The Compensation Conversation

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: getting paid.

Yay, you broke through the noise! You interviewed! You determined it's a great fit! And then...the offer stage. Should be simple, right? You expect $$, offer comes in at $$, everyone rides off into the sunset together.

But nah. Somehow this turns into a game where people think they need to "win."

Here's the truth: The offer stage isn't about winning or losing. Either everyone wins or everyone loses. Period. The goal is getting a strong offer where the candidate feels valued and can bring that value to the organization. Not nickel and diming them before they even start.

Real talk? You should know an offer will be accepted before you ever extend it. Not because you're some master manipulator, but because you've been clear about expectations from day one.

I had a client once who couldn't find devs to save their life. Super specific skillset, challenging interview process, the works. Finally, someone made it through. They extended an offer...and it all went to hell.

Months later, I talked to the candidate. Poor guy was confused because it was his "dream job" and he wanted it. He just had some questions about the offer and whether they could offset his longer commute with other benefits.

The client? Lost their minds. Took his questions as him "playing games" and pulled the offer.

Months later? Job's still open. Candidate's still confused. Everyone lost.

How should it have gone? Simple. Pick up the phone. Assume good intentions. Have a real conversation about the questions. Clarify concerns. Everyone rides off into the sunset together. Instead, both sides wasted months of their lives.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on LinkedIn lately about not sharing salary expectations too early in the process because you might "cost yourself the opportunity."

This straight up baffles me.

What opportunity are you costing yourself exactly? If you're not financially aligned, all you're doing is wasting everyone's time by pretending otherwise. I am ALL FOR being super candid from day one.

Spoiler alert: companies expect to pay you. Recruiters expect you to feed yourself and your family. Wanting to make good money isn't some crazy concept you should feel weird about.

So, step one is stop feeling weird about asking to be paid for your value. Say what you're looking for AND STOP TALKING. Don't explain it. Don't justify it (yet). Just state it and HOLD. Don't fill the silence. Let it sit there.

When you're upfront about money from the start, you eliminate surprises at the end. Think about it: would you rather find out there's a massive gap after four interviews or before you ever schedule one?

And…if your offer comes in at what you asked for (assuming benefits and everything else aligns), don't be that person who tries to negotiate after they already gave you what you wanted. I once had someone ask my advice: they'd verbally accepted a (fair) offer and wanted to know how to reopen the conversation. I strongly advised against it; they ignored me. Soon after, they were back in the job market. If you get a fair offer at what you asked for and you accept, don't suddenly get inconsistent. It’s not a good look.

Post the damn salary range in your job ads.

If you're scared of your current team seeing what you're paying this person, you're probably underpaying them and need to fix that first. The goal of a job ad isn't getting a million applications. It's getting the right QUALIFIED candidates to raise their hand.

Here's another reality check: some of your best potential candidates won't even look at jobs without salary ranges posted. You want the right people self-selecting in and the wrong ones self-selecting out. That's not a bug, it's a feature.

Let me tell you another story about what happens when you ignore this advice.

Had a client once interviewing someone way outside their compensation target. OBVIOUSLY they fell in love with them. This person was a skillset above what they were looking for, so suddenly everyone else looked worse in comparison. What happened? Offer time came, they couldn't afford them, candidate took a counter offer, and the company was left super disappointed after wasting everyone's time. Plus, the candidates who were actually financially qualified? Suddenly didn't look so great anymore.

Think back to the last offer you extended. How'd it feel? Were you nervously refreshing your email, dreading having to restart the whole interview process if they said no? Or were you confident, already planning their first week? If you're not confident about an offer before you extend it, something broke down in your process.

Look, this isn't rocket science. Getting paid for work shouldn't be some complex game of chess where everyone's trying to outsmart each other.

The market's messy enough without us making compensation conversations harder than they need to be. Stop playing games, start having real conversations, and maybe, just maybe, we can all get back to building great teams instead of dancing around dollar signs.

#gorogue

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