In a softening tech recruitment market, talking cash is even more vitalPosted over 1 year ago by Nick Caley

I've recently read a lot about transparency when job hunting and where the boundaries should sit regarding salary, other interviews, and preferences.

When dealing with a recruiter, being comfortable communicating those things in an open enough manner to feel supported but not expose yourself can be a difficult balance to strike. 

And nowhere is that more prevalent than when discussing cash.

A colleague – granted from our Australian office – even described negotiations in his market as a bit of a "war" right now, with candidate and client expectations still travelling at some speed, just in the opposite direction.

Now while the market may be cooling in the UK too, we're still seeing serious pay rises and regular counteroffers, so plenty of the fun that comes with it.

But when it comes to discussing cold hard cash, we feel it essential to be honest. Honest with our clients regarding expectations, but honest with each other and our candidates about the same. 

That means in practice that we will always look to understand someone's current salary level and expectations when applying for a new role.

We're not looking for that information to screw anyone over, and it's not the North Star that we base absolutely everything else on either, but we do feel it's important.

And before the – "if your job is so great, tell us the salary" – police rev up, yes, we'll absolutely tell all candidates what salary is achievable in that same interaction. 

Understanding what's important to the candidates we work with means we can do the best job possible; how can salary not be a part of that?

I don't see that as unfair; just a helpful piece of information that will allow us to provide the best service.

I spend so much time reinforcing to our teams that most of our candidates and clients are smarter than us. 

So, we must spend every waking moment trying to understand exactly what they want.

Knowledge is the lifeblood of our business; we die without it.

And we feel it fair that salary is a part of that.