My introduction to Crossover started with a LinkedIn job search in 2014. I was living in the NYC suburbs and actively looking for a new and exciting role that wouldn’t require a long commute into Manhattan. I was about 15-years into my career in software architecture and had both read and written a fair number of job posts. The one that caught my eye was from a company I’d never heard of for a job title I had never heard of. The thing that made me click in? The job ad had the compensation right in the title.
How can you advertise compensation in the title if you don’t know anything about the person you are hiring? Don’t you have to adjust people’s earnings based on the cost of living where the person lives? Isn’t it important to discover a person’s compensation history so you can rationalize the minimum spend required to hire them?
At Crossover we strive for simplicity in everything we do. We eschew customizations in software products we use and sell because the unique branches of code make upgrades painful and expensive. We remove layers from organizations and decision trees to make them as flat and uniform as possible because it makes everything easier to understand. Rather than adopt the complexity of how most organizations approach compensation, Crossover sets compensation rates equally for every position regardless of geography, experience or connections.
As a 100% remote business hiring the best people for the job from anywhere in the world, there are a number of reasons to standardize your compensation rates among titles and advertise it on the job description:
- It simplifies and streamlines the recruiting process. Since candidates know what the compensation is before they apply, people self-select out when their own requirements aren’t aligned with the rate offered. Fewer people are required to generate offers because budgets are pre-approved and there is no negotiation to distract you from selling candidates.
- It eliminates annual compensation discussions and performance reviews. Because everyone performing the same job receives equal rates, there are no periodic increases to manage, no performance reviews and no distractions. The only way to increase your pay is to change your job to the next level up.
- It helps to attract the best talent globally. This can be controversial but the most qualified person for the job is probably not in your own zip code. They may not even be in the same time zone or country. Great talent worldwide finds “cloud wages” — meaning everyone gets paid equally regardless of where they reside — very attractive. It provides the freedom for people to live or travel where they want without having to worry about the impact on income.
- It enables us to expect candidates to prove they have the skills required. When the unaskable question of “how much does this position pay?” is taken off the table, applicants that find the compensation desirable are more likely to invest their time to demonstrate that they are qualified for the job. Candidates that have the important information about what they are applying for are usually willing to spend time taking coding challenges and producing other work samples to prove they can do the work.
When I first saw the ad on LinkedIn advertising a fully-remote position with an above-market rate I thought it was awfully unusual and too good to be true. Skeptical as I was, it didn’t take long to hit the Easy Apply button and see what happened. The next day I received a message containing a video from the hiring manager explaining the job and I became more excited and inspired. I happily spent hours completing questionnaires and assessments that felt relevant and gave me a taste of what the role entailed. As I met people through the interview process I realized how smart and visionary everyone was and I was pumped to become a part of it!
About Crossover: Crossover is a recruiting and workforce management platform for businesses with 100% remote workforces. Crossover hires people directly into long-term roles at a number of software businesses. We are adding hundreds of people a month in positions spanning software engineering, sales, finance, support, marketing and operations. All of the positions listed at crossover.com/jobs publish the pay rate along with tons of info on what to expect in the position.
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