There is a tug of war going on between departmental budgets and IT contractor pay rates. As IT contractor rates continue to escalate, managers are caught in a dilemma: underbid and lose candidates or make the hire and exhaust budgets early. A happy medium between the two is possible if companies base their hiring decisions on the average hourly wages of tech professionals instead of assumptions. Once you have sold candidates on your brand, here are a few ways you can research industry trends and set IT contract rates that entice candidates to work for you.

Review Your Standard Offers Frequently

Are your job offers currently on par with industry averages? What might have been competitive a year or even six months ago is now likely below today’s average IT contractor wages. Compensation for experience with database system HBase rose by 5.7% year over year and certifications in several DevOps skills rose 7.1% last year. Those aren’t exceptions. Most of the highest demand technical skills have been known to boost average IT industry wages even higher.

Any companies trusting their old knowledge about IT contract rates will fall short as they bid for candidates. Hiring strategies that consistently attract top technical talent make researching average tech industry wages part of their regular routine. Replacing outdated information with informed compensation data lowers rejections and even has the potential to improve IT budgets with more realistic market figures.

Finding a Strong Basis for Comparison

Since information technology wages are clearly not static for long, managers exploring compensation for IT workers are best served by accurate and comprehensive sources. Among salary and wage data providers, three stand out as blue-ribbon vendors: PayScale, Salary.com, and LinkedIn Salary. And it’s the way companies cross-compare their data that determines whether they glean the most comprehensive perspectives from the data.

Each provider uses different methodologies to gather data. PayScale relies on the self-reporting of tech professionals’ salaries. Salary.com compiles data from hundreds of external employer-reported surveys to condense far-reaching data into one report. LinkedIn Salary takes data from optional user surveys to provide clear salary visualizations. Each source provides a unique perspective and dimension of the IT compensation picture. All together, they give companies a comprehensive understanding of average IT contract wages depending on skillset, experience, and geographical locations.

Present Your Case to Management

Gathering accurate data is only part of the equation. IT compensation data is applicable to a number of different managerial functions, if you know when and how to use it. These three advantages just scratch the surface of what IT wage and salary data can do:

• Justifying Contract Offers – Significant adjustments in IT contract wages are going to draw attention. Managers involved in hiring often need to justify increases to CIOs and CFOs down the road. Having compensation data available in a clear and thorough report makes the case that your decision keeps your business from lagging behind.
• Budget Creation – Though this year’s budget is already locked in place, the next year is adjustable. Researching up-to-date IT salary and wage data gives managers more leverage for budgetary requests. If you can defend budget increases with salary data and projections about the ROI, there will be fewer objections you cannot overcome.
• Salary and Raise Negotiation – IT compensation data also informs decisions about raises. Employee turnover can be better controlled through up-to-date IT compensation rates. When employers ask for a raise or give you the opportunity to make a counteroffer, the data enables you to make an informed decision with a clear-conscience, knowledgably justifying or rejecting the request.

Accelerate the Way You Hire IT Contractors

Research into IT contractor rates is the key to success during the later stages of the hiring process. But how do you maximize the early stages to find high quality IT professionals quickly? The average duration of a typical IT job opening rose to 26.5 working days and appears to be lasting longer. All the time it takes to maintain an extensive pipeline and move candidates through the hiring process distracts from all the other priorities of your job. Technical staffing firms are increasingly important when hiring IT contractors to avoid costly vacancies that slow down performance and prevent key deliverables from a successful resolution.

TransTech maintains an extensive pipeline of the best IT contractors in the Chicagoland area. We can quickly provide top talent to fill your latest IT contracts and direct hire positions. Contact us today and find someone worthy of your best offers.