Melbourne organisations paying less than market rate.
Hollie Broekman • August 25, 2021
Let me start this post by saying that I spend a lot of my time on LinkedIn. I post on LinkedIn, I search for candidates on LinkedIn and I network with hiring managers looking for Project Services resources on LinkedIn. That being said, I recently posted the following status on this platform, which received over 80,000 views and a lot more comments than I am used to receiving on my posts:
"I recently read on LinkedIn that a candidate thought it was 'the norm' to apply for, interview for and receive an offer from a company, in order to get a counter offer (read: pay rise) from their current employer. This is absolutely not the norm and is not acceptable/professional behavior. Has anyone else ever come across this?"
A lot of the comments seemed to be in support of the premise that this sort of behavior is 'not on,' and that if you want a pay rise and you deserve a pay rise, you should go and ask for one, and not waste everyone's time by getting an offer somewhere else in order to bring about this conversation.
A common thread in the dissenting camp, was that employees are being paid less than market rate, and are being driven to these sorts of tactics in order to be paid what they are worth.
Working in recruiting, I have a deeper insight into what candidates in Melbourne are being paid than the average person, and I can safely say that some companies do pay their employees less than market rate. There are a number of reasons for this, which I have broken down as follows.
Because they can.
A number of sexy organisations, especially in the digital platform space or in the tier one financial services space, don't need to pay overs to get the best talent, because high caliber candidates will want to work there for reasons that are not strictly financial. An example of this could be a candidate who wants the best digital and Agile project exposure, or to get one of the 'big names' on their CV. That being said, many of these organisations will pay market rate or over anyway, which will solidify their place in the market moving forward, and ensure their employees stay with them long term.
Start-ups.
In the early stages of the start-up life cycle, every penny is important and accordingly, some start ups will not be able to pay market price for the resources that they need.
Not for profits.
NFP's often offer non-financial benefits in the form of work-life balance, the opportunity for a candidate to 'give back' to a cause they believe in, and there are also attractive salary packaging options at NFP's.
"Penny Pinchers".
These are the organisations that are able to pay market rate, but choose not to for various reasons, which include not caring if their resources are the best in the market, not caring if their employees are well paid/happy in their roles, not doing enough research into where market rate currently sits, placing more value on their bottom line than the welfare and happiness of their employees and retaining their talent.
Out of these categories, the 4th is the sort of organisation that many of the commentators on my status are referring to, and which might be driving the sort of behavior discussed.
Organisations need to have a realistic view of whether they can offer candidates non-financial value (in the form of career opportunities, work-life balance or interesting project exposure etc), if they are not prepared to meet the market in terms of compensation, and they want to retain their talent long term.
If you are looking for advice around market rate salaries and daily rate's for your employees, please don't hesitate to contact me for a confidential discussion.
Hollie Broekman
In Project Services, most of the candidates I work with are not originally from Australia. While many candidates are able to transition their careers from overseas into the Melbourne market, picking up your very first role can be tough, as many organizations require 'local experience.' I receive a lot of questions about how best to 'crack' the Melbourne market, so I have addressed a few common queries below. If you have further questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section, and I will do my best to address these as well. Do many companies offer sponsorship? It is very rare for a Melbourne company to offer sponsorship in Project Services. Accordingly, it is best to try to sort your PR before coming to Australia, or if you are with a company that currently provides sponsorship, you should stay with them at least until you are granted your PR. Is the Melbourne market competitive in Project Services? The market here is very competitive. Accordingly, to stand out from the other applicants and secure a role, you should focus on opportunities where your experience is very close to the requirements of the role. If you don't think your experience is very close to the role requirements, I would suggest holding off sending your application, as you don't want to dilute your brand. Do Melbourne companies offer interviews to candidates who are currently overseas? Again, this is very rare, due to the number of excellent candidates who are already in Melbourne and can start immediately and can attend face to face interviews immediately. The exception here might be for Agile Coaches or very senior financial services candidates from well known institutions overseas. I have been offered a role that isn't exactly what I am looking for, or pays less then what I am looking for - Should I take the role? Yes! The most important thing for you to focus on when moving to Melbourne is to get local experience for 6 - 12 months, and then transition into a more appropriate role. As an example, 6 months ago I met an outstanding banking and funds management Project Manager with extensive experience in India and the UK. Unfortunately I was unable to secure an interview for him at the time, due to lack of local experience. He has since completed a 6 month contract with a small education provider, and last week I was able to place him with a financial services organization, because he now has some local experience, even though it was in a different industry. I hope this has been helpful, if you have any further questions please post them below. Hollie Broekman
Last week I was honoured to attend the Telstra Business Women's Awards as a Finalist in the Emerging Leader category. The night was phenomenal, and I came away feeling inspired by my fellow finalists to 'do more.' My awards application included a 27 page response, a face to face interview and the awards night itself. This process has given me an opportunity for introspection, and has re-affirmed my belief that: The two key elements for success are: Find something to do that you care about, and Apply extra effort consistently. It's very, very hard to go over and above every day of the week when you hate what you do, and likewise, it's hard to be successful if your career is not a major priority in your life. For me, Technology Recruitment has been a place where I could 'Lean In,' take up space , negotiate hard, push back, be competitive and ultimately thrive. Women in Technology in Melbourne Both STEM jobs and STEM Recruitment can be emotionally draining, all consuming and generally hard spaces to play in, and they are places where, statistically, few women exist. Very few of my clients, who are hiring managers and decision makers in the Melbourne Technology industry are women. In many ways this adds complexity to my work and can make life just that little bit harder. I believe that by existing and succeeding in my role, and continuing to place women in technology and technology leadership roles and promoting the idea of 'Women in Technology', I can make a positive difference in the industry that I love, and that has given me so many opportunities. Thank you! I want to take this opportunity to thank Telstra for recognising me, and to thank all the amazing clients and candidates in my network, who trust me with their careers and their teams, and of course FourQuarters Recruitment, for giving me the platform and support needed to succeed.
