Your Top Candidate received a Counter-Offer: now what?!
In this week's edition:
Your Top, Dream Candidate's current Employer extended a Counter-Offer: now what?!
So your Top Candidate you were intent on hiring just informed you that they need some time to think over the Job Offer you just extended because they just received a Counter-Offer from their current Employer.
And the offer is higher than what your Organization/Hiring Team extended.
Yikes!
Receiving this news can really, REALLY suck. You become really worried that you're going to miss out on this amazing Candidate who just might decide they want to stay put, exactly where they are. Besides - they've been working with their current Employer for a while. They have friends and made relationships at this Organization they're currently at. Maybe they don't want to leave.
And besides, they were offered more $$$ to stay.
Maybe you should just offer more money or match the Counter-Offer?
While its certainly worth it paying top dollar for top talent - have you ever done this and STILL had a great candidate turn down your offer? Clearly we have some other issues to address first and foremost before we get to that.
Now, before we get into how to handle this common situation, let's talk about what you should NOT do (and variations of these):
Do NOT threaten - "You'll never get another chance to work with us again! Its now or never!!!"
Do NOT use guilt - "After everything we've done to make a great Offer, I can't believe you're even considering a Counter-Offer!"
And for Heaven's sake, please - PLEASE do not use that eye-rolling, cringe-worthy line - "Accepting a Counter-Offer is NEVER a good idea!"
(Note: while some may argue this statement is true, the point here is Candidates have heard this line SO often, it doesn't even register anymore in most cases and simply goes in one ear and out the other - same thing with the "Its a Candidate-driven market" line which Hiring Teams have heard for, oh I dunno the last 10,000 years.)
So what can you do to give yourself the best chance of not losing this amazing Candidate to a Counter-Offer?
Firstly, if you're only anticipating and handling the potential for Counter-Offers this late in the Recruitment Cycle - at the Offer stage - that's a mistake. Throughout the process you need to constantly be assessing the interest level of your Candidate and the degree to which they might entertain a Counter-Offer. If you're doing this consistently, from the very first conversation onwards, you'll actually be able to identify and filter out Candidates who actually might not have much reason to leave their current Employer - which allows you to continue meeting other Candidates who ARE highly motivated to do so and who have sound logic in doing so.
You have to continuously understand THEIR logic - no matter how excited they might seem about the opportunity to work for you. And everyone's logic and reasons might be different and unique to their own situation and goals.
(Side note: there is of course no 100% surefire way to eliminate the possibility of someone accepting a counter-offer, however my point here is, we have to do our part in minimizing the probability of this occurring)
But if you haven't done this throughout, what you CAN do at this point is have your Candidate revisit WHY they decided to Interview and consider the opportunity to work with you in the first place.
Again - doing this at the Offer Negotiation stage is VERY late in the game in my opinion, but its still worth a shot to see if we can salvage this.
Look - there can be a whole bunch of reasons why your Top Candidate is now having second thoughts about leaving their current Employer, some of which could be emotional. It could be fear. Cold feet. You might even have to consider that they won't want to admit this to you and therefore will not disclose to you what really is holding them back. A whole BUNCH of emotions could be running through them.
So to kick things off, ask them this very simple question after they let you know about a Counter-Offer they are considering:
"Ofcourse they presented you with a Counter-Offer. They know your value, and we expected this. I know this is a very important decision for you. Lets take a step back: Why were you looking to consider leaving your current Employer in the first place?"
Have them list those reasons out. Reason-by-reason, have them talk it out.
Do NOT interrupt.
Do NOT try to convince or persuade them of anything or how amazing your company is at this point or how excited you are to work with them.
They do not care about any of that right now. You just need to be a good listener at this point.
Mouth closed, ears wide open. JUST. LISTEN.
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And write everything down which they say.
What we're doing here is helping to keep things logical for your Candidate and helping them sort through what made them want to consider leaving their current Employer in the first place, so we can focus on the facts and the logic of this potential move, and not the emotion of leaving their current Employer.
Was it lack of career progression? Toxic environment? Lack of new tools, technology, infrastructure, support systems, etc? Is it because things are stagnant and they're not learning anything new? Current Employer not investing in their professional growth?
