Given the transparency coming from companies like Glassdoor and PayScale, the salary negotiation process has been an evolving one.  Once upon a time all of the intel was traditionally on the company’s side of the table.   Unless a candidate had a friend or colleague at the company he did not have access to the range of pay available.    The salaries on Glassdoor are employee offered so you may need to take a grain of salt with what you read but we also see a shifting perspective in how Millennials are willing to share this traditionally private information.

Recently this summer former Google Employee Erica Baker had a conversation about compensation with her coworkers.  Out of the conversation came a spreadsheet shared on Ms. Baker’s internal social network, a spreadsheet with employees adding pivot tables and sharing salaries that eventually included up to 5% of Google employees.   Revealing that she faced retaliation from management, Erika shared a barrage of tweets and the story went viral back in July.   With the cat out of the proverbial bag though, Google employees were able to ask for and receive equitable pay adjustments to salaries. 

Gender discrimination in salaries is another hot topic in Silicon Valley, and some companies like Reddit and Jet.com have instituted no-negotiation policies based on research that women are less likely to negotiate.  The topic of salary negotiations seems to be all over the media lately. The U.S News & World Report is sharing what the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team teaches us about pay equity. Fast Company is asking if men negotiate more aggressively with a female boss.  The salary negotiation process is being disrupted and what used to work even 10 years ago is changing and as recruiters we need to be ahead of the curve.

Are you up to date with how the process has evolved?  When is the right time to approach the salary conversation during the recruiting process?  Do you really lose by going first?

If you have been struggling with these issues or would just like a bit of guidance join me and my friend Amy Ala, Staffing Consultant for Microsoft for the special free webinar, You Go First, the Salary Negotiation How-to on September 1, 2015 at 2pm ET.  Amy will be exploring the challenges and busting the myths sharing how to deal with candidates that won’t commit to a number, how to make the candidate your ally in the process and how to arm yourself with data for both the candidate and the hiring-manager.