It can be tricky at the best of times for the client companies of recruitment agencies in Dublin to decide how much to pay their staff, but it can be even tougher when the business is a start-up. After all, you’ll still facing the same stiff competition for talent as the larger corporations, and the right balance will have to be struck between financial viability and getting the right person.

Yes, you will need to pay the going rate. But what is that rate, and are there other things you can do to get the best candidate signing the dotted line?

Evaluating the role

You won’t be able to gauge the appropriate level of pay without first evaluating the role’s responsibilities and the expertise that you need in your employee. It makes a big difference whether the job is a basic admin role or a more specialised one, as well as whether your new hire will be doing simple, repetitive tasks or more complicated, continually changing ones.

The level of decision-making responsibility also plays a big part. Bigger companies are known to use more formal evaluation schemes to ‘score’ jobs, but this isn’t necessary for a company’s very first recruit.

It’s about the candidate, too…

The right level of pay isn’t merely determined by the role itself – the candidate’s professional qualifications and experience also count for a lot. If you’re unsure what to pay a skilled professional in a given field, you’ll find the main findings of many regular pay surveys available for free online, from many of the leading professional bodies, giving you a useful benchmark for salaries.

Put together the complete package

It’s impossible to overlook the great importance of the right salary, but it’s hardly the only factor for candidates. You can boost your chances considerably by offering the right challenge, career opportunities, job security, flexibility and other ‘benefits in kind’.

Great possible benefit options include everything from health insurance, childcare vouchers and share schemes to tuition reimbursement, season ticket loans and ‘dress down Fridays’. However, you should also ensure that any benefits reflect your business’s value and are affordable.

You should also remember to plan ahead to take into account rises in salary for your staff in recognition of achievement. Get in touch with Webrecruit Ireland, one of the leading recruitment agencies in Dublin, for help with finding that ideal first start-up employee.