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submitted 15 hours ago by Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[-] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 22 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I have some insight into this.

It actually means that:

  1. companies identify peer groups of companies that they compete with for hiring,

  2. they get aggregated data on everyone's pay from data brokers (they submit anonymized compensation info, brokers aggregate it and distribute the aggregate data to their customers)

  3. they pick a market percentile of the compensation range of their peers that they target for various jobs

  4. they build pay ranges around that target percentile

Effectively, if most companies target pay "at market" i.e. market median, it normalizes industry pay to the median. This does depress wages, but also provides upward pressure at the low end. Sort of like a price fixing scheme.

Some companies target higher than that, and those effectively provide upward labor market pressure.

So, "competitive" means "sort of near to or higher than the statistical median for this job among companies we consider peers". Unless they're just lying or misinformed - but they'd have a hard time retaining employees.

[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 14 points 14 hours ago

that's what it should mean, but in my experience it just means they're lying and don't want to put out numbers

I've done the market comparisons so I could determine wage ranges for my department. I've also done interviews with other companies in the same timeframe, and those companies that were "competitive" were always like 10-30% under the average. I'm convinced some of them intentionally choose to misrepresent the numbers by figuring that $x hourly rate resulting in an annual pay of $y due to overtime means they're "competitive" to the annual salary data that is normalized to forty hour weeks. I don't see how else they could get it wrong.

[-] crandall@lemmy.today 8 points 14 hours ago

That, or it means they want you to say a number first so they can lowball you

[-] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

They won't lowball you below range, though. So it is a "competitive" salary in that sense. It almost always behooves you to ask for more than you reasonably think they would give you.

Also, usually recruiters are judged almost exclusively on "time to fill", meaning they aren't judged by how cheaply they get people in the door, just how fast they do it.

[-] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

That's why you always say a large number.

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

My number is 20-30% more than I'm making now. They hear it early in the process. It's up to them to keep going if they can afford me.

This only works if you're interviewing while employed though.

this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2026
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