Offer Letters

A best tactic to secure top talent is once you know who you want to hire, extend the offer letter. Common sense? Yes, but the nuance is, extend the offer right now/same day. There are outliers where an offer can have more complexity and take more time. Such as RSU, commission structure for inherited sales accounts, etc. However, the majority of offer letters are a template. The name, position title, compensation and start date are usually the only items updated.

So, why does it take days or sometimes weeks for an offer letter to be finalized? In my experience it’s because the process is moving too slow or not in in the ideal sequential stages. For example, the requisition/headcount should already be approved as well as the compensation package prior to interviewing. Also, have all the interviews required scheduled as close to one another as possible. If you conduct multiple interviews before making a decision, do them over 1-3 days, not 1-2 weeks. This gives a good impression to the candidate that your company has a structured evaluation process and you are considering they may have other options.

Hiring someone should be viewed as closing a sale. Therefore, when you and your team decide after an interview to hire the candidate, extend the offer letter on the spot or by the end of same day. Take advantage of the momentum of interest with the candidate so they remove themselves from the market. Because, the longer they are interviewing, waiting to hear back, playing ping-pong with counteroffers, etc., they are subject to the competition. Remember the empirical adage, ‘time kills all deals’.