Can you Counter a Counter Offer?

Can You Counter a Counteroffer?

The landscape of recruitment is changing, and at lightning speed.?And the skill base of recruiters is too, adapting to the current climate and skills shortage.?Where once you would be looking to work with both your client and candidate to ensure that any offer would be good enough to accept regardless of your current position, it is now crucial that you are prepping your candidates for a counteroffer, taking away that feeling of flattery, and the lure of a juicy pay package or more attractive title change.?

Here we will discuss how, but most importantly why...

Once a counteroffer has been made it is already too late, the damage has been done and the seed has already been sown in the candidate’s mind.?It’s your job to make sure they are expecting the counteroffer before it happens, and moreover, have already decided to turn it down.

It all starts at the very beginning,

The process starts at the very first interview.?You should remind the candidate of their reasons for leaving, and that more money (or indeed status, flexibility, or other benefits) will change why they originally wanted to move on.?By taking the candidate on a hypothetical journey, have them imagine receiving the offer, and ask them to visualise telling their current employer.?

What would their employer say? How would they feel if they turned around and offered them more money???

By having them visualise the process, as opposed to you telling them what you know is likely to happen, and how they should respond, they are far more likely to arrive at the same conclusions themselves, with you simply reminding and reinforcing the reasons they were looking to leave in the first place.

As we know, money is of course important, but in this ever-changing, candidate-driven market, highly skilled professionals are looking for more beyond a big pay-check, and it’s key that your candidate knows this.?Being armed with all the knowledge before any offers (or indeed counteroffers) are made really will make sure of the best outcome for all.

Money should never be the number 1 motivator and it is crucial for the recruiter to dig deep from the start about the candidates real motivations to move, if money is the main reason.. you should be double prepared for a counter offer battle that you are more likely to lose.

To summarise, the process really is easy once you know-how, and it is indeed a process, that any great recruiter can master over time but must remember.. in a people-centric environment you can really only do so much.

Whilst the final decision is always in the sole control of the candidate... this forward-thinking technique preps the candidate to make an informed decision and ultimately make the right choice for themselves.