figure we quote, not a survey and not a guess. If your range sits in the bottom quarter, we tell you, and we tell you what it would take to reach the middle.

What happens if you hold the line

Sometimes the answer is to hold the line, and that is fine. A smaller company with a better working pattern, a shorter commute or a clearer path to the next job can hire below market, as long as those things are true and we can say them out loud. What does not work is holding the line and hoping.

For candidates

The same record works the other way. If you are being paid below the range for your level, we will tell you, and we will tell you what a move would realistically add. If you are already at the top of the range, we will tell you that too, because a move for money alone rarely lasts.

The point

A search built on the wrong number wastes everyone’s time. A five-minute conversation about the right number at the start is the cheapest thing we do.