Negotiating Salaries: How to Land a Great Candidate without Breaking the Bank
Posted June 14th, 2010
As you enter the salary negotiation portion of the interview process with your top candidate, your job is to hire the person at a fair wage for her talents and experience that also stays within your budget.
Here are some tips to help you do so:.
1) You should know in advance the salary standards for your industry and your location. If you don’t already know this, contact businesses in your region similar to yours and ask for their salary structure for different positions.
2) Set a number over which you will not go. Give yourself a ceiling after you figure how much you can spend on salaries and benefits. If you find a great employee you believe will ask for more, you should leave yourself a bit of wiggle room, but a ceiling will help prevent you from wasting time on candidates who are too expensive, no matter how wonderful they are.
3) Remember that salary negotiation is about more than money. If your terrific candidate truly wants and expects more than you can truly afford, offer more paid time off, stock options, perhaps even a signing/retention bonus (this is a one-time hit to your budget, rather than one that occurs week after week). An attractive benefits package can go a long way to attracting and keeping great employees. Or, for a truly ambitious candidate, you could place her on a special, highly visible project with the goal of promotion in responsibilities and pay.
When you’re looking to save on your San Francisco company’s payroll costs, contact Bayside Solutions. We can source and hire (on our payroll) some of the best Bay area employees for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire positions. Contact us today; we look forward to helping your company run smoothly and well within your budget.
