Survey Results: Salary Ranges on Job Listings

StyleCareers.com conducted a survey of fashion industry job seekers regarding their willingness to apply to job listings that DO NOT include salary ranges.

The primary purpose of this survey was to provide real-world data to fashion industry employers so that they may improve their recruitment advertising efforts. Better job listings = more candidates; it is that simple.

Secondarily, we wanted to show job seekers the prevailing attitudes of their colleagues in hope that some might adjust their job search strategies with respect to salary ranges.

We kept the results simple; breaking them out first by region and second by career level.

Looking at the results, a super-majority of fashion industry professionals either won’t apply to job listings that do not include a salary range OR they are hesitant to do so. Less than a quarter of the respondents claimed they would apply regardless of the inclusion of a salary range or not.

While it is impossible to know exactly the actual rate of applications that would be submitted for the Sometimes, Sometimes Not crowd, for the sake of simplicity, we are going to assume that only 50% of that group would apply to a job listing that does not include a salary range.

As an example, of the 59.5% of USA & Canadian Sometimes responses, we will assume that only 29.5% will apply to a job listing that does not include a salary range. Adding that number to the Nope, never, won’t do it crowd, gives us the total percentage of fashion industry job seekers who WILL NOT apply to a job listing that doesn’t include compensation.

With this example, 46.75% of fashion industry job seekers will NOT apply to a job listing that does not include a salary range. In effect, employers who do not include compensation on their job listing limit their responses by almost 50%!

Regional Responses

In the US and Canada, 17% of fashion industry professionals claim that they will not apply to jobs that do not include a salary range. Adding this number to half of the Sometimes crowd, and employers can expect to see a 46.75% reduction in applications when they do not include compensation on a job listing.

Responses by Career Level

Entry-Level job seekers are the least likely to apply to job listings that do not include a salary range and Executive-Level job seekers are the most likely; 50% won’t apply vs 39.75%.

Considering that Executive Level job seekers, by definition, have more experience and given their success in the industry, younger job seekers would probably be better served by applying to jobs that do not include compensation.