Salaries for careers of all kinds must be competitive in order to keep valued employees and recruit new staff. But, how do you determine average salary by industry? It’s important to determine average industry pay for similar positions at other similar companies in your area to ensure the industry pay you offer is on par with competitors.

Many factors come into play when determining the average salary by industry. Use the following tips to help you come up with basic salary guidelines:

1. Use an online salary comparison tool to come up with fair industry pay scales based on several variables.

2. Search job boards for examples of current salaries for careers in your industry based on job description, location and experience level.

3. Purchase a salary tool or software to help you determine competitive compensation and benefits for your staff.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Determine fair industry pay based on job description

If you don't have job descriptions for your positions, create them. Things to include are job duties, skills set and expectations. Then, use online salary tools by industry to help you determine the average industry pay an employee that matches the job description. Be sure to keep the number of years of experience and job location in mind.

I recommend: PayScale has a helpful salary tool that lets you search by job title, years of experience and job location. Salary.com's salary calculator is one of the site's free salary tools, or you can purchase a Personal Salary Report with more details for salary by industry information.

Compare industry pay on national job boards

You can research all day long and find plenty of hypothetical references, but sometimes real-life examples provide the best information. Check your local newspaper's classified section or search online job boards to find average salary information from real job postings. Keep a log for a few weeks to see if a pattern emerges.

I recommend: Find information on average pay by industry on industry-specific websites, such as Quintessential Careers. Industry-wide job boards, like Monster.com, are another good place to search for average pay by industry.

Buy salary software to determine fair industry pay

As a business owner, you may not have the time to do extensive research on salaries, yet you want to come up with fair pay for your staff. Online salary research services and compensation software programs can get you the information you need and are usually quite simple to use.

I recommend: The Economic Research Institute offers a Salary Assessor to provide competitive salary data on thousands of positions. Actek’s ACOM3 Commission and Incentive Compensation System is a great resource for determining compensation plans for incentive-based positions.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you need to fill a position or are creating a new job, the same job boards you used to research industry pay are a great place to start your search.