All those factors are what you want to focus on in helping them see that they had their reasons for wanting to leave. And unless their current Employer has somehow guaranteed a change in all or most of these conditions, those undesirable factors will still continue to exist despite the counter-offer, in which case they'll eventually leave anyway.
Having them revisit their original "WHY" will allow you to now bring the focus back onto the reality of their situation, and what's being offered at this new position they're considering progressing into with your Team.
So look - if your Top Candidate gets a Counter-Offer, don't freak out and don't get upset at them.
Stay calm.
Part of your task as a skilled Recruiter or someone involved in the Recruitment Cycle at your Organization, is to help people make sound decisions and helping them work through their own logic. This also means - if the logic says it makes no sense for them to move ahead with you, then they won't, and it means you need to do a better job qualifying your Candidates from Conversation #1 onwards, and identify this much earlier on. Chalk it up to experience and do it next time - don't feel bad, it happens!
Try this out next time, and let me know how things turned out.
How does your Organization deal with Counter-Offers? Are you dealing with this right now? Let me know in the comments or send me a private message!
Job Search Quick Tip: provide a Salary/Rate range OR a specific figure?
Job Seekers: when discussing your Salary/Hourly rate, should you be providing a RANGE or a SPECIFIC FIGURE?
Both have their pluses and minuses and it could depend on your situation.
Presenting a range allows for flexibility - you don't want to rule yourself out if the higher end of your range is beyond the Hiring Team's budget, and so the lower end acts as a security net. The problem with this is, sometimes both parties are thinking with opposite sides of the spectrum: the Hiring Team might be thinking of the lower end, and the Candidate (i.e. You) might be thinking with the higher end. This can result in both being on different pages in terms of expectations.
Presenting a specific figure can display confidence as you know exactly what you want and communicates that you're very specific about what that figure is. On the downside, if your figure is beyond the Hiring Team's budget OR they simply can't justify what you're asking for based on what you bring to the table compared to other Candidates, they might turn you down and decide you're not the right Candidate. And because you presented a specific figure, some Hiring Teams might just assume it means you're not flexible.
My personal opinion on this: if applying DIRECTLY to an Organization, present yourself at a range. Just make sure its a range which is not too broad. Keep it tight - e.g. $110K-$115K or $85/hr-$90/hr. NOT $100K-$120K or $50/hr-$70/hr. Too broad - it can raise suspicion and communicate a lack of confidence in yourself. A tighter range however shows flexibility but at the same time still communicates confidence. If applying through a Staffing Agency, unless your Recruiter advises you otherwise, present yourself at a specific figure after having a frank discussion with your Recruiter about their Client's budget and what you bring to the table for the role. If the Agency has a strong relationship with their Client, they too will prefer to present you at a specific figure as this helps simplify negotiations later on.
What's worked for you? Range or specific figure? Let me know in the comments!
LinkedIn Poll Results: the TOP challenges faced by Job Seekers
The people have spoken! Thanks to all 226 of you who voted on my recent poll - here are the results:
(With the constant "Dear Recruiters" (and similar) posts on LinkedIn complaining about Recruiters, you can imagine my shock when only 6% of people voted "Interacting with Recruiters" as their greatest challenge! ??)
At 65%, clearly the greatest challenge most Job Seekers are facing is "No responses when I apply". Quick tip in regards to this: do not depend solely on applying online or submitting your Resume/CV. Everyone is doing that, and its very possible your Resume or Application is simply getting lost in a digital pile. Make use of Networking and making direct contact with stakeholders involved in the Recruitment process at the Companies you want to work for.
Job Seekers - do you feel this poll is an accurate representation of the greatest challenge YOU are facing? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Holidays all!
That's it for this week's edition! I'm flying out to beautiful Vancouver, BC tomorrow to visit family for the Holidays and hopefully even do a bit of sight-seeing if its possible - it'll be this Toronto boy's first time visiting Canada's West Coast so I'm pretty excited!
I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a fantastic Holiday Season - if you celebrate Christmas, a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Until next time,
Talent Acquisition | Technical Recruiting | Recruiting for Nova Networks
2 年Really thorough and detailed breakdown of the recruiting and offer process, Dean - thanks for sharing.
B2B Tech Sales Professional
2 年Subscribe, Follow/Connect for more!