How do I know what I am worth?

Of late there has been a lot of online chat regarding the ethics, pitfalls, advantages of declaring salaries on job ads. Equally there has been plenty of debate regarding being asked your salary at an interview or even as a prequalification question in your application. I am not going to take sides here on what I think is right or wrong. It is an emotive subject with strong arguments on either side of the coin.

However, the objectives in the hiring transaction are for the employer to get as much as possible for as little as possible but WITHOUT losing any of their integrity and authenticity or the new starter’s enthusiasm or brand love. Conversely the applicant wants to walk away with as much as possible but WITHOUT looking greedy and creating some measure of resentment.

Stalemate? Not necessarily.

I have encountered situations where a client would have paid more AND a candidate would have accepted less. Why? Because taking on a new job/new employee should not be just about the money. There are many other factors: culture; the leader; the brand; work life balance; personal development; purpose; satisfaction etc – all of which carry a weighting for both parties.

So, back to the original question. What am I worth? My swift return to the baseline is “to whom”. Let’s for argument say you are a Marketing Manager in financial services at a top tier business with a current package of $175k + bonus. You have 8 years’ experience in banking. To another bank you are worth a lot more than to a cosmetics business or a NFP. Why? Two reasons: firstly, product and industry knowledge; secondly, more people want to work in marketing for cosmetics businesses or purpose driven charities than banks. This is simple supply and demand economics.

Other factors have a bearing too: location; size of organization; age of organization. You don’t have just one worth or value – you have many. It is all contextual.

Each set of circumstances will dictate your worth to the hiring party.

So, it really is complicated.

Enter the middleman. An experienced professional recruiter knows all of the above and if they are a specialist in your function and/or your industry they will be able to tailor a worth to each of those circumstances. Some values may fall short of where you currently are and you will have to weigh up financial reward against other non-financial benefits. Conversely some may seem highly attractive but at what non-monetary price? Are you happy to be a workaholic for the big bucks? There are no right or wrong answers here – these are personal life decisions that you have to take for yourself, having satisfied yourself you are comfortable with all the associated pros and cons.

This is the reason I don’t produce a salary guide. Though, maybe with the advancements in AI it may become a possibility…food for thought.

Until then, talk to a trusted advisor; someone who knows your market intimately. There’s a few of us around ??.

Other nuggets from around the traps over the last few weeks:

7 surprising use cases for ChatGPT in internal ops – the obligatory AI story but an easy read with some simple top line thinking that may help you streamline ops

Building a better you – OK, most of the outlandish NY resolutions have faded into the setting sun but there are some tried and tested ways to make real change for good and to make it stick

Coffee's great but there is a 7 day catch – noooooooo, sadly yessssss! Yours truly is trying this out this week. As a regular 4 cups/day minimum it was a hard read. Try it out…tell me how you go.

Aussies prioritise wellness over ambition – sure the title gives away the findings but this is worth a quick read if you lead a team. Valuable insight into what really motivates them.

As ever, here is a link to the Resources page on the Hire Aspirations website where I have gathered together some of the most lauded books, podcasts and courses to help you become the best possible marketer you can be.

And of course – if you want to chat about your own career management or a piece of recruitment you might need some support on:

Until next time, keep aiming higher, keep being better,

Andy