Should you include wage information in job advertisements?
In what has become a hot topic in the professional world, many companies tend to disagree on whether it’s a good idea to include wages in job advertisements. Even those employers who favor transparency may argue that transparency at this stage of the process is premature
In fact, it’s very common for companies to leave wage info out of their advertisements. According to a study from Adzuna, more than 50 percent of U.S. companies don’t publish wage information in job advertisements. The study also found that each year companies are moving further and further away from this practice.
In this article, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of this idea.
Cons
Leaving wage information out of job advertisements can have a major impact on your talent search.
For example, many job seekers won’t respond to ads that don’t include wage information. SMART Recruit Online, a recruitment software company, conducted a study that found companies see an increase in candidates by 30 percent if they include wage information in their job ads.
And Jobsite, a UK based career portal, claims that companies might experience a 25 percent to 35 percent drop in applicants when job ads don’t include wage information.
So not only will companies lose candidates prior to the application process, but the company’s brand could suffer if candidates go through the process only to learn the job won’t meet their pay requirements.
Pros
One reason companies publish job advertisements without wage information is to keep their competitors from learning what they’re paying employees and then using the information to outbid them for top talent. Companies also may not want their own employees to find out what coworkers are making for fear of corporate culture taking a hit.
How to avoid issues when including wages in job postings
If you’d like to take advantage of the benefits of including wages in your job advertisements, how can you avoid the downsides?
Well, that depends on the type of business you operate. For example, if your company is a major brand, you more than likely receive hundreds of applicants for each single job opening. This means your company could absorb the loss of applicants should you fail to publish wage information in your job advertisements.
Smaller companies could advertise large wage ranges to receive as many applicants as possible.
All companies should research wage surveys to determine the most up-to-date wage information for jobs within their region.
Job ads should at least give a salary range (ie. between $40,000 to $45,000, depending on experience.). Job seekers don’t want to waste their time going for interviews, only to find out that the salary being offered is way below what they’re looking for.