Recruiter Stories #9: Hello, How Much Does Working Pay?

This time the story will include real names of "characters" and organisations. On 28 September of this year, the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) sent out a press release with the headline "LCCI Does Not Support Indicating Salaries in Job Advertisements" and almost all the leading media published it with relish. When I first saw it in my Facebook news feed, I tried to read it carefully three times to check whether I had really understood correctly the message from the organisation of which I have been a proud member for three years now. And to my unpleasant surprise I realised that my eyes were not deceiving me.

I was unpleasantly astonished by the fact that the largest business association in Latvia is essentially advocating for non-communication, pretence, concealment and pointless waste of time between employers and employees, entrepreneurs and workers. Do Latvian entrepreneurs really see in this a solution to personnel attraction problems, or is this just the position of this particular association?

Imagine - the 21st century, in the entire civilised world, including Latvia, at conferences lecturers speak foaming at the mouth and those sitting in the hall nod in agreement that the pace of development will never again be as slow as it is right now, an avalanche of information is tumbling over our heads, the pace of life is accelerating, no one has time any more, everyone is rushing and grabbing to keep up with the pace of market change, generations are changing, no one reads texts any more, no one pays attention to advertising banners any more. And then suddenly an announcement in the following vein: "We are returning to fixed-line phones with rotary dials, because if anyone (client, candidate) needs us, they will call when we are in the office from 9:00–17:00, unless it is the lunch break."

How can one so disrespect one's own and another person's time as to waste it on unnecessary job interviews, at the end of which the salary is discussed and it turns out to be unacceptable to one party or the other?! I know, I know what some are thinking - but what if a "golden candidate" comes along and wants to work for pennies. Come on, even grown-up entrepreneurs believe in fairy tales!

Should there be shame or secrecy about the fact that one company can afford to pay 300 EUR while another pays 3,000 EUR? Businesses are different, company locations are different, company cultures and values are different, work organisation and working hours are different. It will not always be the company paying four-figure numbers that gets the best employee, but rather the one that has a sufficiently interesting business (I have observed this motivator many times among candidates in the IT sector), great team relationships, a good reputation (some manufacturing companies that have been operating in the market for a good while and have damaged their reputation among candidates in their region are now biting their fingers, because no one wants to work for them), and that will respect each team member and their professional growth.

Talk to each other, indicate salaries in advertisements, discuss working conditions in chats, talk about your values, answer the question from potential candidates "For what the hell did I start the business and what added value does my company give to people?", don't waste time on people who aren't your people - decline them politely, respond to every incoming CV to your company!

It would be very strange to walk into a supermarket and see, instead of price tags: "motivating price", "timely price", "appropriate price". You get to the checkout and then: "That's 300 EUR from you for a loaf of bread." "What, why so expensive?!" "But the sign says 'appropriate price' - didn't you see?" Or, for example, concluding a service contract and in the field "Contract sum and payment procedure" seeing: "competitive remuneration." Who among you is ready to sign such a contract?

In other words, job advertisements without an indicated salary can be considered pro bono, or voluntary work that will not be paid. Interested? Want to apply?

Full press release text on the LCCI website - http://www.chamber.lv/lv/content/jaunumi/2684