Project-Based Partnerships

What is a "Project-Based Partnership"? In short, it's a term I created to more accurately define the type of relationship I look to build within a search process as it pertains to Candidate Process Management. Integrify defines Process Management as “the organizational discipline that provides tools and resources for analyzing, defining, optimizing, monitoring, and controlling business processes and for measuring and driving improved performance of interdependent business processes.”

The key part of that definition for me is “analyzing, defining, optimizing, and monitoring.” While those are all different words, they emphasize a uniform concept - attention to detail.?

Through the 7 stages of a recruitment search process that I’ve outlined below, “attention to detail” is put into action as we discuss the parts of a search that will dictate how easy or how difficult the offer extension process will be.

1. Proper Introductions

As recruiters, we're the ones who are initiating that first point of contact with a candidate more often than not. During that initial conversation, it’s imperative to provide a formal introduction to yourself and your practice before you ask them to do the same. It’s not good enough to just say “My name is X, I recruit in Y market, now tell me about yourself.” For agency recruiters, it’s a matter of providing a few details on the exact market/niche you recruit for, the levels/locations of those positions, average company headcounts, and a qualitative anecdote or two regarding the type of value you strive to add to their search process. For internal recruiters, it’s crucial to provide a high-level overview of your company that includes details about your company’s industry, product or services, internal culture, growth plans, etc.

2. Find balance within consistent communication

For both internal and external recruiters, the goal is to create what I call a “Project-based Partnership.” At the end of the day, these are human beings that we’re representing. As humans, we all have different perspectives, preferences, short and long-term goals, and environmental circumstances that shape the proverbial arch of our careers. Above all else, a recruiter's main goal should be to genuinely understand what each candidate wants out of their search. The more detailed and transparent you are on your end, the more detailed and transparent a candidate will be on their end. That’s a simple fact of life and business that often goes unnoticed. The best example I can cite is providing them with interview preparation and making sure to collect their feedback before you ask for feedback from the hiring manager. This type of preparation kills two birds with one stone. You give your candidate the best chance possible to nail their interview while also giving yourself additional chances to hear their tone of voice and gauge whether or not they’re actually interested in the role and company they’re interviewing for.?

3. Beginning the Offer Process

Ideally, a candidate should not be sent an offer letter with numbers, titles, logistics, or stipulations that they haven’t already verbally agreed to. What if they ask for a slight bump in the base salary? What if they prefer for the bonus to be lowered and for the equity/stock options to be increased? Getting Board/C-level approval on offers can be a difficult process at times, and there’s no reason to conduct that process twice for one candidate. You need to come up with a final/all-inclusive offer based on the candidate’s expectations and the available budget for that position.

4. Verbal Offers & Acceptances

Have the Recruiter (internal or external) who has been the main POC for the candidate conduct a pre-closing call. The purpose of this call is to gauge how close (or how far away) the candidate would be to accepting this role if they receive an official offer. “If our board signs off on items 1, 2, and 3, would you accept and sign that offer?” If yes, great! If not, ask them what they would like to be improved within the offer. Some candidates prefer a higher salary and are willing to forfeit points off their bonus to hit that mark, whereas some candidates may place a bigger emphasis on equity (stock options or RSUs) and are willing to take a cut on the base salary to reach that goal. There are a number of different ways to restructure a verbal offer. The main goal is for all parties to leave that conversation on the same page.?

5. Meet the Board

Once you have a sense of the numbers/stipulations that the candidate is likely to agree to, construct an offer proposal and send it to whichever governing body is in charge of providing that final stamp of approval. Depending on the size of your firm, this could be a combination of the entire C-Suite and Board of Directors or simply the CEO/highest-ranking individual at that firm. If you receive pushback on any part of the offer, provide a rational explanation as to why that number is what it is.

6. Send That Letter!

After getting the offer proposal approved, it's time to send over the official offer letter to the candidate and provide them with your preferred window of how long they have to sign the letter before it becomes void. While certain circumstances (i.e. multiple competing offers, current work projects, family discussions, etc.) may require you to give the candidate several days to sign that letter, the vast majority of offer letters should be returned within 24 hours of when they’re sent. Why? Because you’ve spent time being detailed and transparent with both the candidate and your internal stakeholders in an effort to ensure that everyone is on the same page at this point.

7. The Dreaded Counter Offer

Naturally, a candidate has the right to assume that their Recruiter is biased regarding their counteroffer. Their goal is to have that candidate accept their offer and not any other one. And yes, there are a number of statistics that recruiters will point to in these circumstances without actually looking into the sources and validity of those stats themselves.?

The best course of action is to exude a confident but respectful tone when providing reasons as to why the candidate should not accept their counteroffer. There’s nothing wrong with sticking up for your client or internal hiring manager as recruiters are quite literally paid to do that. It’s also extremely plausible that your client is providing a better offer/overall fit. With that said, you cannot force a candidate to decline that counteroffer. All you can do is put your best foot forward and back your claims with tangible sources and rational reasoning. If you’ve genuinely built that “Project-based Partnership” that we discussed earlier, any potential counteroffer will prove to be a far more solvable obstacle.