Want to Hire ‘A Players’? You’ve Got to Pay to Play!

 "Let me teach you a lesson...you can never overpay a good player. You can only overpay a bad one." -Art Rooney

Most of my work entails finding executives in the manufacturing sector. Any discipline, from Directors to CEOs for companies that make products, is my sweet spot. But for a good client, I am more than willing to go back to my roots and find them an engineer.

Of course, they all want A-players. When the economy is booming and unemployment is at 4.3% in the US, A- players have lots of options. B-players are in demand and companies will even reluctantly hire C- players (unemployable in a recession) to fill jobs. So, if an engineer or any other true A-player wants to move and money is part of that motivation, he/she will want a salary bump, a BIG bump.

Great example of the current market: within the last month I filled three engineering role, and here is the Budgeted vs. Salary Paid:

• Sr. Design Engineer: $85k/$122k
• Sr. Tooling Engineer: $95k/$125k
• Junior Project Engineer: $60k/$85k.

Are those numbers a lot more than my clients wanted to pay? Hell yes! But if you want to hire the best, you need to spend the cash. Here are some ways you can find out if you are paying enough in your market:

1. Benchmark your salaries - There are a number of tools out there, such as PayScale, which give a breakdown of typical salaries. And they’re not just for candidates to see how their pay compares against others in like-for-like roles, but also for employers to benchmark the salaries they offer.

2. Ask your employees - Gauge employee opinion on salaries, and associated packages, by including relevant questions within staff surveys. When any employees do leave the organization, make sure you use the exit interview to try and understand if pay was one of the deciding factors.

3. Ask a recruitment professional - A good recruiter has their finger on the pulse of the industry they specialize in, acting as an employer’s eyes and ears in the market place. They can provide an understanding of the jobs being advertised by competitors, any areas facing a shortage of high caliber candidates, and updates on any shifting trends in salaries or benefits. This valuable insight will help make sure that your organization offers the right package to attract the best talent.

Bottom line: don’t think cheap with your talent decisions; think the best, even if it comes at a higher cost. What you don’t want to do is turn down or lose business because you don’t have people in place who can get the job done!

TELL ME ABOUT THE TALENT OR JOB YOU’RE LOOKING FOR.                                                                                                    Get in touch with me today!