By: Monica Donias
Let’s go over why including a salary is important and what it means from a candidate’s perspective.
We’ll start with you – creating your ad. You’ve got your Position, Job Category, and Job Type ready to go. But what should you put in the salary range? We have Help Center Articles to help you out with determining your salary, but let’s talk about why it is so important to include it in your ad.
Filling out the salary section not only allows the candidate to have an expectation as to what they can earn while working for your agency. It also gives you an opportunity to be transparent with them! If you were the candidate looking between the different job opportunities out there, wouldn’t you want to compare salaries from one position to another to pick the best fit?
If you were to go on Indeed.com you can search your job title and zip code to see competitors in your area and the salary ranges they’re offering.
Now putting yourself back in the candidate’s shoes, let’s imagine the experience we have for this role. You may get candidates with different experience levels applying to your job ad and I strongly encourage you to have a breakdown of what a candidate can expect based on their experience level. Someone who has experience, their license, and maybe even some business to bring over, probably won’t make the same amount as an entry-level person.
In your job description or even the benefits section, you can give examples of what candidates can expect to earn based on their experience level.
For example: “Entry-level candidates can expect to make $40,000 – $60,000 per year in total compensation. Experienced candidates can expect to make $60,000 – $80,000 per year in total compensation, and Top-Level performers can expect to make $80,000 – $100,000 in total compensation.”
You now have given the candidate the opportunity to envision what they can expect to make when they apply. You have also given them the ability to think about their long-term career goals and how with hard work and determination, they can increase their income as they grow their career with you.
Are you stuck trying to figure out what the salary range should be? Here’s an example of a sales role.
The first number in your salary range can be the bare minimum they expect to make within the first year. If you have a base salary plus commission role, I would ask yourself, “What’s the bare minimum amount of policies they need to sell a month to stay on my team?” Then you can multiply the number of policies by how much they would make in commission on average. That number is what they can expect to make in one month so we multiply that by 12 (total months in a year) and that is the bare minimum in commission they can make. We then add that to our base salary and you now have your first number listed!
For example: “I pay a base salary of $30,000 per year, but if my agents aren’t selling enough policies to make $10,000 per year in commission, I’m going to have to let them go. Therefore, my low-end salary is $40,000.”
We suggest the high end of the range is no more than 1.5x the first number to meet job board criteria. So since we started our range at $40,000, the high end of the range should not exceed $60,000.
But wait!! You just said I can talk about how my top performer makes $100,000 a year in my Benefits section, so why can’t my range be $40,000-$100,000?
I’m so glad you asked. This is where the content of the ad itself provides additional information so that you’re giving candidates a good idea of what they can expect to make their first year with you while demonstrating the amazing growth opportunities your job offers.
With the goal of trying to attract the best fit for you, key things like Salary Transparency are extremely important. Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes and ask yourself, “What would I look for when comparing opportunities.”
If you need any additional resources, be sure to check out our help center for other great topics for improving your hiring strategy.