Every salary range, market trend, and hiring statistic we publish traces back to one of four evidence sources, and we label which one applies wherever it matters. This page explains how we build our data, what we will never do with it, and where you can see the methodology in action.
Key Takeaways
- We label every published figure under one of four evidence categories: PCG placement data, market conversation, publicly observed signal, or a named external source.
- Our salary benchmarks follow a five-step process, cross-checked against our own live placements before publication, not just industry surveys.
- We never reproduce a competing recruitment firm's proprietary salary guide as our own data, and we never present a single client's figures as a market fact.
- Figures are directional and indicative — never a guarantee of a specific offer or compensation outcome.
How We Label Our Evidence
We classify every data point behind our research into one of four categories, so readers can see exactly how confident to be in a figure and where it came from.
| Evidence Label | What It Means |
|---|---|
| PCG Placement Data | Real search mandates, offers extended, counter-offers received, and packages accepted across our own live searches in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. |
| Market Conversation | Direct insight from candidate and employer conversations during active search assignments, used to sense-check published figures against what people are genuinely accepting. |
| Publicly Observed Signal | Job postings, regulatory announcements, and other publicly visible activity we track directly, used to confirm hiring demand and timing rather than pay figures themselves. |
| External Source | Named, linked third-party research from government bodies or recognized research organizations. We never cite a competing recruitment firm's proprietary salary guide as a source. |
How We Build Our Salary Benchmarks
Our compensation research follows a structured five-step process designed to produce figures that are statistically defensible and validated against real market activity, not just aggregated from a single guide.
- Source Ingestion — Published GCC market compensation guides are read and every role data point is systematically extracted.
- Role Normalisation — Similar titles are grouped under a single PCG standard role taxonomy, so equivalent positions across sources are compared on the same basis.
- Cross-Source Alignment — Figures for each normalised role are grouped and compared across sources to identify a defensible range.
- Statistical Analysis — Minimum, maximum, midpoint, and spread are calculated, and outliers are flagged and re-checked.
- Cross-Checked vs Real Placements — Final figures are checked against our own placement activity, offers extended, offers rejected, counter-offers tendered, and packages accepted, before publication. Where industry data and lived market experience diverge, we adjust the figure to reflect what candidates are genuinely accepting.
What We Will Never Do
- We will never fabricate a statistic or present a single client's data as a market-wide fact.
- We will never reproduce a competing recruitment firm's proprietary salary guide as if it were our own research.
- We will never guarantee a specific offer, salary, or compensation outcome based on a published benchmark.
- We will never disclose identifiable candidate or client information in any published research.
Where This Shows Up
You can see this methodology applied directly in our Salary Benchmarking Tool and across our ongoing sector-by-sector talent intelligence series, including our research on GCC banking & finance pay and GCC finance & accounting pay. Every figure in these pieces is sourced and labelled using the same framework described on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How current is PCG's salary data?
Our salary dataset is cross-referenced against our own active GCC placements on an ongoing basis and updated as market conditions shift, rather than published once a year and left static.
Does PCG buy or reuse data from other recruitment firms?
No. We build our figures from publicly available research, our own live placement data, and direct market conversation during active searches. We do not reproduce a competing firm's proprietary salary guide as our own data.
Can I request a benchmark for a role that isn't covered on your site?
Yes. Our published figures cover the roles we see most often in live searches, but we can put together a directional benchmark for a specific role through our Salary Benchmarking Tool or by contacting our team directly.
Is this data a legally binding compensation guarantee?
No. Every figure we publish is indicative and directional, meant to inform hiring and career decisions, not to guarantee a specific offer, salary, or outcome for any individual role or candidate.
How do I report an error or a discrepancy in your data?
Email hr@peopleconnectglobal.com with the subject "Data correction" and, if you can, a link to the source that differs. We review every report and, where we confirm an error, we correct the page and note the change. Figures on our pages are indicative and reflect the sources and dates named on each page, to the best of our knowledge. To the extent permitted by law, People Connect Global accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of them.
Talk to Our Team
If you're benchmarking a specific role or building a hiring plan for the GCC, our executive search team can walk through the data behind a live mandate. Get in touch to start the conversation.
