I read a good article on Marketwatch today that talks about how there seems to be increasing evidence of employers lowballing new hires when it comes to entry level positions. Specifically, the article talked about how jobs that in the recent past would have started at the $40K-$50K range are now paying in the $28K-$38K range which I think you’ll see is quite a dramatic drop if true.
As a recruiter I recall many instances where people would avoid taking a (perceived) low-paying job and would prefer to wait for something else (ie. better-paying) to come along.
Mind you if you’re unemployed, taking a low-paying job can be better than having no job especially if you’ve been out of work for awhile. Bills need to be paid so you often have to do what you have to do. Plus, it’s usually better to be employed and looking for a new job than being unemployed and looking.
Companies that lowball staff often find themselves looking to fill that position again in the near future when the person they hired ends up quitting and finding a better paying job elsewhere so in some cases the company ends up saving themselves nothing when they have to go through the whole hiring process again because they underpaid the person.
Having said that, how many people out there have simply overvalued themselves? Sometimes it’s a fine line between being underpaid and being fairly paid especially once you start adding in perks that the company might have beyond just the salary.
