This is a slightly expanded version of the Sunday Times article (9th Oct) that we featured in.

On a side note, ca. 12% of the jobs we advertise contain detailed information on the salary range on offer.

“The need for good staff has never being more important and companies are going to greater lengths to minimise the risks in any potential new hires, longer interview processes, psychometric testing, presentations, roles plays etc are becoming more and more common in the interview processes. Likewise employees are increasingly more concerned with company stability, culture and future growth plans.
It’s an old adage that price is what you pay and value is what you get. Employers in the current market place are very aware of the need to get the right individual on board not just in terms of skills and experience but also in terms of attitude and fit. To this end a lot of companies don’t want to be boxed in by setting salary bands that will either be dismissed by people that are at a higher salary level and like wise not to prevent applications for people with the right skillet but with less experience.”
–James Cassidy, Medical Device Principal Consultant, Life Science Recruitment

My own way of looking at it is both form the client and candidate perspective:

Client (ie company) – sometimes they have very strict salary bands in place, sometimes they don’t. It can save a lot of time, if the former is the case, to advertise the salary. This is generally done at the junior level to ensure no time is wasted in the recruitment process. Where higher potential salaries exist, employers generally keep their cards closer to their chest and thus tend not to advertise salaries. It can be frustrating from a candidate point-of0view, but is something which is unlikely to change.

Candidates (ie job seeker) – this boils down to the experience the person has. If they are sought after, they are in a stronger position to negotiate. In this instance, again it can save time if they inform the company of any salary expectations that they have, so that this isn’t a big issue later on in the recruitment process. It also means both parties are on the same wavelength from the start. If a candidate has a skillset which is widely available, then they are on the backfoot in terms of ability to demand salaries, and they must act accordingly. It is an employer driven market in many (or even most) areas, but in particular niches, there a skill shortages. IT being the most obvious example, but in many areas of Life Science and Pharmaceutical too (Clinical Reseasrch, Regulatory Affairs, QA to name but a few). In these cases, salaries are generally not advertised in order to encourage as many people as possible to apply.

– Brian Christensen (brian dot c @ lifescience.ie)