Pay transparency

Pay transparency means putting the number in the ad. Not "competitive salary," not "market rate," but an actual range. For candidates, pay is one of the first things they check, and when it's missing, a lot of people simply assume it's low, or skip the ad because they don't want to go through three interviews to find out.

It's also becoming a legal thing in more and more places. The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires employers to tell job seekers the starting salary or pay range in the vacancy notice or before the interview, and to stop asking about pay history (European Commission, June 5, 2026). How and when that applies depends on each country's own law. In the US, a growing list of states and cities require pay ranges in job postings, including California, Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington (Jackson Lewis, January 30, 2026). The rules differ per place and change often, so always check what applies to you.

But honestly, even where it's not required, it's just good job marketing. Pay is the easiest fact to put in your first line.

Example

An agency runs two versions of the same warehouse ad. Version one says "attractive salary package." Version two opens with "$19 to $22 an hour, plus a night premium." The second one gets fewer questions about pay, fewer people dropping out at the offer stage, and applicants who already know what they're signing up for.