You would think that the event of making a job offer to
\na prospective candidate would be an easy, logical one.
\nIn fact, you might be surprised to find that we even
\nhave to address the whole idea. Wrong! The fact is that the
\nactual process of making an offer, once a final candidate has
\nbeen identified, can be one of the strangest, riskiest parts of the
\nhiring process. One would think it should be the simplest part
\nof the transaction, but it can derail a smooth-running process
\nvery easily. Our sense is that at least 10% of job offers that
\nshould be made and accepted go south because the making
\nof the offer gets botched, usually by hiring authorities. Very
\nfew hiring authorities will ever admit to messing up a perfectly
\ngood hire because they didn\u2019t give the necessary time and
\nattention to the job offer.<\/p>\n
Just recently, we dealt with a hiring authority who told us
\non a Friday that he would make an offer to our candidate the
\nfollowing Monday. We checked with the candidate, and the
\ncandidate was ready to take the job. By the following Wednesday,
\nthe candidate had gotten an email from the hiring authority
\nsaying that he had gotten distracted by an important project
\nand just hadn\u2019t gotten around to getting the offer paperwork
\ntogether. He stated that his intentions were to still hire the candidate
\nand the candidate should hear from him in a day or so.
\nLater on the next Friday afternoon, the hiring authority finally
\nreached out to the candidate to make him an offer, only to find
\nout that the candidate had accepted another job the day before.<\/p>\n
Our client even had the audacity to be mad at the candidate
\nfor not, \u201cunderstanding the pressure he was under.\u201d Well, the
\ncandidate was under pressure as well. He actually accepted a
\nposition that wasn\u2019t as good as the one our client was trying to
\noffer, but the candidate needed to go to work and he felt he was
\nbeing strung along by our client.<\/p>\n
Time for a commitment<\/p>\n
The final step in the hiring process is making an offer. It
\ncan be traumatic for both candidate and employer. This is the
\ntime for people to make commitments. Up to this point, every
\ninteraction between candidate and employer is speculative.
\nThere is minimal risk on each person\u2019s part. True, there has
\nbeen a lot of effort on the part of both candidate and employer
\nto interview each other, but there\u2019s no commitment, therefore
\nno risk, until an offer is made.<\/p>\n
There is a final twinge of fear on the part of the employer
\nand candidate when contemplating the possibility of an offer.
\nEmployers often become fearful that their offer will be rejected,
\nthat the candidate they\u2019ve courted for weeks and exhaustively
\ninterviewed will refuse their offer. The candidate who has been
\npursuing an offer, but also evaluating the firm they are interviewing
\nwith, likewise becomes fearful. They fear that they
\nwon\u2019t get an offer, and if they do, they\u2019re anxious about what
\nit might be. This step in the process is difficult for everyone.
\nThe offer step in the hiring process should be a simple and
\nnatural progression of the interviewing process, but it gets
\nconfusing when people either lose sight of its importance or
\noverreact to it. In fact, if the interviewing process is done correctly,
\nthe offer step should be easy.<\/p>\n
A pre-offer conversation is a selling opportunity<\/p>\n
The most successful hiring authorities have a pre-offer conversation
\nwith a candidate. This can be a face-to-face meeting
\nor a telephone conversation. The hiring authority explains to
\nthe candidate that he or she would like to discuss what an offer
\nwould look like and also any details about the job that haven\u2019t
\nbeen discussed in the interviewing process.
\nIf the hiring authority hasn\u2019t done it already throughout
\nthe interviewing process, this is the time that he or she should
\nbe selling the candidate on the job and the opportunity. This
\nconversation is the candidate\u2019s opportunity to ask any questions
\nhe or she might have, but it also provides an opportunity
\nto the hiring authority to find out the answers to any questions
\nhe or she may not have answered. It should be a friendly, calm,
\nand open conversation.
\nIn this conversation, the best hiring authorities get a good
\nindication as to whether or not the candidate will accept the
\njob. In fact, the best hiring authorities actually qualify the candidate
\nin this conversation. They discuss every aspect of the
\njob offer. They answer all the candidate\u2019s questions. Then, they
\nsimply ask the hard question of the candidate, \u201cI\u2019m ready to get
\ntogether for a formal meeting to offer you the job. Can you see
\nany reason that you wouldn\u2019t accept it?\u201d
\nIf for some reason the candidate hesitates or gives noncommittal
\nanswers like \u201cWell, when I see the offer in writing, I\u2019ll
\nknow better,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019d have to think about it,\u201d or anything that
\nisn\u2019t a positive like \u201cI would accept it,\u201d then the best hiring
\nauthorities may rethink making the offer. If they get these
\nkinds of answers, they simply ask a candidate what they\u2019re
\nthinking or what might stand in the way in order to find out
\nwhy they are hesitant. It never hurts to be blunt and ask, \u201cWhy
\nare you hesitating? I don\u2019t want to make an offer unless I know
\nit\u2019s going to be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n
And It\u2019s hard to give a blanket strategy for all things that can
\ncome up at this point of the process. The best hiring authorities
\nare prepared for just about anything and they always have
\nthe salvation of backup candidates. They always have several
\nother people in the queue in case their #1 candidate falters.<\/p>\n
More to come next week…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You would think that the event of making a job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6,13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n