Why should you include salary in job description ads?
When making the decision whether to include salary information in your job descriptions, it’s important to first understand the benefits of making this type of change. Fortunately, there are numerous advantages your company can achieve by including salary details. Here’s a look at the top seven advantages.
1. Stay ahead of the competition
According to Indeed’s chief economist, Svenja Gudell, “Attracting, hiring and retaining workers will remain challenging for employers for several years to come.” To attract and acquire skilled talent your business needs, you must be able to stand out from the competition. Including salaries in your job postings may help you do this.
In fact, the number of job postings that include salary information rose from 18% in 2020 to 43% in 2022. Additionally, several cities across the country, including New York City, now require employers to include this information in their job postings. Taking action now to include salary information in your job postings can help you stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Read more: How to Write a Job Description
2. Improve the candidate experience
Multiple studies show that salary is the most important consideration when looking for a new job. It only makes sense that candidates want to have access to this information as early in the recruitment process as possible.
Additionally, including salary and accurate job description information in the job posting can help prevent a negative candidate experience. Going through the entire recruitment process only to find out the salary is lower than expected can leave the candidate feeling upset and undervalued. You can help avoid this negative experience by being upfront about salaries.
3. Attract passive candidates
Sometimes, passive candidates aren’t looking for a new job because they don’t realize what the earning potential is. Providing salary information in the job posting may have the power to entice these candidates to take a closer look at your job offerings. The ability to attract the attention of passive candidates is critical in a tight labor market.
Read more: How to Recruit and Hire Passive Job Seekers
4. Filter out the wrong candidates
Recruitment is not an inexpensive task. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost of hiring just one employee was over $4,500. These costs can start to add up when hiring for multiple positions. In a time of economic uncertainty, this can wreak havoc on your company’s budget.
Unfortunately, many employers spend a lot of time, money and resources seeking out candidates with higher salary expectations than the company can offer. It can be devastating to put a lot of time and effort into engaging with a candidate, only to have them turn down the job offer.
You can avoid these potential issues by providing the candidate with salary information right from the start. This step can build a better recruitment process for both your company and the candidate.
5. Build trust with workers
Many employers who choose not to include exact salary information in the job description simply state that they offer competitive salaries. The problem with this statement is that competitive salaries can mean many different things to different people. While your company may consider its salary offerings competitive, some candidates may not. This difference of opinion can leave the candidate feeling tricked or misled.
On the other hand, including salaries in your job descriptions can help build trust with the candidate. Transparent salaries can also help build trust with your current workers. When your employees know exactly how much new hires are making, it can dispel any rumors in the workplace or concerns your current workers may have.
6. Strengthen employer brand
Thanks to the internet and numerous online employer review sites, more candidates than ever are researching companies before applying for a job. One thing these candidates are certainly looking for is salary information. Whether it’s accurate or not, candidates are likely to find some type of salary information online. Unfortunately, this information could be wrong. If it is, it could prevent some prospective candidates from applying to your job openings.
You can avoid this issue by including both job description and salary information in your job postings. This step can help prevent misinformation from getting into the candidate’s hands and help strengthen your employer brand. Candidates like companies that offer a high level of transparency and are honest.
Related: Employer Branding: An Intro for Small Businesses
7. Achieve improved hiring outcomes
Being able to filter out candidates with salary expectations your company can’t match can help speed up the hiring process. It avoids the need to connect with candidates who will never accept your job offer. Ultimately, this means less time, money and resources spent per hire, which could be used for other initiatives.
Most importantly, including the salary in job description postings can improve hiring outcomes. Including this information allows you to tailor your job postings directly to those candidates that are the best match for your company. When you hire employees that are a better fit for your company, it can also lead to increased retention and higher production rates.
FAQs about including salary in job postings
What factors should you consider before including salaries in your job postings?
One of the major factors you want to consider is whether to include precise salaries or salary ranges. While both options are fine, using salary ranges can give your company some negotiating power when it comes to making a job offer.
You also want to know what your competitors are offering. Take the time to conduct a salary audit to see how your current compensation packages compare to the competition. If your company offers lower salaries, be sure to highlight special benefits in your job posting , such as flexible work schedules or a high level of paid time off.
What negative effects could there be for including salaries in your job postings?
One of the biggest concerns for employers pertaining to including salary information in their job postings is that it allows competitors to match or beat your salary offerings. The reality is that your salary information is probably already out there because current and former employers can anonymously post this information online.
Are employers required to include salaries in job postings?
Typically, you don’t have to include salaries in job postings. However, there are a handful of states and cities that now require this information to be included in job ads.
