When a Candidate is on the fence about your Job Offer | Key Takeaways from Speaking Engagement | Poll Results

Happy Monday all! In this week's edition of my weekly Newsletter:

• What to do when a Candidate is on the fence about your Job Offer?
• Key Takeaways from speaking engagement
• LinkedIn Poll Results: who is your first point of contact at Companies you've applied to for work?

What to do when a Candidate is on the fence about your Job Offer?

Just because you're putting a Job Offer out on the table for an amazing Candidate, does not mean they're ready to jump right on and say they'll take it! Hiring Teams often get confused when a stellar Candidate they're really interested in, doesn't appear to be as interested as they are and is kind of "on the fence" about accepting the offer.

What can you as a Hiring Manager or as someone involved in Recruitment do about it?

Well firstly, there's no surefire way to 100% eliminate these occurrences because they WILL happen at some point.

But what is important to understand is, there's ALWAYS an underlying reason why a Candidate might seem "on the fence".

If you don't know what that reason is, then you're at risk of losing out on this Candidate for sure. Based on my experiences working in Recruitment, it typically comes down to the below - there could be other reasons but these are the most common, so check for these:

• Ensure offer is upto par with expectations/market rates: Is your Offer Package REALLY attractive and up to par with what's being offered in the market (or higher)? Its really tempting to try and sell your "company culture" as a way to offset a lower Offer, but that's a bad idea. Company Culture doesn't really count for much in maintaining an individual's lifestyle, expenses, mortgage/rent, etc. Of course your culture is important, but it might not matter if the compensation package isn't top notch.
• Check interest level: This is something you should be checking for throughout your Interview process, but are you sure they're really interested in working for you? If I were to ask you "Why does this Candidate want to work for you and how is this opportunity in alignment with their career goals and aspirations?" and you're fumbling for an answer or resorting to making assumptions - sorry, you don't know. Are you conducting post-interview feedback calls after every Interview? This is an extremely important discussion I conduct with all of the Candidates I represent after their Interviews and is at least a 15-20 minute discussion where I determine whether they feel the opportunity is right for them. One very important question I ask is: "Having met with the Hiring Team and learned more about this opportunity, how does this role fit into your career goals?". Never make assumptions - always check for their interest-level!
• There's an unspoken/hidden "objections": Something is holding them back which needs to be addressed. Whatever reason a Candidate might be giving you about being on the fence, might not always be the actual reason. Sometimes it takes some probing and asking questions to get to the core of what might be holding them back. I remember once I was representing a Candidate who kept saying he wasn't 100% certain about moving head with accepting an Offer with my Client. Was it the rate? "Nope, its an amazing rate Dean". Didn't like the Team they'd be working with? "No way - they were amazing and friendly!". Project seem a little boring and not challenging enough? Nope, it wasn't that either. Finally after a lot of digging, my Candidate revealed it was simply because of one of the terms listed in the agreement that he wasn't sure he was okay with but he didn't want to ask about it because he didn't want to seem petty. Boom. Got back to my Client, they both got on a call, sorted it out, resolved it - agreement signed. Now I'm making that sound easier than it is, and its not always going to be that simple - but the point here is: there sometimes might be hidden concerns you have to uncover and address to move things forward.

So, look - the key takeaway here is: in my experience as a Recruiter, people always have a reason as to WHY they are on the fence. This definitely applies to Job Offers. Don't give up and don't start talking down on your Candidate. Instead, put your Sherlock Holmes hat on and start investigating what that underlying reason could be so you can at least address it!

Are you an Organization in Canada looking to hire Tech Talent? Send me a direct message and let me know about the challenges you're facing and any questions you have. Also Subscribe to this Newsletter if you haven't already, for more Recruitment strategies.

Key Takeaways from speaking engagement

I recently had this amazing opportunity to speak to a group of 30+ graduating students from Achev's Web Development Bootcamp. The attendees were mainly comprised of individuals transitioning into Web Development from another industry. How amazing is that?

I spoke about 3 main areas of their Job Search and thought I'd share some "quick-takes" below:

• How to market yourself: don't think of your Job Search like its a Job Search. Think of it like a Marketing campaign. A major goal to accomplish is to increase your visibility in your industry. The Organizations you want to work for, probably do not know that you exist. Your Resume, Job Interviews, Networking events, Industry events, Recruiters, LinkedIn, etc - these are all avenues to help you increase your visibility.
• Effective networking strategies: networking is a long-term play. You can't network today, and expect it to result in getting a job tomorrow. Its something you need to be doing consistently and over a period of time. Think long-term. Think Savings Account - not Checking Account.
• Tips for engaging with Tech Recruiters: just because a Recruiter is a "Tech Recruiter" or "IT Recruiter" - that does not mean there's a guaranteed chance they will help you. Tech Recruiters don't recruit in all verticals within IT. Researching the types of jobs they usually post will give clues as to what their areas of focus are and whether or not it makes sense to connect with them.

Hope the above points help in your job search as well!

What other advice would you have for these graduating students? Share in the comments below!

Are you an IT Professional in Canada looking for your next Career move? Send me a direct message and let me know more about your goals and aspirations. I'd love to see if I might be recruiting on something which might be a fit for you.

LinkedIn Poll Results

I put out a LinkedIn poll a couple of weeks back where 180 of you voted (thanks!). Below are the results:

Clearly the majority of you are having your initial conversations with Recruiters (59%) - significantly higher than the other categories (HR Manager/Coordinator and Hiring Manager/Team).

Why is this important?

Whether or not you're able to advance to the actual decision makers (i.e. the Hiring Team) is dependent on how well you perform or how well you handle the conversation with the Recruiter.

I'm currently in the early stages of developing my second digital course/program with a focus on how to effectively navigate your conversations with Recruiters to increase your chances of moving past this stage.

What challenges/problems do you think I should cover in this course I'm developing? Send me a direct message - I'd love to hear your ideas!

That's all for this week - until next time everyone!

Any topics you want me to cover in a future Edition? Let me know in the comments - don't forget to Like + Subscribe if you haven't already!

Dean Kulaweera - IT Recruiter | Director, Recruitment & Sales |?Tech Recruiters 360

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