The Minefield that is The Offer Stage

It’s a common misconception that the Offer Stage is the “easy bit” of a recruitment process.  All the hard work has been done, the mind-numbing exercise of sifting through CV’s is now a less-painful memory, the people remaining in the process want to be there and all parties – recruiter, hiring manager and candidate are excited and bought-in with the end goal in site.  So the rest should be easy-peasy right?  Wrong!  To the more experienced recruiters amongst us, the Offer Stage is the biggest hurdle of them all to over-come, where the most things can go wrong.  I am going to try to shed some light as to why this is the case, in the hopes it will help all those involved to achieve their goal of getting the right candidate / job.

TIME

I know I tend to bang on a bit about time being a major obstacle to the success of a recruitment process but there is no other stage in a recruitment process when time really can cause huge problems.  Why?

Emotion + Perception + Time = Disaster.

At Offer stage, emotions tend to be flying high, particularly for the candidate involved.  They have invested a huge amount of time, energy and effort in the process.  They really, REALLY want the job.  So, how do they feel if two, three, four days pass and they haven’t received an offer? 

Negative – “surly if the company really want me I would have heard from them by now?”

Cautious – “why are they taking so long? Does it take them so long to make all their business decisions? How will this affect me as their employee?”

Confused – The probability is, that if your business wants a candidate, other businesses will too and they will be in other processes.  Whilst you may be the number one choice for them, this can all change at offer stage if other companies appear to be more responsive and understanding to the needs of the candidate in the form of making an offer quickly.  The first choice option can soon become second or third choice if the Offer Stage is not handled properly.

LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

If there was ever a time I would urge people to put themselves in the shoes of others within a recruitment process, the Offer Stage is it.

With such emotion flying around it is important to be as empathetic as possible and this is the point where as a recruitment consultant, you should really be earning your money helping both your client and candidate to understand the respective situations.

Whilst I urge Clients to take as little time as possible in making a decision, I would also urge candidates to be understanding that not all businesses can move quickly.  There is no text book answer to this – it’s a question of communicating so everyone is fully in the picture and can make informed decisions.

I think we can all get so embroiled in our own part of the process and everything else we have to do, it can be easy to form judgements and make hasty decisions which we may later regret.

To give you an example, I have often heard exasperated colleagues tell me that their clients have informed them that “they will not be held over a barrel” by a candidate who is pressing for a decision because they have other opportunities they could lose out on, by holding out for an offer that may never come.

So let me ask you this – why not?  Put yourselves in the shoes of the candidate.  This is a life-changing decision for them to make.  They have invested their time and effort into attending interviews, putting together presentations, and working hard to put themselves in a position where you want them.  Why is it unreasonable for them to expect a decision in a fair amount of time which will allow them to make the right decision for them and their families?

I don’t think that this is particularly arrogance on the part of the companies involved, it is merely a lack of understanding about the decisions and consequences for the candidate, and perhaps a lack of strategic thinking in terms of the effect not deciding soon enough has on your business.

So let me throw you an analogy....what do you do when you discover that an integral part of your supply chain is not available?  When your production line goes down because a vital raw material hasn’t been supplied on time?  Do you flex your processes to ensure you have that precious component or I.P. which sets your business apart from your competitors?   I am confident that the answer is yes.  SO…. If people really are the most important asset a business can have…why is there not the same sense of urgency or flexibility applied to bringing these people (assets) on board?

Added to this…as a client engaging a recruitment company – do you truly understand the cost involved to them? Whilst agencies are for the most part contingent, we still have overheads.  I recently did an analysis of the time it takes us to recruit one role and the associated cost.  Is this something you have taken into consideration when asking a recruiter to source candidates for you? Whilst I understand that we have to provide the best candidates before we get paid, it’s a real kick in the teeth when you know your candidates are fantastic and loved by the hiring company, but the process fails due to factors such as taking too long to make decisions or not communicating with your recruiter.

Finally, if you were looking for an opportunity and had invested time to research the business you are introduced to, went to multiple interviews and they didn’t come back to you for days / weeks on end… how would you feel and what opinion would you form of that company, despite their size, brand or reputation?

We all like to think that we work for amazing businesses and as a hiring manager we want to feel that our potential employees are bought into us over other companies.  HOWEVER… those potential employees also want to feel that businesses are buying into them.  They are good enough to warrant that.  It’s the reality of the marketplace for supply chain talent.   

My pleas to candidates would be to just communicate, communicate, communicate.  Be honest with your recruiter as to how you are feeling, and the timescales you need to be put in place to help you make the best decision for your career.  I recently had an unfortunate situation where a candidate led me to believe that he would be forced to take another opportunity if he had not had an answer from my client within 5 days.  Ultimately, it transpired that there was no other job offer, and he had pushed so hard that my client changed their minds…Again, emotion and time showing how dangerous they can be at this precarious stage of proceedings.

I think if we can all be transparent, keep communicating and understand the different situations and pressure points for all concerned at Offer Stage, we would be well on our way to making the Offer Stage what it should be – exciting, rewarding and fun!

For more of my recruitment ramblings you can find my blog at www.jps-supplychain.co.uk