Job seekers’ pay expectations: The effect of voluntary disclosure in online résumés

Pay expectations are not fully explained, especially when they are presented in online résumés. There is also limited research that has investigated when job seekers are more likely to open up about pay expectations in résumés. However, this knowledge may help recruiters and company leaders to make prudent decisions about communication strategy with candidates, especially those belonging to stigmatized groups. The purpose of this study is to explore pay expectation disclosure through individual determinants available in online résumés. Drawn from both signaling perspectives and the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) theory, we examine human capital-related traits, demographics, and signals related to career development and analyze their relevance when job seekers indicate or hide pay expectations. The study explored the anonymous online résumés of 26,594 job-seeking applicants, using regression analysis with the Heckman correction to overcome the sample selection bias of pay indication. The analysis revealed a tendency among applicants, who were less educated and less experienced but with a higher number of job-related skills, to signal pay expectations compared to more educated and more experienced job seekers. Women and more mature job seekers were also inclined to provide disclosed-pay résumés. Our findings showed that the impact of the individual determinants on applicants’ pay expectations coincided with the impact of the same determinants on real market pay found in other studies. These findings provide insights into the signaling role of pay expectation disclosure in online résumés to support employers in building effective communication with job seekers.