Let's Talk Money

The way I see it is we have a problem with money. I'm sure we could all agree and disagree on just about every thing that has to do with it. Because of this  the hardest conversation in recruiting for me is regarding money. Truthfully, I want to make everybody happy. If I could give everybody 1 million dollars I would, but the reality is that I can't, and the frustrating part is that sometimes candidates just don't believe me.

Money is a sensitive topic. Sensitive for candidates, companies, and recruiters. I mean lets be honest, I hire engineers. Do ya really think I don't have some type of complex offering salary packages that I'll never touch? I'm not really pulling the woe is me card, but what I am saying is we all need to be a bit more realistic about money. What it actually means to us, what we are actually worth, and what is actually obtainable. Not every company has money growing on trees and can offer nearly a million dollars in total compensation - they just can't.

Simply put, money drives how we live our lives. If we change jobs we want to be able to maintain how we live our life. Where the problem starts is after that. We've all been told, for years, that nobody changes jobs for less than a 15% raise. HOLY SMOKES! If we play that out at the rate at which people are changing jobs its no wonder that we are seeing such a competitive market today. Its basically just an all out bidding war. And lets be even more honest, we all have a little bit of greed in us, and I'm not an exception.

So does being honest about all of this help anything? Well, I think so. I think even though we all are a little greedy and we all want to keep up with the Jones' being honest does help. Honesty has to come from both sides though, so lets explore that a little bit, and be warned, I'm going to get honest.

Candidates, here is the thing, just because you are making one amount of money today at one job does not automatically entitle you to make more to do the same job somewhere else. It just doesn't. Take a look at your life today - be honest -are you happy? Can you support yourself and your family? Do you drive a good, reliable car? Do you live in a house that you don't have to worry about affording? Oh, you do? OK then lets stop with the whole - I need to make X thing. You don't need to make any more than you do, you just want to. And look, thats OK, you should want more. Want to push yourself and have better things. Thats not a bad thing. What is a bad thing though is that you enter negotiations thinking that you're somehow entitled to make as much as Joe Shmoe at another company just because you think you do the same job. Now, to be clear, I am grossly oversimplifying things here, but the foundation of what I'm saying still sticks. I have found that when most negotiations break down its because you don't actually know what would make you happy. So here is my advise on that when it comes to compensation: be honest with yourself and reasonable about what compensation change would actually benefit you.

I'm not saying ask for less than your worth by any means, but I do mean the whole shoot for the stars and you'll end up at the moon bit doesn't really pan out for anybody and its a colossal waste of time. What I recommend doing is coming up with your own compensation philosophy. By nature compensation is tricky because it means something different to everybody. Think about what different types of compensation mean to you - cash vs. stock vs. equity vs. profit sharing vs. bonuses - the list goes on and on.  Once you have a grounded understanding of what each of these things means to you, and what is actually important, then just be honest with a recruiter about what that is. I promise you recruiters do not care what you are making. Chances are they are going to be able to offer you more, and even more likely, they'll tell you if they can't. Nobody wants to screw you out of what you deserve, but you also shouldn't approach a company hoping to screw them either.

Recruiters –  alright y'all, you don't get off easy on this one either –  Enough is enough with the whole playing games thing. Its now a fairly standard practice to not ask what somebody is currently making - and I think thats a good thing. What is not yet a standard practice (except in states where its legally required) is sharing what the compensation range actually is. Look, what harm does it do to tell somebody "we can likely do this for you. How does that sound?" I mean it. Can you give me a explanation on how that harms your ability to recruit that person? If you want and expect candidates to be honest with you about their expectations, then you should be the catalyst to build that trust. Personally, I think we all just need to cut through the ish and be up front with what can and can't happen. Sure, you might lose that candidate, but what good does it really do later on if that person does not accept your offer because you're so far off the mark. If you just tell them whats up early on you can save yourself, your hiring team, and your candidate a whole lot of grief.

So here is my personal take on salary, both as a person and as a recruiter. Do good work and money will come. It always works and it is that simple. Be up front with what you want and what parts of compensation are important to you. Don't just throw a big number out there just because you think that is something you want - if you got it all in stock and you really wanted cash then it doesn't help you? Be grounded. Make known what is important so when you do get an offer its actually what you want, you can be excited about it, and you can make a decision on other important factors like, I don't know, culture?

As a recruiter, here is my promise. I will always be honest about what we can pay. I will tell you even if you don't ask. If you tell me that you want something I know is low then I will tell you to ask for more. Inversely, if you tell me something that is too high, I will tell you we can't make that happen and you can decide what to do next. I believe that when it comes to compensation, the decision has to always remain with the candidate. Selfishly thats because I don't really want to deal with the ridiculous negotiations after the fact. But, unselfishly, I just want to make sure at the end of the day everybody is happy, and most importantly that you are excited about your new job.

Always remember that money does not have to be the entire picture. If you can be upfront enough to trust that you don't need to worry about the dollars and cents in an offer, then you can honestly think more critically about what job or company is going to make you the happiest. Make the money secondary, and I'm confident you'll end up being a lot happier in the long run.