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Can you manage candidates salary expectations?
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Can you manage candidates salary expectations?
A recruiter`s ability to reduce a candidate`s salary expectation is an invaluable tool for widening the field of potential employers, says Aquent international CEO Greg Savage.
Speaking at his recent seminar series on how to recession-proof your desk, Savage said this is something recruiters should do with every candidate, but particularly in a downturn.
When a candidate earning $60k says they expect $75k from their next job, only "loser" consultants accept that figure, he says.
"That is not their salary floor; that is a dream. We`re not selling dreams, we`re selling jobs."
Recruiters must be able to ask, without insulting the candidate, how they came to that figure, and what their logic is, he says.
Sometimes the candidate will admit it was optimistic straight away, or they might "put a bit of meat behind it and say `well, my friends are getting 75`".
"Your job," Savage says, "is to get the lowest salary that person will move for, for the right job."
He says the way to do it is to say: "OK, Mr Candidate, let`s say I found you the perfect job, the job that provided you a marketing role with an interactive agency. A job that was closer to home, as you`re looking for, a job that`s working with cutting-edge technology, where you had supervision of other staff - all those things you`re looking for.
"If I was to find you that job; if that job was to come into my office tomorrow morning, you say you`re looking for 75, and let`s say that job was paying 70. I just want to understand, today, before I do anything, that you don`t want me to call you about that?
"And then shut up."
Often, he says, the candidate will say, "if it`s got all that, then I do want you to call me".
Counter this with: "But you said your minimum`s 75. And I`m telling you the maximum of my client, theoretically, is 70."
If the candidate says that for the right job, they`d move for 70k, "you have just opened up a whole new raft of orders where you can place this guy".
Of course, Savage says, "a great recruiter`s not finished there; you`d do it again. Say that you`re not trying to be facetious, but if you found the right job with the right this, the right that, and it was paying 65, `can I just clarify, once and for all, so we don`t waste each other`s time, should I call other candidates of mine and not you?` Get [the minimum salary] down to the lowest level."
The important thing to remember, he says, is: "You`re not going to try and find that guy the lowest possible salary - you`re going to try and find him the highest possible salary. But your job as a skilled recruiter is to lower people`s salary expectations, on the candidate side, and on the client side, you want to lift what they`ll pay.
"The reason you do that is so there`s a bigger gap, so you can make more matches. That`s the business we`re in."
Source:
http://www.recruiterdaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=All&selkey=
Speaking at his recent seminar series on how to recession-proof your desk, Savage said this is something recruiters should do with every candidate, but particularly in a downturn.
When a candidate earning $60k says they expect $75k from their next job, only "loser" consultants accept that figure, he says.
"That is not their salary floor; that is a dream. We`re not selling dreams, we`re selling jobs."
Recruiters must be able to ask, without insulting the candidate, how they came to that figure, and what their logic is, he says.
Sometimes the candidate will admit it was optimistic straight away, or they might "put a bit of meat behind it and say `well, my friends are getting 75`".
"Your job," Savage says, "is to get the lowest salary that person will move for, for the right job."
He says the way to do it is to say: "OK, Mr Candidate, let`s say I found you the perfect job, the job that provided you a marketing role with an interactive agency. A job that was closer to home, as you`re looking for, a job that`s working with cutting-edge technology, where you had supervision of other staff - all those things you`re looking for.
"If I was to find you that job; if that job was to come into my office tomorrow morning, you say you`re looking for 75, and let`s say that job was paying 70. I just want to understand, today, before I do anything, that you don`t want me to call you about that?
"And then shut up."
Often, he says, the candidate will say, "if it`s got all that, then I do want you to call me".
Counter this with: "But you said your minimum`s 75. And I`m telling you the maximum of my client, theoretically, is 70."
If the candidate says that for the right job, they`d move for 70k, "you have just opened up a whole new raft of orders where you can place this guy".
Of course, Savage says, "a great recruiter`s not finished there; you`d do it again. Say that you`re not trying to be facetious, but if you found the right job with the right this, the right that, and it was paying 65, `can I just clarify, once and for all, so we don`t waste each other`s time, should I call other candidates of mine and not you?` Get [the minimum salary] down to the lowest level."
The important thing to remember, he says, is: "You`re not going to try and find that guy the lowest possible salary - you`re going to try and find him the highest possible salary. But your job as a skilled recruiter is to lower people`s salary expectations, on the candidate side, and on the client side, you want to lift what they`ll pay.
"The reason you do that is so there`s a bigger gap, so you can make more matches. That`s the business we`re in."
Source:
http://www.recruiterdaily.com.au/nl06_news_selected.php?act=2&stream=All&selkey=
