When there is misalignment on salary, it could help to assess the potential flexibility early on vs waiting until the end of the interview process. Why? Because it allows your team to focus on the flexible candidates. Those flexible candidates are flexible for a reason. They see the potential growth they can achieve in your organization. They see the ability to increase their compensation by extending additional efforts. They see and understand that there are factors in your organization that have an unlimited dollar amount. Those are the candidates to focus your time and energy on!

1. Redefine the company salary structure if the skills needed for the job don’t match with the market. 2. Redesign the job role to split or merge different jobs to match with the market rates. 3. Consider promoting or lateral movements within the team to fill the role.

One thing I found helpful is to discuss the listed salary range, if possible, after discussing skills and experience expectations for the role. This allows you to encourage the candidate to list their salary expectations after discovering where their qualifications lay. If hesitant, you can always encourage a reasonable range they would be willing to consider instead. This allows candidates to provide their expectations if they’re hesitant to lock into a specific number, eliminating a lot of confusion on salary and benefits negotiations down the line.

Bridging salary gaps in negotiations will always mean focusing on value where we should align expectations with the role’s impact and market standards. We have to highlight perks, growth opportunities & the bigger picture. Negotiation isn’t about winning, it’s about finding a win-win. Lastly by balancing fairness & flexibility we will attract talent while keeping budgets intact.

In my line of work, I talk salary expectations day in day out. One thing i have noticed, these expectations can vary quite a lot and are intimately connected to other factors (what we usually call the "drivers, or "motivators"). I'd say for 80% of candidates I speak to on, salary is important but is not necessarly THE main determining factors. culture, flexibility, seniority, location, specific projects are often equally as important. I like to provide insights on what the market is offering and, providing the salary on offer is competitive, I make sure the other boxes are also ticked. that way you can bridge the gap and make sure a candidate is 100% happy even if salary on offer is eventually lower than initially expected.