It’s hard to deny that in today’s competitive marketplace, top talent can be tough to find. With the recent shipbuilding contract in Nova Scotia and the booming oil and gas industry in Newfoundland, Atlantic Canada is no exception. Finding the right candidates to fill both executive and technical positions often becomes a problem for employers. In a war for talent, star candidates can be choosey, and employers can often miss out based on one important factor – compensation.
The recent recession has certainly created concerns for employers and budgets may be tighter than normal. However, a 2010 Career Builder survey found that amongst the top five employer concerns is providing competitive compensation and retaining top talent (Schappel, 2010). Well, in order to solve these concerns, it’s important to ensure your salaries are competitive so that you can first attract top talent, and then keep it. There are two key areas where employers have control over how they are perceived in the marketplace and their ability to secure top talent – reputation and negotiation.
Often times, candidates have preconceived ideas about what a company typically pays. In small cities like St. John’s and Halifax, everyone knows everyone and everyone talks. The last thing you want as an employer is to have a reputation for paying low salaries. When this happens, you’ve lost top talent before you even know it’s available. It’s important to ensure that your compensation package is at least market value and meets industry standards. Don’t be naïve, don’t assume that you’re already there, have the proof. Salary surveys are a great way to get the information you need. These surveys can be tailored to your specific needs and help to ensure you have current, reliable data.
Once you’ve attracted your star candidate, the next hurdle to jump is the negotiation stage. While there are many factors that go into determining the salary of any position, it’s important to be flexible when it comes to those tough to fill roles, especially in our tight market. Top candidates know what the job is worth, know what they want, and have the ability to not settle for anything less. As an employer, you need to ask yourself, “Do I risk losing this candidate over $10K?” It pays to be creative. If your budget won’t allow the extra money, find other ways to compensate the employee, perhaps extra vacation time, or increased benefits. Remember, it’s the whole package that matters and showing some flexibility will work in your favor to secure that next star employee.
When employing star candidates and highly sought after technical employees, there’s always a risk that another company will somehow take them away. It then becomes important to ensure you have the ability to retain them. Retention is a whole other blog in itself, but on the compensation side, remember that as the economy grows, salary’s will too, so be sure to stay up-to-date and competitive as our war for talent continues.
Reference:
Schappel, Christian (2010). Top 5 Employer Concerns of 2010. HR Morning. Retrieved November 7th, 2011 from http://www.hrmorning.com/top-5-employer-concerns-of-2010/
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