What should I expect as a salary increase for changing jobs in construction?

As construction recruiters we find it rare for salary increases to go beyond 15% of one's existing salary when making a job move to a competitor.. The reason for this is simple -the advent of the Internet. Today's construction job market is automated and online.. The information superhighway makes accessing people, firms, news, data and most all forms if information and communication quick and easy. Construction employers are now able to publish their job listings and receive thousands of applications from local, regional, national and international job seekers, most of whom are well aware of what construction employers are willing to pay. The internet has opened the information superhighway for both job seekers and employers making salaries and information about salaries more obtainable and more homogenized for all parties. Employers have convenient access to more available job seekers and their salaries, as well as what is necessary to hire them. Job seekers have convenient access to employers and what they are willing to pay. To attract talent construction employers must be competitive and their salaries for new hires and existing hires must reflect this market or risk being unsuccessful in employee retention and in new hiring.

As construction recruiters, we rarely see salary increases offered to new hires greater than 10% or 15% since most employers in construction pay their people market rates. Increasing a new hire's salary beyond 10-15% may jeopardize an employers current standards with existing employees. However the higher up the corporate ladder a job seeker goes, the greater the opportunity for unique or customized pay.