Should you show the salary in job postings?
Yes! Salary transparency builds trust, attracts stronger candidates and helps reduce bias in hiring.
Here are the three questions we hear most from employers:
- “Should we keep the salary hidden?”
- “Can we say ‘competitive’ salary?”
- “What is the candidate’s current salary?”
We advise against asking for a candidate’s current salary. It’s rarely helpful and often unfair. Instead, state the salary range in the advert, and ask candidates about their expectations in relation to it. This respects candidates’ time, supports a fairer hiring process and challenges gender and ethnic pay gaps.
We know salary conversations can be sensitive. We’ve written before about why we ask candidates about their salary expectations, but this must always support fairness, transparency, and equity.
Five reasons to show the salary in your job adverts
1. Equality
Pay gaps are still a reality, especially for women, disabled people, LGBTQ+ candidates, and many ethnic minority groups. In the charity sector, the problem is growing.
In April 2024, the UK’s gender pay gap among full-time employees stood at 7.0%, a slight decrease from 7.5% in April 2023. One reason for this is basing pay on what someone has previously earned. Harvard Business Review found that when companies actively chose not to base salary on a candidate’s current or previous salary, pay increased for black candidates by 13% and for women by 8%.
Not showing the salary in a job ad signals a lack of transparency. It’s a red flag for people who’ve been underpaid in the past, as well as for a growing number of candidates who simply won’t apply.
Some won’t engage out of principles around fairness and social justice. Others avoid these roles for practical reasons — they need to know if the job meets their needs before investing time in an application.
Research from Denmark shows that when companies with more than 35 employees had to publish salary data, the gender pay gap in smaller firms shrank by 7%.
Assuming that candidates won’t consider roles with lower salaries or responsibilities overlooks those seeking career changes, sector shifts, or improved work-life balance. By omitting salary information, organisations risk missing out on diverse talent pools.
Transparent salary practices can help address these issues by promoting fairness and attracting a broader range of applicants.
2. Transparency
If your organisation values honesty and integrity, salary transparency should naturally follow.
Lack of transparency doesn’t just frustrate candidates; it can cause friction in existing teams. When you leave out the salary, you create doubt about fairness, consistency, and how decisions are made. People start to question whether the role aligns with existing salaries. Will the new hire earn more than the current staff? Will they earn less than someone who’s only progressed through time served, rather than skills?
If you’ve set a salary range but can’t appoint at the top of it, don’t include that figure. Share what you’re actually willing to pay. You’ll avoid setting false expectations and wasting time for you and the candidate.
Be transparent about progression. If you can’t offer a higher salary up front, but there is scope for growth through performance, reviews or annual uplifts, be upfront about this in your ad.
And if you’re in the charity sector and the role pays over £60k, it will appear in your published accounts anyway. If it’s public information, you may as well lead with it and gain credit for being open.
3. Efficiency
Recruiting is time-consuming and expensive.
Many job titles are vague and don’t show the level of seniority. A manager at one organisation may be quite junior, while the same job title at another denotes authority and seniority. Without salary details, strong applicants may assume it’s not worth their time.
Those who do apply might walk away when the salary doesn’t match their expectations. You lose time reviewing CVs, arranging interviews, and restarting the process. Or, they may be completely unsuitable, filling your inbox with endless resumes that don’t even come close to meeting your requirements.
Using the word “competitive” has the same effect. What does “competitive” even mean? It varies wildly between sectors, organisations, and individual expectations.
We worked with an organisation that didn’t want to advertise the salary. They were willing to pay up to £100k, but because of their size, candidates assumed the offer would be half that. A costly advertising campaign brought in very few relevant applicants — most were underqualified, and none were right.
4. Market expectations have shifted
For many candidates, seeing a salary listed in a job advert is now a basic expectation. Choosing not to include one can raise questions about your culture and may put off the very people you want to reach.
According to a 2024 survey by Reed.co.uk, 60% of candidates are less likely to apply for a role if the salary isn’t stated. That rises to 68% among 18–34-year-olds, a group that expects openness from employers on pay, values, flexibility and working culture.
In values-led sectors like charity and education, where purpose sits at the heart of recruitment, a lack of transparency can feel especially out of step. And the impact extends beyond candidates or a specific role.
Campaigns like #ShowTheSalary have brought salary transparency to the forefront as a public issue. They’ve highlighted the ways hidden salaries reinforce pay gaps and unfairness, especially in sectors like charity, where purpose-led organisations are expected to lead by example.
When a job ad doesn’t include the salary, it often gets called out across platforms like LinkedIn and BlueSky. Openness about pay is now part of how people assess culture. It tells candidates whether you practise what you preach and whether your values apply to how you treat staff, not just for the communities you serve, but for your own staff too.
5. Alignment with future regulation
Salary transparency is starting to form part of employment law in other countries. Across Europe, change is already underway. The EU Pay Transparency Directive, set to take full effect by 2026, will require employers to include salary ranges in job adverts and explain how pay is set. It also bans questions about current salary and gives candidates the right to know how their pay compares to others doing similar work.
Although this regulation does not extend to the UK, it may still have an impact, particularly as many assessment and awarding organisations are expanding their operations across the EU, and numerous charities and other not for profit organisations partner with European organisations or recruit internationally.
Following these principles now allows you to stay ahead of the curve and shape your own approach, rather than having to respond quickly to external pressure later on.
It also signals that your organisation takes fairness seriously — not because you have to, but because you choose to.
Why it pays to show the salary
In a niche or competitive market, salary transparency isn’t just helpful — it’s essential to attracting the right people.
When you clearly state the salary and assess candidates based on their skills rather than their job title or current pay, you create a more inclusive and credible process. You’re more likely to reach people who are a genuine fit for the role, and you avoid wasting time on mismatched expectations or repeated recruitment cycles.
Being transparent also helps reduce the number of queries and negotiations at the later stages of the process. It creates clarity from the start and makes the experience smoother for both sides.
More than that, it signals that you respect people’s time and that you’re committed to fairness in what you deliver and how you operate as an employer.
If openness, integrity and equity matter to your organisation, showing the salary is a simple and powerful way to put those values into action.
If you’re hiring now, commit to this one simple change.
Kristina Preston is our Head of Awarding and Skills Appointments. With extensive recruitment experience at every level across education and skills sectors, Kristina uses her expertise to proudly support our partners in recruiting brilliant candidates in this niche area of the UK and worldwide education system. She also works closely with the Federation of Awarding Bodies on our strategic relationship as their Platinum Supplier of executive search, recruitment and board development services. You can connect with Kristina on Linkedin or send her an email.
