Managing candidates’ salary expectations

Successful recruiting is about lots of small interactions, handled well.  The real job of a recruiter is to manage outcomes in the interests of both client and candidate. This week I have another micro recruitment consulting tip – the key skill of managing the candidate’s expectations around salary.

It’s not that we want to find a person the lowest possible salary we can. Not at all. But it is crucial to know what the absolute minimum salary is for a candidate to move for the right job.

That is the key.

View video on YouTube.

Too many recruiters take a stated salary expectation at face value. Often that number is inflated and largely wishful thinking.  However, if taken as a true guide, it could mean the candidate misses out on the perfect job because you, the recruiter, did not understand what his or her true motivators were.

Managing expectations on salary starts in the first interview and it involves coupling the perfect job sought by the candidate to the lowest salary they would accept. Sure it’s a technique and it’s a test but it does clarify what the salary tipping-point really is.
And you have to know that or you could be the recruiter who has the candidate, has the job, but watches another recruiter put the two together because they did a better job of uncovering the candidate’s salary floor.

And that is an ugly prospect.

You need to drill down on what the candidate would accept for the right job.

Without that how can you effectively manage the candidate’s job search?

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