In an irregular, but hopefully informative, series, we aim to bring to your attention partner companies and services that may offer a solution to your day to day business needs. Today’s partner company is HR Integrated Solutions, www.hrintegratedsolutions.co.uk.

HR Integrated Solutions is a qualified, talented and visionary team of Human Resources and Training professionals, who specialise in offering flexible, bespoke and quality solutions, working in collaboration with your business.

With a combination of over fifty years’ experience in HR, Training and Employment Law; their experience has been gained from working extensively at the sharp end of business and at a strategic level. They are genuinely passionate about delivering exceptional service in a sensible, direct and comprehensive manner.

Local to you, they are practical, flexible and accessible when you need them, even seven days a week. Their approach is to save you time to concentrate on your business, your budget and your profitability.

The highly qualified and experienced team can support your business from recruiting your first employee right through to managing the HR function for a large team of employees.

They offer the best integrated solution for your business from telephone advice, delivering your specific project requirements or alternatively, attending on site, on a regular basis to support and deliver your Human Resources function.

The solutions they offer are practical and workable, in plain speaking terms on all client issues; this can be anything from dealing with one off ad hoc queries such as discipline or absence control to coaching and supporting managers through the human resource processes. They also endeavour to transfer their skill and knowledge base to your supervisors and managers giving them the confidence to deal with the human resource issues as they arise.

The aim of HR Integrated Solutions is to provide the perfect integrated solution that match your current and future needs at a fraction of the cost involved in employing a HR team directly.

Like many people, I did virtually all of my Christmas shopping on-line. As is traditional, even for actual shops, the price displayed for the goods that you want to buy is advertised and that is the price that you pay for the goods. I don’t think I have ever been in a store and said to the shop assistant “I’d like to buy this product but I am not prepared to buy it at the price you quote” – if I did, I suggest I might be asked politely to leave and stop scaring the children.

The price on an advertisement is exactly what it says; it is what you will have to pay to acquire that product. So why do candidates applying for jobs online believe that the salary advertised is a starting point for negotiation? When applying for a role, there are a number of matters you would probably consider – job title, job content, location and salary. You wouldn’t apply for a job and then turn round and ask for the job to be based somewhere other than the company’s offices, or ask that it is called something else.

Titles, content and salary are all things that clients and recruitment consultants discuss in depth and agree on so that there is a good response to the advertisement to increase the chances of filling the role. If the salary states negotiable, then fine; if there is a monetary trade off for non-provided benefits, then fine. In exceptional circumstances, and only at the very end of the recruitment process, you may find that the salary package changes due to a change in scope of the role.

But to apply for a job at a stated salary and then immediately demand more money smacks of greed and a lack of understanding of how the recruitment market works. Decide what salary you need or want and apply for jobs at or above that salary; there are plenty of people out there who will work for the salary advertised, so please do us all a favour and stop wasting both yours and our time. That way, you will get the job you want at the salary you want and us recruitment consultants won’t have to stand screaming in darkened rooms.