will recruiters tell me if im pricing myself out of the market?

fret_wimp2

I got into my current job about 4 years ago with a large multinational. Its a good job, with quite a good salary. Not the highest in the field, but certainly not the lowest by a long shot.

I now find myself in a situation where I need to start looking for employment elsewhere.

I dont want to take a pay cut if avoidable. Im willing to as I will need a steady wage, but would rather push for at least equalling my salary right now, even if i lose some perks/benifits.

When i tell recruiters my salary and benifits package they tell me that I may have to sacrifice on the benifits, but none have yet told me im priced out of the market.

Is this something they will say automatically or do i need to probe? As people are generally quite tight lipped with thier salary amounts, i cant be sure if i need to just accept the fact that i need to lower my expectations.

I dont want to be throwing away good oppertuinities because i am asking for a bit too much over the current market.

3DataModem

If you got the job 4 years ago, there is a fair chance the market rate has dropped since then. Depends on industry, seniority, location, etc.

And do not trust recruitment agencies to inform you correctly or act in your best interest. Some are good, most are not.

William Powell

Don't forget the agancies get paid a commision for placing you and thats dependent on your wages. The more you get the more they get, so I found they always tried to push me to ask for more money than I wanted.

If you don't have to don't use them, go direct, its easy enough to see what jobs they are advertising, often googling a good chunk of their job description will get you to the source of the orignal advert.

tenchi-fan

William Powell wrote: »

Don't forget the agancies get paid a commision for placing you and thats dependent on your wages. The more you get the more they get, so I found they always tried to push me to ask for more money than I wanted.

If temping, the recruiter will want to pay you as little as possible while charging you out at as much as possible.

However, they also want to pay you enough that you will be motivated enough to stay on with them.

For permanent placements they will want to get you as much as possible.

So to answer the op's question, yes they will tell you if you're pricing yourself out of the market, but be careful because they will want to pay you as little as possible.

fret_wimp2

tenchi-fan wrote: »

So to answer the op's question, yes they will tell you if you're pricing yourself out of the market, but be careful because they will want to pay you as little as possible.

Thats good to hear. Im only persuing permanent oppertuinities at the moment.

I got in touch with one recruiter over a week ago and have gotten nothing back from him, leading me to conclude that either he has lost interest as he filled the role, is lazy or didnt tell me im too expensive.



On a side note, i see the irony of my question, that if i have to ask if im too expensive, then i most likely am, however I would like to try to keep a similar standard of living. I am not adverse to dropping wages a little in order to keep working, but how do you knwo if the "recruitment specialists" wont help you out with your pricing?

3DataModem

Don't rely on or trust your career to anyone else.

Do the research yourself. Plumb your contacts, talk to recruiters about recent hires, check several job sites and company recruitmemt sites.

Job hunting - done right - is a full time job.

pow wow

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

On a side note, i see the irony of my question, that if i have to ask if im too expensive, then i most likely am, however I would like to try to keep a similar standard of living. I am not adverse to dropping wages a little in order to keep working, but how do you knwo if the "recruitment specialists" wont help you out with your pricing?

Have you tried actually asking them? Saying that your salary expectations are x and you're willing to take a small hit if absolutely necessary is one thing, asking if you're pitching too high is another. As another poster said they want to get you as much as they can for commission purposes, but if you're adamant from the get-go that there's not much movement from your perspective on salary they may think there's no point putting you out there.

It's worth a chat or an email.