Just Tell Us How Much!
From time to time, Linkedin sends me job ads it thinks I might be interested in, this is usually worth a look to see how badly its algorithmn’s match jobs to what I do, but from time to time it spits out something worth looking at. But then…
‘Deeply competitive pay.’
What is that supposed to mean? I hate the phrase ‘competitive pay’ at the best of times, but is adding an extra word supposed to make it sound more impressive? Not just competitive, deeply competitive! Super competitive! THE MOST COMPETITIVE!
Thing is, pretty much every ad says some variation on this, so how are the rest of us supposed to establish what a competitive salary, or day rate, is? Is that the point?
Clearly, companies have a salary range in mind when they want to fill a role, so just bloody tell us!
It feels quite disingenuous, and somewhat self defeating. I don’t care how good the job is, if I go to the bother of applying, interviewing and all the other hoop jumping, to finally be told the salary on offer is half what I’m willing to take, I’m not going to agree out of some sort of awkward sense of ‘well, I’ve come this far!’ And my and their time has been successfully wasted.
It also makes it harder for people, and I suspect, particuarly, more junior level people, from understanding what their worth is. The job ad says it’s super competitive, so maybe 3 shiny pennies an hour IS a good wage for a graduate designer! Secondly, when it’s put on the applicant to boldly state how much they are looking for, I can’t help but think this exacerbates pay gaps, it takes a certain type of person to, face to face, make a ballsy play for an extra £10k a year. There’s the nerves that if you ask for too much they’ll bullet you out the door as well, it seems quite possible that this setup encourages a lot of people to ask for a ‘safe’ amount. And by safe, I mean a lower amount. And because job ads never mention figures, how will you know if you’re working with folk at the same level but earning a lot less / more, or if similar companies pay less / more?
But as long as it’s deeply competitive, right?
It’s pretty much the first question I ask now, when speaking to companies or recruiters, and even then, I partly feel bad about it. We’re designers, we’re not supposed to be in it for the money, right? It should be about the challenge! The creativity! The excitement!
Yeah, well, I have bills to pay, so…
In short, just show us the money.
