Over the years, recruiters and line managers have asked my advice about handling the counter offer. Hundreds of applicants screened, telephone screens, multiple interviews, background checks, salary negotiation and then the dreaded statement “the have made me a counter offer”. There is no reason to cry in your soup, I can count on one hand the number of counter offers that have ended in a lost candidate. Follow this bulletproof guide and you will be able to confidently manage that counter offer.
Over the years, recruiters and line managers have asked my advice about handling the counter offer. Hundreds of applicants screened, telephone screens, multiple interviews, background checks, salary negotiation and then the dreaded statement “the have made me a counter offer”. There is no reason to cry in your soup, I can count on one hand the number of counter offers that have ended in a lost candidate.
Follow this bulletproof guide and you will be able to confidently manage that counter offer.
Firstly, we need to understand why employers extend the counter offer. For more details on this see the article (“why hiring managers are inclined to counter offer at www.freshmanagement.ca)
Now that we are clear about the motivations for the counter offer, let’s go back to the interview stage. If you wait until the counter offer occurs to deal with the counter offer -it is too late. You must handle the counter offer objection well before the candidate ever meets the hiring manager.
1. During initial questioning ask why the candidate is choosing to job seek
2. Delve deeply into the details of the candidates dissatisfaction with their current employer.
3. Once you have heard all of the motivations for their departure, repeat the top 3 reasons for the candidates departure
I.e. “John it sounds like your current employer has not heard your requests for more challenging work, has not included you in key decisions that effect your department and you are feeling you need more challenge in your career. Are these the things that made you decide to start your job search?”
4. Now get their commitment that these are indeed the reasons for leaving and write those reasons down
5. Ask the candidate if they have addressed these issues with their employer.
6. If the answer is no, you may want to counsel your candidate to speak to their employer and listen carefully to their answer. My experience is when this happens either more reasons arise or you may have a counter offer risk here.
7. If the answer is yes and the answer seems satisfactory and you feel that they are not a risk for counteroffer you can relax.
8. At this point you immediately handle the counter offer issue. Start a conversation by explaining that you ask these questions because you want to make sure that once they start this journey, there is no turning back.
9. Explain to the candidate the reasons why accepting counter offers is career suicide (for more in depth information on this see our article entitled “why accepting a counter offer is career suicide at www.freshmanagement.ca )
10. Speak candidly about your experiences or refer them to the latter article. Once you have had the conversation about counter offers and have made the pitfalls abundantly clear, it is time to move on to when a counter offer occurs even after handling the objection during the interview process.
If you have properly handled the counter offer objection up front during the interview process you will find that a counter offer rarely arises. When it does arise it is usually with a passive candidate who was not ready for a job change. Once it does you need to meet (preferably) or call your candidate to discuss the offer. Remind the candidate of why they wanted to leave and ask them if they are confident that these 3 things will really change. Explain that leaving will inconvenience their employer and question whether their previous employer really cares about what is in their best interest.
Get the candidate speaking of the pros of the job you are offering. Spend time listening to the candidate, but ensure that you remind them of why they applied in the first place and if more money or a promotion is really going to make things better in the long run.
At this time give them space, but create a sense of urgency by citing a deadline and explain that you will need to tell the client and prepare the backup candidate. Never let a candidate know that they are the only candidates for the job.
If the candidate accepts the job than he or she should not have been presented for the interview in the first place and it is time to move on and find another candidate. Never ever convince someone to accept the job. This is the worst mistake and it is the sure stamp of a bad recruiter. You may be able to strong arm a candidate to take a job but they will be a retention risk from the start. Turnover costs recruiters their reputation and our clients time and money.
If you handle the counter offer before the candidate’s first interview you will rarely have a situation where you lose a candidate to the counter offer. Always remember that good reputations are build on high retention rates and getting the right fit.
