What Does Competitive Salary Mean?

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So you've been looking at job adverts, and most importantly you're looking at the salary the company are offering for your hard work, but you keep seeing the phrase "Competitive Salary". Now a job advert that doesn’t state a salary may not always seem attractive – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider it.

So, what does a competitive salary actually mean?

A competitive salary means that the salary being offered is equal to or more than the industry average for similar positions in the same location.

So although the salary isn’t specifically detailed – that doesn’t mean you can’t estimate a ballpark figure based on your own research. Using websites that allow you to search for competitive salaries depending on your job title is a great start, but we highly recommend you ask the employer in your first meeting the rough salary that's being offered for this role.

It's important to not come across that it's all about the money, as long as you can get a rough range of what you can expect, you can then evaluate if it's going to be worth proceeding. The proper salary negotiation will come at the end after you've dazzled them with your charm and skills.

Why is a competitive salary used?

There are a number of different reasons why the phrase "Competitive Salary" is used.

The first reason is that the company is open to negotiation, sometimes a company will not state the salary as they're open to hearing what you're looking for. If you're the perfect fit for the role, then they'd be happy to pay a bit more than what they might have been looking to.

Secondly, they might be looking at filtering out applicants that are only applying for a chance to achieve a well-paid job.

A third reason is that salaries are very confidential in some companies, so much so it's written in contracts and policies to not discuss your or anyone elses salary.