5 ways to improve hiring outcomes when salary ranges are competitive
Attracting the right talent is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in specialist markets like legal finance. Many employers are finding that traditional approaches (e.g. job ads and salary-led incentives) aren’t delivering the quality or engagement they need.
So what can you do to improve results without hiking salaries above market rate?
Here’s a few suggestions worth considering:
Sign-on bonuses
Across legal finance, we see a lot of salary bottlenecks. This creates a problem when you’re hiring for experience but unable to offer much of a step forward financially on salary. Could a sign-on bonus be an option? It might just provide the incentive necessary to attract the individual you’re aiming for.
Flexible start/finish times
Flexibility sells, and core hours of 09:30–17:30 won’t suit everyone’s lifestyle or childcare commitments. Could you make 08:00–16:00 work? Or 10:00–18:00? If yes, make this clear in all of your talent attraction channels.
Condensed or reduced hours
Do you need someone working full-time hours five days a week, or is there room to consider alternatives? If you’re unable to compete on salary, competing on flexibility can increase your talent pool considerably.
Review your hiring process
Relying on vacancy advertising alone is time-intensive and unlikely to yield success in many cases currently. Expect high volume response with low relevance in suitability.
If using external recruiters, consider how you’re using them. Have you made your vacancy a priority for them by giving the exclusive commitment they need to do that? Or have you spread your bets and are therefore only receiving a smaller investment of time from several?
Offer a step up
Convincing someone to make a sideways move is going to be difficult in the current economy. Is there scope to hire based on potential, so you can offer emerging talent the opportunity to progress their career faster than they’re able to in their current firm?
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Flexibility, creativity, and clarity are essential in today’s hiring market. These changes don’t require breaking the budget, but they do demand a rethink in how we approach talent acquisition.






