Should early-career candidates use salary sites like Glassdoor to benchmark pay?

That’s such a smart question, and one I wish more early-career professionals would ask before negotiating.

Websites like Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, and Blind can absolutely be helpful starting points, but they come with an important caveat: context matters. These platforms often reflect averages pulled from self-reported data, which means roles, geographies, and experience levels can get blurred together. For someone early in their career, that can set either unrealistic expectations or unnecessary anxiety.

What tends to work better is taking a multi-layered approach. I often recommend combining public benchmarks (like those sites) with real-world conversations. Reach out to peers or mentors working in similar roles, especially those in comparable company sizes and markets. You’ll get far more actionable insights from a five-minute coffee chat than a data table online.

Also, pay attention to industry-specific salary reports, for example, those published annually by recruiting firms or professional associations. They’re usually verified and segmented more accurately.

Ultimately, the goal is to understand your market value and growth trajectory. When you know where you stand, you can negotiate with confidence and focus on long-term fit, not just short-term compensation.

Reddit is one of the most underrated places to get real, unfiltered salary info. People there talk openly about what they earn, how they negotiated, and what companies are actually offering versus what they post online. You’ll find threads for almost every industry where people share ranges, job titles, and even city-based comparisons.

That said, I still recommend using Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, or Blind as a starting point. They’re great for getting a general sense of market averages. But to really know what you’re worth, you have to combine those numbers with actual conversations. Ask people in similar roles what’s typical for your experience or what they think is fair for that position. You don’t need to ask, “How much do you make?” Just frame it as curiosity about the market range.

That mix of public data and honest feedback gives you the clearest picture of your value and helps you walk into negotiations with confidence.

Salary websites provide a blurry snapshot of the past, not a clear picture of your future. I tell my clients to view them as just one data point.

The biggest mistake an early-career professional can make is equating that number with their personal worth. Your salary is not a measure of your value as a person. It is the market price for your current ability to solve a specific problem for an employer. Confusing the two is the fastest way to undermine your own negotiation confidence.

What works better is gathering live market intelligence. Connect with a few recruiters in your desired field and ask them directly, “What are the current compensation bands for this type of role?” They have the most up-to-date information.

Then, find people who are 2-3 years ahead of you on your target career path. Ask them about their journey and how their compensation grew. This makes your first job the starting point for a lucrative career instead of a final judgment on your value as a person.

These two websites are good starting points, but the information may sometimes be inconsistent or too general. Combining these sources with networking with similar-type peers, consulting niche industry salary reports, and speaking directly with recruiters specializing in your field is a better approach. Candidates should also consider regional market conditions, company size, and demand for particular skills, as these often play a greater role in determining compensation than broad online averages.

I look at websites such as Glassdoor and Blind as just a place to start, and do not rely solely on them as my primary source for salary information due to potential inaccuracies or early career experience.

My team has found that candidates who use a combination of the websites with their own independent research (reaching out to industry-specific professional associations, using the salary insight tool provided through LinkedIn, etc.) will see an increase in the accuracy of their salary expectations.

Platforms such as Levels.fyi are more effective when it comes to technology-related positions that have defined levels. Websites such as Glassdoor and Blind can also provide inaccurate, over-inflated, or under-reported data regarding salary trends. The candidate should obtain several different salary data points from a variety of trusted sources within their target company/industry and then adjust for location and benefits.

Understanding what you are worth requires researching multiple sources and using cross-referencing, rather than relying on one singular website. Understanding the market value of your position in relation to where you live is far more valuable than simply being able to reference generic benchmark numbers.

Early career candidates can utilize resources like Glassdoor and Levels.fyi as a barometer; however, these resources can be generic. For example, in hospitality, salaries differ greatly depending on the role in hospitality, the location, and the level of experience. This means relying solely on crowd-based averages can lead to unrealistic expectations.

Alternatively, I suggest using OysterLink. OysterLink is a career platform where the listings account for actual job bank requests for skill sets and verified pay ranges from employers. Additionally, candidates can engage with hiring managers and peers in similar roles to determine the skills that are most desirable in those positions.

The most important factor is to consider salary benchmarking as part of an overall career plan. Understanding the job’s responsibilities, career advancement, and benefits can be just as important as base salary in measuring a person’s worth. This can help candidates make more informed, longer-term career decisions.

Nowadays, such locations reveal figures but often fail to give you the actual truth of how much you are supposed to earn. Remunerations are based on much more than titles or company names. They are measured based on skill, urban expenses, and backhand favors. Trusting the averages can make you aim too low or too high even before you apply. The reality is that the best way to determine your value is to interview actual individuals carrying out the same task.

