Employers hold firm grip over salary negotiations

77% of Asia Pacific finance professionals surveyed believe employers control salary negotiation.

Global online recruitment website eFinancialCareers on Thursday released results of its Interview Negotiation Survey which shows 61% of employers and recruiters surveyed are looking to hire or recruit finance and accounting staff. Despite the positive job market outlook, 77% of finance professionals surveyed believe that it is not candidates but employers who have the power over package negotiation.

The eFinancialCareers’ Interview Negotiation Survey, conducted between July and August 2010, polled finance professionals, recruiters and employers across key financial centres in the Asia Pacific region including Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Australia.

Responding to the growing salary and bonus expectations among finance professionals in the region, a significant portion (46%) of hiring managers and recruiters surveyed indicate that budget constraints are the main reason why they are unable to meet candidate’s salary expectation and 45% of employers claim that candidate’s expectations can be unrealistic.

The survey also reveals that an astounding 86% of hiring managers surveyed have caught candidates exaggerating about their current salary during interview negotiation while only 21% of finance professionals surveyed indicate that they have exaggerated their pay package during salary negotiation for a new job.

“Despite the perception that employers have a more powerful position at the bargaining table, financial professionals should not be deterred to negotiate salary out of fear that the job offer will be withdrawn,“ commented George McFerran, Head of Asia Pacific, eFinancialCareers. “Companies expect candidates to negotiate and anyone who receives a job offer is clearly a good fit for the role.”

”With this in mind, the survey also illustrated that a majority of finance professionals (81%) and employers (79%) agree that financial professionals should defer discussing compensation until they have been offered a job in order to enhance their bargaining position,” Mr McFerran added.

“While it is in the candidate’s interest to leverage counter offer and multiple offers to command higher wages,” Mr McFerran added, “Companies want to keep costs under control and avoid salary inflation. This is reflected by the survey which reveals a significant discrepancy between employees’ and employers’ perception of how best to negotiation compensation.”

As finance professionals seek to confer better pay with current or prospective employers, 69% of finance professionals believe that candidates should leverage a counter offer from another company during salary negotiation while 68% of employers and recruiters said they should not.