Check the salary first then apply for that new job

Companies are now finding it easier to fill vacancies because of a step they are initially averse to—showing the salary range they are willing to offer to prospective applicants.

In a press briefing at the Bubba Gump restaurant in Greenbelt 3, Makati City, recently, Jobstreet.com officials say its ground breaking “Salary Matches” scheme is resulting in a faster hiring rate.

With Salary Matches, hiring companies are required to post the salary range they are willing to offer for the position they are seeking to fill. The applicants are also asked how much they are expecting to receive on their respective resumés. The scheme was launched last year and has an 80-percent compliance rate among Jobstreet partner companies.

“There was a faster turnaround time after they obliged,” Eileen Camarillo-Go, Jobstreet.com marketing communication manager, tells BusinessFriday. “Because the salary ranges are posted, only the jobseekers who agree with the range send their applications, thus reducing the number of applicants that human resources needs to process.”

She adds: “This addresses the concerns from both ends. Jobseekers find it easier to screen job offers based on the salary range, and companies only receive relevant applications.”

Camarillo-Go also reveals that before they rolled out Salary Matches, “clients receive thousands of applicants a month for a single job posting.”

These developments, Jobstreet.com says, reflects the results of a study it conducted last year asking its users what attract them to a job vacancy.

The study showed 67 percent of users surveyed from Metro Manila, Pampanga, Laguna, Cebu and Davao said “a good/high paying salary makes them want to apply to a job.”

Based on the survey’s results, Jobstreet.com’s Salary Matches scheme not only makes the salary ranges for respective vacancies available for applicants, users are also alerted whenever a vacancy with their desired salary range is posted online.

Camarillo-Go says companies did not immediately warm up to the idea of posting the salary ranges for the vacancies. “But when they finally did, they reaped its benefits immediately, and became appreciative of our effort.”

She says the little effort they exerted to help increase the companies’ attractiveness to applicants slowly did the trick.

“We asked them to provide photos of their offices, maps and directions to help the applicants find their way, and put them up on their Jobstreet.com pages,” the Jobstreet.com officer cites. “These have been very useful to jobseekers, and the companies felt we really are thinking of the concerns from both ends.”

Camarillo-Go also says incentives were awarded to companies who complied with their requirements.

Jobstreet.com’s Salary Match is the first of its kind in the region, and has only been replicated in its Singapore office following the success it has received in the Philippines. Camarillo-Go also indicates that other job searching sites are expressing that they are mulling the idea of doing the same.

“But we have been the first to do it here in the Philippines, and it was almost a year-long process for us trying to convince the companies to oblige with our requirement,” she explains.