A recent BBC article highlighted how a professional recruitment firm says it is placing graduate lawyers at top firms on starting salaries as high as £150,000 amid a shortage of workers.
Skills shortages have been particularly pronounced in sectors such as law, where vacancies for London-based associates rose some 131% year-on-year between January and November last year, according to research from recruiter BCL Legal and data firm Vacancysoft.
Brad Mills, Manager here at Talent Drive adds;
Inflated salaries seem to be a common theme across all industries, as written about in this article. The team at Talent Drive have seen this trend at all levels across procurement especially over the last 6-9 months. Candidates are moving for salaries that are way above the average increase of 10-12% that we would have seen prior to the pandemic.
The increases we are seeing, demonstrate the massive demand for top talent in procurement which is resulting in some procurement professionals increasing their salaries up to 30-40%. This makes it very challenging for businesses to retain their ‘top talent’ and attract talent.If you are hiring and have identified a candidate through your process, Talent Drive would highly recommend meeting the candidate’s salary expectations.
Trying to negotiate and ‘low balling’ the candidate, could be your only chance to offer that candidate and given how competitive the market is. If you do not meet those expectations and expect a negotiation, another business will offer and snap that candidate up. Act fast and be decisive!