Salary benchmarking and market advice
Honest data on pay, availability and competitor hiring, before you set a budget or sign off a job description.
What it is
Salary benchmarking and market advice is for the decision before the hire: setting a budget, signing off a job description, reviewing pay for a team you cannot afford to lose, or opening in a new location. HR directors, founders and site leads often work from last year's figures or one colleague's opinion, and find out the number was wrong only when an offer is turned down.
We give you a straight, written view of what a role pays now, how many suitable people are realistically available and how long it is likely to take. Every figure comes with its source and date, and we say clearly where the evidence is thin. For a role you recruit through us, this is part of the brief.
What you get
- A written pay range for the role, with the source and date of every figure
- A plain view of how many suitable candidates are realistically available, and where
- An honest estimate of how long the hire is likely to take
- Advice on benefits, hybrid working and location, not base salary alone
- A clear statement of where the evidence is thin or the sample is small
- Your own pay data kept confidential and never shared in identifiable form
How it runs
1. Define the question
We agree exactly what you need to know: one role or a whole team, which locations, which competitors for talent, and what decision the answer will support. Scope and any cost are confirmed in writing before work begins.
2. Gather the evidence
Your sector consultant draws on live conversations with candidates, advertised pay ranges and published surveys from named sources. We record where each figure came from and when, so you can check it yourself.
3. Written findings
You receive a short written note: the pay range we would expect to work, what would be too low, likely availability, expected time to hire and the risks. We talk it through with you and answer questions.
4. Decide and review
You set the budget and specification with real information. If you then recruit through us, the benchmark becomes part of the brief, and we tell you if the market moves while the search is under way.
Questions employers ask
Everything here is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Where does your salary data come from, and how reliable is it?
From three places: the pay candidates in your sector tell our consultants they would move for, the pay ranges employers are advertising now, and published surveys from named sources. We do not rely on a private database you cannot inspect. Every figure in your note shows its source and date, we tell you how many data points sit behind our own view, and we say so plainly when a role is too rare for a confident range. If two sources disagree, you see both and our reasoning.
What does a salary benchmark cost?
For a role you are recruiting through us, nothing extra. Benchmarking is part of taking a proper brief, and you get our view of pay and availability before the search starts. For larger pieces of work, such as reviewing pay across a department, planning for a new site or checking your ranges before you publish them, we scope the work with you and confirm any cost in writing before any work begins. If published sources will answer your question free of charge, we will point you to them.
How current is the advice, and how quickly can we have it?
Pay moves, so every note is dated and we tell you which figures are likely to age fastest. For a single role, your consultant can usually give a first view on the briefing call and follow it with a written note. Larger reviews run to a date agreed with you at the start. Checking before you advertise is quicker than restarting a search: in IrishJobs research with 500 HR professionals in September 2025, 61% said they struggle to meet candidates' salary expectations.
Do pay transparency rules affect how we advertise salaries?
They are likely to. As summarised by Mason Hayes & Curran on 22 May 2025, the EU Pay Transparency Directive had a transposition deadline of 7 June 2026, and Ireland's draft legislation, the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024, proposes that job advertisements show a salary level or range and that employers do not ask applicants about pay history. In October 2026 we could not confirm that this had been enacted, so check gov.ie or take legal advice. A dated benchmark helps you publish a range you can defend.
What if the benchmark shows our budget is too low?
Then we tell you before you spend weeks advertising, and we show you the evidence. You still have options. You can raise the range, reshape the role to suit someone earlier in their career, widen the location or offer more flexibility, use a contractor while you make the case internally, or look overseas where a permit route exists. We set out what each option is likely to cost in time and money. The decision is yours, and we will recruit to the budget you choose with an honest view of the odds.
Ready to start a search?
A specialist consultant will call you within one working day to agree the plan, the timeline and the terms.