In Washington, DC, the debate this summer has been - "Should the
President of the US get a raise?"
Today companies are "wooing" candidates via Total Compensation, not just salary! One of our clients allows employees to buy extra vacation time. Another pays for lunches not taken. One firm pays $1,000 bonus if you quit smoking!
Companies can be creative, especially if they can ill afford to be competitive in the salary game.
Almost every trade magazine today provides a once a year Salary Survey, is this the gospel??? Who knows??? Well I can only speak for myself, it generally reflects lower numbers than what we seem to find. It is not that the magazines aren't providing the truth, it is just the unfortunate facts that most travel agencies either do not have the time to provide their salary information or they just don't wish to - without the proper survey, the results can fluctuate tremendously.
The easiest way to deduce what is the REAL SALARY Picture, is view the advertisements in the newspapers and trades, and do your own research by calling those companies advertising and check out first if they are competitive to your size and scope and then what they offer?
Candidates with a track record of a minimum of 3-5 years experience, in one firm are the most sort after today. Candidates who try to use the excuse that although they have had 4 different employers in the last five years, who say "each job I received more money", is a poor excuse, and not one that anyone feels is relevant to their search criteria.
Recently, our firm awarded cash prizes to candidates we placed who remained with the firm we placed them with for over 10 years. While the offering was due to our celebration of our 25th year in business, it was revealing as well. It proved to us that people can stay with their present employee and still receive good compensation and loyalty from their employers.