To a large extent, five or ten professionals provide the most accurate description of what goes on within companies. Inquire about their salaries and performance or experience-based pay increases. More than that, compare their findings with the cost of living in your city. Assuming that translators in Milan earn on average 1,800 euros each month and those who perform well receive 15 percent more as bonuses, then the target should be close to 2,070. Such clarity would enable you to negotiate with good confidence which rests on facts rather than guesses.

You can be deceived by Glassdoor or Blind. Their figures are usually based on anonymous posts that are not representative of actual pay made by the companies. In most respects, depending on such sites keeps one guessing rather than preparing. To get a true understanding of your worth, ask other people in your profession. Contact them using LinkedIn and request them to estimate the compensation for your role in your city. Trust me, those direct conversations speak volumes more than any charts on the Internet.

More than that, search at least twenty job posts for the same position, note down the pay scales, and find the median number. You can add or subtract by about 10 percent taking into account the cost of living where you live. What this means in real terms is that you end up with a grounded benchmark. You will go to actual interviews with real numbers and be confident enough to demand what you are worth.

There are two better and reliable alternatives that can be leveraged. First is speaking with recruiters and headhunting firms. While the perception is that they primarily help with executive searches, the truth is that there are a lot of firms that help companies recruit early-tenure candidates. These firms have a strong grasp of what employers are willing to pay for roles and also how the compensation changes with company size, location, title, and job requirements. The other benefit, which I wish I had known early in my career, of getting to know recruiters is that as people progress through their career and ranks, they end up needing to get access to bigger, better, or different jobs, and having recruiters can be mutually beneficial to both parties.

The second is to go back to the careers department of your school. While they focus on graduate placements, many career counselors have been and continue to be in very good touch with the markets. They are more than happy to help provide counsel, especially when they know you are an alum and in the middle of compensation evaluation discussions.

Both these parties not only have a great sense of the market-based compensation, they are also motivated (for different reasons) to help and support career progressions.

Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, or Blind are good sources for ballpark figures; however, the data is not always reliable. Job postings can also give you a quick look, but comparing them takes time and isn’t super consistent.

To really figure out your worth, chat with people. Talk to those in jobs like yours. If you know someone in HR or recruiting, ask them about salary ranges. They see actual job offers daily and know what companies are paying these days.

Keep in mind that salary surveys and tools just show averages. They don’t tell you what you should earn. Your pay depends on your field, the company, what you’re good at, your experience, and how well you negotiate. The best way to check your value is to see what offers you get. If you apply for similar jobs and don’t get better offers, that’s what your skills are worth right now. Getting better offers? Then it’s time to renegotiate or start considering moving.

Employees with limited experience should visit websites such as Glassdoor and Levels.fyi, and Blind. These platforms provide approximate compensation and salary data, particularly in the technology sector. Nonetheless, the information may be specific to location, have exaggerated listings, and include atypical cases.

A better solution is a combination of research and real-world signals. Network with coworkers, attend industry events, or connect with recruiters on LinkedIn. Additionally, review actual job postings to confirm the indicated salaries. The optimal benchmark combines publicly available information and actual conversations. It is not merely what the internet says; it is what the market actually offers.

Job seekers in the early stages of their careers should refrain from relying on anonymous salary data sites such as Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, or Blind for reliable benchmarking. These sources aggregate self-reported data that is devoid of the necessary context regarding the size of the company, job scope, and geography. The numbers on these sites portray a distorted picture because those people with extreme compensation on either end of the distribution (high or low) are more motivated to report. This results in a visibility bias, making the average less reliable for your offer negotiation.

A superior way to go about it is to focus on getting direct access to firm salary information via professional market research and executive compensation surveys. Research publications from firms with good reputations that analyze offer letters that have actually been made to candidates, as well as pay bands that are recognized as standard for entry-level or junior positions within your local geography. The data sources referenced here utilize documented compensation records, giving you an objective basis of comparison for negotiating salary that would be difficult for a recruiter to refute.

Surely these websites can help those who are just starting out figure out what salary ranges are. However, these platforms often lack nuance, and the compensation data on them can vary widely depending on who submits it and how recently it was updated.

I recommend talking to mentors, recruiters, and peers in their field instead of relying on these sources alone. Personalized feedback is especially helpful for young professionals since it helps them understand how their abilities, education, and demonstrated value stack up against what the industry expects. Joining professional groups and looking at internship or entry-level job advertisements can also help them get a better idea of how much similar jobs pay right now.