How we research and report. So you can check every finding.

Market intelligence

Salaries, benefits, competitor hiring and talent trends follow six rules.

1. 1

   Every figure names its source and its date

   A benchmark says where each figure came from, how many roles or ads it rests on, and when it was collected. A figure without a source is not reported.

2. 2

   Different sources are kept apart

   Salary surveys, job ads and what candidates tell us measure different things. We show them side by side and never pool them into one number.

3. 3

   Every figure says what it measures

   Base salary or the whole package, a month or a year, and the currency. Allowances are compared separately from base pay. Leave says working days or calendar days.

4. 4

   Like is compared with like

   Before earlier research is used again, we check the role, the seniority, the location and the date. A salary benchmark for one role is not reused for a different one.

5. 5

   We describe the market we researched

   Findings speak for the employers, ads and people we actually looked at, and say so. We do not claim to describe the whole market.

6. 6

   A proposal is marked as proposed

   Each finding comes with its evidence and, where it helps, a proposed next step. You decide what to change; nothing is shown as approved or certain.

Candidate assessment

Interviews and interview reports follow the brief you agree with us.

• The criteria are agreed in the brief and weighted with you before anyone is assessed.
• Every candidate is scored against the same criteria, and every score comes with its evidence.
• The bar for a recommendation is agreed with you, and a strength in one area does not hide a gap in another.

See it in practice

The sample monthly report shows these rules at work on one sample month: hiring progress, a salary and benefits benchmark, competitor hiring, a trend and the proposals that follow. Its figures are invented.