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Do Candidates Only Care About Money and Titles?

Steve Lowisz
Many people share the belief that candidates today are only focused on two things: money and title. Although this may be true for some, there are plenty of candidates who think differently. A lot of other factors can take precedence over money and title. Recruiters just need to take the time to talk to their candidates and figure out what they’re looking for. It’s necessary to evaluate what each candidate REALLY wants.

What Else Do Candidates Consider?

Here are some job aspects that may be more important to a person over money and title:

• Working closer to home.
• Being able to feel like they’re actually making a difference at their job.
• Gaining experience for other jobs in the future.
• Flexible hours.
• A great company culture that gets them excited to wake up for work in the morning.
• And so forth.

Is It Okay for Money and Title to Be a Candidate’s Driving Factors?

It’s completely okay for a candidate to have goals about what title they’d like to have or how much money they want to make. We all have to put food on the table, and it never feels good to know you’re being underpaid. However, there are often other underlying drivers that the candidate might be forgetting to focus on. 

It shouldn’t SOLELY be about making six figures and holding the title as a director of some department. If that person only wants title and money, then they’re going to be gone the moment another opportunity for title and money comes up.

Why Money and Title?

All too often recruiters don’t take the time to find out why the candidate wants more money or why they want a better title.

Perhaps their current company strictly breaks up responsibilities according to job title; or maybe their HR team has pay scales based on title. Or they might think they’re not getting paid enough to deal with everything they do as it is, and don’t want to land in the same boat elsewhere.

As the recruiter, you need to help the candidate see beyond their current situation. A specific position at one company could have a completely different set of responsibilities at another company. Even if responsibilities are the same, maybe they have better company culture or benefits. Goals may change once your candidate understands the bigger picture.

Should Recruiters Care to Dig Deeper?

A lot of third-party recruiters get paid more for placing candidates with a higher salary. Wouldn’t they want to submit candidates for the maximum rate and get the most money from the client as possible? Sure, it’s easier to find eager candidates focusing on salary, but in the long run, this wouldn’t be beneficial to the client or the candidate. We are in a relationship business and if you do that over and over again, you’re not going to be able to go back to that client or work with that candidate.

A good recruiter needs to dig deeper in order to make sure their candidate is in the right spot. People can jump at positions due to title and pay but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be happy in what they do. Recruiters should always be making placements with both the candidate’s and client’s best interests at heart.