With the volume of candidates currently applying for many roles, it can be tempting to assume businesses now have access to highly experienced people at significantly reduced salary levels.
While there is certainly more movement in the market than we’ve seen for some time, the reality is often more nuanced than that.
One of the most common challenges we’re seeing at the moment is a mismatch between the capability a business is hoping to secure and the salary level attached to the role.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the budget is wrong. Sometimes it’s the role itself that needs refining.
Start With the “Must Haves”
When hiring managers sit down to recruit, wish lists can quickly develop.
Industry experience.
Leadership capability.
Technical expertise.
Business development skills.
Systems knowledge.
Strong stakeholder management.
The ability to work autonomously from day one.
Individually, those requirements may all be reasonable. Combined, they can unintentionally create a role that sits at a far more senior salary level than originally anticipated.
We’re increasingly seeing roles where businesses are effectively looking for a senior leader, technical specialist and hands-on operator all wrapped into one position, while still trying to benchmark the salary against a mid-level market range.
That tension is understandable. Most businesses are still managing costs carefully, and many teams have become leaner over the last couple of years. The challenge is that the market still places value on experience, capability and proven performance, even during quieter economic periods.
Establish Expectations of the Role
One of the most valuable exercises during recruitment is separating the genuine “must-haves” from the “nice-to-haves”.
- What skills are truly critical on day one?
- What can realistically be learned?
- What level of experience is actually needed for the role to succeed?
- Does the role genuinely require someone highly strategic, or is strong operational capability more important?
Those discussions can significantly change both the candidate pool and the salary expectations attached to the role.
Be Clear About the Type of Role You’re Hiring
We also regularly see businesses trying to recruit one type of role while expecting the output of another.
For example:
- wanting a strong hunter-style Business Development Manager while benchmarking against an Account Manager’s salary
- seeking a highly strategic marketer for what is realistically a coordination role
- requiring leadership-level accountability in a position without the seniority, support or remuneration that typically sits alongside it
- expecting a finance professional to operate at CFO level within a role budgeted closer to an experienced Accounts Manager position
In many cases, the issue is not that the salary is “wrong” in isolation. It’s that the expectations attached to the role sit at a different level to the budget.
Sometimes the solution is increasing the salary range.
Other times, it’s redefining the role, so expectations better align with the level being recruited.
That may mean reducing the breadth of responsibilities, changing reporting structures, investing in additional support around the role, or focusing on the areas that will genuinely make the biggest impact for the business.
In some situations, businesses may also need to reconsider whether the role truly necessitates someone with extensive direct experience, or whether a slightly less experienced candidate with strong fundamentals, attitude, learning capability and a transferable skill set could perform successfully with the right support around them.
We’re seeing more businesses successfully broaden their thinking around adjacent industries and transferable capability, particularly where the core skills of the role remain highly relevant.
For example, strong relationship management, stakeholder communication, operational coordination, problem solving or commercial acumen can often transfer effectively between industries, even where product or sector knowledge differs.
That approach won’t suit every position. Some roles actually need depth of experience from day one, particularly where commercial risk, technical complexity or leadership responsibility is high.
However, where there is capacity for onboarding, mentoring or skills development, broadening the experience expectations attached to a role can sometimes open up access to strong candidates who may previously have been overlooked.
The Market Still Matters
Even in a softer employment market, experienced candidates with strong capabilities are generally still well remunerated.
Candidates may be more open to change than they were two or three years ago, but very few are looking to take a significant backward step financially unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
That might include:
- better work-life balance
- reduced stress or travel
- a stronger culture fit
- flexibility
- long-term stability
- a genuine lifestyle change
We are certainly seeing some candidates make decisions based on factors beyond salary alone. However, there is still a limit to how far remuneration can sit below market before it becomes unrealistic for the level of experience being sought.
A high volume of applicants does not necessarily mean a high volume of appropriately aligned applicants.
In fact, one of the biggest challenges many businesses are currently facing is working through very large response volumes, only to discover that the majority of candidates do not actually meet the capability level required for the role.
Rethinking the Structure Can Sometimes Be the Answer
One approach we’ve seen work well for some businesses is adjusting the structure of the role itself, rather than simply increasing salary expectations.
For example, where a business has a fixed budget but requires more senior capability, engaging a part-time experienced professional can sometimes deliver a stronger outcome than recruiting a more junior full-time employee.
This can work particularly well in roles such as finance, marketing or HR, where outcomes and expertise are often more important than having someone physically present in the business full-time.
For some businesses, it can provide access to a level of experience that may otherwise sit outside budget expectations.
We’ve also seen businesses successfully redesign roles by separating responsibilities that don’t necessarily need to sit together.
For example:
- splitting strategic and administrative functions
- outsourcing specialist technical components
- reducing people’s leadership responsibilities
- introducing part-time support around lower-level tasks
In some cases, relatively small structural changes can materially improve both the quality of candidates available and the likelihood of a successful long-term hire.
The key is understanding what the role genuinely requires day to day, rather than automatically defaulting to a traditional full-time structure or an “ideal world” wish list.
If you’d like guidance on salary expectations for a role within your business, feel free to get in touch with our team.
You can also view our previous Salary Guidance articles here: