In recent months, the unemployment rate has continued to inch upward, and unfortunately this has led some companies to adjust the salaries they offer downward. Of course, the rationale being used here is something akin to a butchering of the laws of supply and demand, but basically companies feel that since less people have good jobs then good jobs should be more in demand and therefore Information Technology professionals should take less money. Dizzying logic for sure.

The crazy part is that this theory might be able to hold some degree of water if the individual being hired was in fact unemployed. However, since in this economy few positions are open unless they are difficult to fill and require some specialized skill therefore most new hires are still people changing jobs and not vacating the unemployment rolls.

So let’s play this out for you a person already has a good job, but is considering better opportunities (it’s not just about the money, right?). The company is excited, the candidate is excited, and then, kaboom, the company drops the lowball offer even though the salary expectations had been communicated in detail. Simply because the belief here from the company is that this is a good offer and that the individual should accept it because so many others are without a job. The problem is that the company is using their rationale, not the candidate’s (i.e., they aren’t unemployed). At this point this situation spirals out of control with emotions running high and everyone involved upset with someone and typically leaving the candidate perplexed, the company miffed and the Recruiter just shaking their head.

So as a hiring official remember that anyone that you give a less than market rate offer to will remember the lowball offer and will be one of the first to leave once the economy rebounds so if you’re looking to build a team and gain some buy in from your new hire you’ll still need to pay the going rate.