MightyRecruiterStarting Salaries: Benchmarking Practice for New Hires
Figuring out starting salaries can be one of the most challenging parts to filling a position. You want to offer a competitive salary that will attract good workers, but at the same time you don’t want to pay more than you can afford. How can you know where to start if you have never had this type of position
Figuring out the pay doesn’t have to be a huge challenge for your business. You have to consider certain benchmarks, like the skills you’re looking for, the market you’re in, the current job trends and the benefits you plan to offer.
Skills
The level of the position you are trying to fill will tell you a lot about what the pay should be. Starting salaries often correlate to the skills, experience and education required. You can do some research to find out what people with similar skills, experience and education are making.
Many employers try searching by the job title, but if your title is not traditional, you may have a harder time finding any accurate information. The reality is, if you are looking for someone with very little experience, you can afford to give them a lower starting wage. If, on the other hand, you are looking for someone with decades of experience and a lot of technical skills, you will need to let the pay acknowledge their experience.
Market
You should also use the current market as a benchmark for starting salaries. What are your competitors paying people in similar positions There are a lot of online tools you can use to study the market. You can turn to salary calculators to get a better idea of what you should pay. There are a few calculators available:
-PayScale.com lets you calculate salary based on a bunch of different criteria, like years of experience, qualifications and location.
-Coach.CareerBuilder.com gives you insights into careers. It is built for jobseekers, but you can find some use out of it too.
-SalaryExpert.com is similar to PayScale, but it offers premium salary reports to give you more reliable data.
When you want to figure out what to pay a new position, you should look at the current market to get some ideas.
Job Trends
You also have to think about today’s job trends. Many employees don’t stay in one job or at one company for their entire career. The ladder of success may go from one company to another to another. You will likely be paying for unique expertise, which means that you have to know exactly what sort of skills you need in an employee.
Starting salaries are different today than they used to be because of these different job trends. Certain employees may stay with a company for decades, while others will work for a number of companies in the same amount of time.
Benefits
Another part of the benchmark for starting salaries are the benefits. What else are you offering this new employee besides a paycheck You can highlight the medical or dental benefits, retirement plans, company culture, vacation days, flexibility, paternity or maternity leaves, volunteer-release and other unique benefits that a candidate will only get when working for you.
Think about what makes your company unique. Maybe your company donates to a charity that your employee volunteered with for 50 hours in a year. Perhaps you offer a tiered employment structure that guarantees raises at certain milestones. Figure out what the position’s starting salary will be, but also the other benefits that employee’s will be able to enjoy.
Know your Parameters
Finding a qualified candidate often depends on how you market the opening. A huge factor in this marketing is the starting salary. What will applicants make should they get this job Are there other incentives that they will get You need to have competitive starting salaries if you want to attract highly qualified workers.
Use these benchmarking tips to help you figure out where your pay should start. Also think about what your business can afford. Many jobseekers may try to barter their starting salary to something a little heftier. If you’re willing to play ball, you have to know what the maximum you’re willing to offer is. Take a long look at your budget, the current market, the other benefits you’re offering and the skills you expect to figure out reasonable starting salary parameters.
There are a lot of factors you have to consider as you try to fill an open position. Thankfully you don’t have to do everything on your own. There are a lot of great tools available at Mighty Recruiter. You can get great advice related to finding capable employees, improving your business and making marketing choices. Use the resources available at Mighty Recruiter today.