Weeks after securing U.K.’s top spot, the world learned that British Prime Minister David Cameron was being paid $216,510—less than 172 of his staff, and approximately $550,000 less than his highest paid staffer, the director of communications. Cameron should have done a salary check.

Although they’ve been around for a decade, salary and corporate snoop sites are now offering far more detailed information, as well as more content applicable to Canadians. This is largely due  to a surge in the number of people who have logged in and anonymously disclosed their salary and work details.

Still, Canadians need to be aware that typically only major urban centres are included, says one Ontario recruiter. For the best results:

  • Benchmark your salary on either Salary.com, which offers a Canada-specific portal, or Payscale.com, which offers the most in-depth pay breakdowns for potential careers
  • For an anonymous glimpse into a particular company use Glassdoor.com, where people post their perspectives as current or past employees. The site already holds 15,000 reviews of Canadian companies
  • Vault.com offers rankings on the best U.S., Asian and European firms in pre-selected employment categories, such as law and financial services
  • To evaluate typical interview questions go to Glassdoor.com or Salary.com, where candidates can search by industry for potential questions, and the best answers