In the increasingly competitive Melbourne market, soft skills and 'likeability' can be the difference between getting to the final stages of the interview process and receiving an offer. I often get feedback from clients regarding why candidates missed out on getting offers, that on the face of it might seem 'petty,' but are easily avoidable. Below are my top 5 easy things you can do (or not do!) to nail your next job interview: Turn your phone off, and lose the coffee. At least once a week someone will turn up at my office with either a coffee in hand, or a phone on the table in the interview room (or their phone buzzing in their pocket). Amazingly, some candidates even go to meet clients and do the same thing. This is rude. Don't do it. Addressing all of your answers to the most 'senior' person in the room. When being interviewed by more than one stakeholder, or even a panel, it can be tempting to spend more of your time making eye contact with, and directing answers to the person you feel is the most senior stakeholder. This is a big mistake, you should direct each answer in the interview to the person who asked that question. Also, if you have misjudged who the decision maker is (happens a lot) this can be particularly irritating! Be on time This should go without saying, but if you are going to be late you need to do everything humanly possible to get the message to your interviewer. If you are going through a recruiter, call them and also text or email. If you got the interview directly, call the switchboard. When you arrive, apologise profusely. 4. Show some gratitude Candidates attend interviews for roles they're not that interested in for a variety of reasons, curiosity, interview practice, a back up plan etc. I can't tell you the number of stand out candidates who have attended an interview with a poor attitude, then changed their minds about the role half way through, and missed out on the offer regardless. Your interviewer will be able to tell from a mile away if you are not that engaged or interested, and will most often pick a less experienced candidate who really wants the role, over a more experienced candidate who clearly doesn't. Do yourself a favour and at least act like you're happy to be there, and show some gratitude to the person who has taken time out of their day to interview you. Talk less Most importantly, look for verbal and non-verbal cues from your interviewer to STOP TALKING. This is the number one piece of negative feedback I receive on candidates. As someone who talks a lot, I understand how imperative it can seem to get your point across, but if the interviewer is ready to move on, take the hint. I hope this has been helpful for you! If you have any feedback leave me a comment.
For those of you in Project Services updating your CV's over the weekend, I have included a couple of pointers below. These won't be relevant for everyone, but will hopefully be helpful for some. Personal information: When it comes to personal information, less is more. You should include your full name, contact number, appropriate email address, languages spoken and a link to your LinkedIn profile and online portfolio (for digital candidates). You may also wish to include a 'Interests' and 'Volunteer Work' sections. You do not need to include your age, marital status, religion or a photograph of yourself. Job titles: First and foremost, make sure that the job titles on your CV match the job titles on your LinkedIn profile. If I am considering a candidate for a role, I will also check their LinkedIn profile. If you are coming out of a start-up or small company and you have a a job title like 'CEO' or 'CTO' and the company only has a handful of people, I would change your title. The reason for this, is that you may have had a broad/mixed role which included Project Management, Pre-Sales, Development etc, but some people will have one glance at your title and assume you are 'too big,' for the role. You may want to write something like 'Founder/Project Manager/Developer' and explain this in more detail in the following paragraph. If your official job title was 'Consultant,' this can be very ambiguous. You may want to change this to 'Consultant/Program Manager' etc. ABN Contractors: If you are an ABN Contractor, or have a small company employing yourself primarily, where you have undertaken multiple contracts for multiple companies over a period of years, it is critical that you write a separate description for each contract. You should include the dates, the name of the company, duties/responsibilities and key achievements for each. To avoid confusion, you may want to remove any reference to your own company, and simply include the word 'contractor' after the title of each role. Career summary table: Unless you are a senior candidate with a very long work history or have held a lot of different roles (short term contractor), you should not need a career summary table. If you do choose to include one, make sure that you also also include the dates and job titles for each role in the body of the CV. Cover letter: If you are applying to a recruiter's advert, I wouldn't bother spending too much time (if any) on a Cover Letter. After you have spoken to the recruiter, decided to progress with the position and have a deeper understanding of the role, you may wish to write a letter or a short summary to support your application. I hope the above is helpful, if you have any questions please post them in the comments.