2015 it salary guide

[ajs1976]

The actual tasks for positions like System Engineer vary significantly from company to company. Some companies have this as a senior technical position, some it's a glorified helpdesk role.

that's true, but I have also seen it with a similar position at a couple of different companies.

[bluebooger]

I've had the opportunity in my career (as an IT hiring manager) to compare the Robert Half guide to a pair of databases used by two different companies' HR departments, and the Robert Half guide was 5-10% higher than the HR databases. This is important, so that you are using realistic guidance when negotiating the salary with a potential employer. Recall that Robert Half is typically compensated with a significant percentage of the first year's salary for their recruiting efforts, so it is in their best interest to err on the high side. I believe they are statistically within the margin of error, so not unethical.

Edited to correct the proper plural possessive for company (companies') - wanted to get my first post right.

maybe you just worked for really cheap companies

[movtarget]

maybe you just worked for really cheap companies

One of them, you are correct. In all reality, the shared knowledge databases amongst HR professionals (these databases are services they subscribe to) are motivated the exact opposite of Robert Half - the lower the "standard" salary, the more profit their company makes by initial cost and compounding annual raise savings.

All that being said, I've seen what it takes to hire and retain the better employees, and that's what I base my comparison on. I'll use the "lower standard" from HR for non-key positions, and leverage the Robert Half numbers for key positions or to argue greater than a pittance of a raise for the top performers. Both sets of information have usefulness.

[Tedium]

One of them, you are correct. In all reality, the shared knowledge databases amongst HR professionals (these databases are services they subscribe to) are motivated the exact opposite of Robert Half - the lower the "standard" salary, the more profit their company makes by initial cost and compounding annual raise savings.

All that being said, I've seen what it takes to hire and retain the better employees, and that's what I base my comparison on. I'll use the "lower standard" from HR for non-key positions, and leverage the Robert Half numbers for key positions or to argue greater than a pittance of a raise for the top performers. Both sets of information have usefulness.

That's actually pretty fascinating. I like hearing about HR policies that take place behind the scenes.