Negotiating Pay & Charge

• what is the minimum they would accept? Pay expectations? Most candidates will try and push this as high as possible, and explain that you will do all you can to achieve this pay rate. Try and gauge how much they want this post, is the location good, have they been out of work a while, all these can be factored in.
• If the candidate is working currently then find out what they are on? If they are not working then find out what they are looking for?
• If this is an on contract post you won’t have a lot of movement, so always let the candidate know the actual pay rate if through Guidant etc.

• if the potential post is closer to home then you can try and push the rate down as the candidate would be saving a lot of money is fuel and their time. Location is key with most placements and candidates will usually accept a lower rate if closer to home.
• Location – this is key, is this an area that proves difficult to recruit too, would candidates be required to stay away, what are other local authorities paying close by? These are all factors that need to be considered prior to negotiations commencing with the manager.

• Decide what margin you will go in at with the manager. Once again look at what has previously been signed off, look at the maximum the candidate would like and go from there.
• This is always down to personal preference, and often consultants will seek advice, input from more experienced members of staff.
• Please note that this may not be agreed in one call/email and could take a number of conversations to get agreement.

• Once you have an agreement with the manager you need to begin negotiations once again with the candidate, the way to figure out what how low the candidate will really go is to use the technique below

Problem – Candidate wants too much money and you think their bottom line is lower than what they are telling you

Solution – To find out their bottom line call them and say the following “The manager has offered ££ – what do you want me to tell them”

• This really does put the onus on the Candidate as they can no longer use you to lean on as the middle man,  as if it’s actually them saying “no” to an offer from the manager they are more likely to accept what has been put forward.