SEPTEMBER
1999
The
Employment Offer:
Where It All Begins – and Sometimes Where It Ends
WE ARE
VERY PLEASED to offer you the position of Director of Corporate
Communications, effective October 1."
These
few, simple words were intended to signal the beginning of
a wonderful new career for the lucky job candidate, who had
bested six other strong contenders for the top position.
So why
did she turn it down?
The reasons,
of course, could be endless: She was never serious about taking
the job. She used to be serious but lost interest as the interviewing
process dragged on and on. The salary was great, but the total
compensation and benefits package wasn’t. The company
turned a deaf ear to her relocation needs. Her current stock
options were too significant to leave behind.
Here
are more: Her husband couldn’t see re-starting his law
practice in a new city. Company headquarters were too far
across the country from her aging parents. The other company
she was secretly interviewing made a better offer. She accepted
a counter-offer from her current employer. No one took her
seriously when she said the position level needed to be Vice
President.
Or, at
the end of the day, something just didn’t feel right.
In fact,
there are more reasons why candidates turn down jobs than
you can shake a stick at. But isn’t it fair to assume
that something’s amiss when the employer – and
perhaps its search firm – expects an offer to stick,
and it doesn’t? Business people by and large detest
surprises, and the spurned employment offer is a big one.
Love
at First Sight?
Rarely
do employers and prospective employees meet for the first
time, fall in love and get married before the day is out.
More
likely, a dating ritual ensues ("Let’s get to know
each other"), leading to courtship ("Let’s
get serious") and ultimately to proposal ("Let’s
get hitched"). Sometimes, of course, the key question
is not, "Do I want to marry Sally," but rather,
"Does Sally want to marry me?"
When
it comes to changing jobs, various issues may cloud the positive
feelings that a candidate has about the new opportunity. For
example, a secure, reasonably well-paying job may need to
be abandoned for the chance of greater reward in an unfamiliar
environment. The family may need to be uprooted and the house
put up for sale. A new school district may need to be found
that has a strong college-placement record.
Objections
and Conditions
Nothing
can be more dangerous to the search process than leaving these
kinds of concerns unaddressed, since they generally will become
magnified over time.
Professional
search consultants divide such concerns into objections and
conditions.
The American
Heritage Dictionary calls an objection "an adverse contention"
– as in, "I don’t think I’d want to
move to Cleveland." The good news about objections is
that, once surfaced, they often can be overcome. ("Did
you know that Cleveland has some of the finest suburbs in
the country, six professional sports teams, a world-class
symphony orchestra, super museums and boating on Lake Erie?")
A condition,
as its name implies, describes a state of being – e.g.,
a son about to enter senior year of high school as captain
of the football team, or a spouse who was just elected to
public office. Since conditions can’t be changed, the
question is whether they can be accommodated.
The job
candidate with the football-playing son might be persuaded
to accept temporary living quarters in a new city, while the
remainder of the family stays put until the young man graduates
from high school. In many cases, however, conditions cannot
be accommodated and are early warning signs that the candidate
may be unable to accept an offer.
The
Professional Recruiter’s Role
Prospective
employees, eager to put their best foot forward during the
early stages of courtship, rarely disclose all the obstacles
that may stand in the way of marriage. Sometimes, they may
not even think of them, or they may tend to dismiss them ("I
can talk my spouse into moving anywhere").
Skilled
search consultants know how to surface these issues so that
they can be dealt with – or the candidate eliminated
from further consideration.
Other
issues will arise as the mating dance proceeds. The job initially
is an abstraction – nothing more than a description
provided over the telephone. Like the proverbial onion, layer
upon layer is peeled back as preliminary discussions lead
to interviews, on-site visits, neighborhood tours, etc.
At each
step, the candidate is forming impressions that help create
a bond between him or her and the new employer or, conversely,
raise new issues. Over and over again, the professional recruiter
asks, "Based on what you know right now, is there anything
standing between you and the job?"
Preparing
the Offer
Eventually
it seems time to propose marriage.
Many
employers assume, therefore, that the next step is an offer
letter and that the role of any outside search consultant
is over. That assumption is wrong on both counts because offers,
once made, are difficult to change. And offers turned down
should not have been made at all.
The outside
search consultant can provide important risk insurance in
two ways. First, based on knowledge of the marketplace in
general and the candidate’s needs in particular, the
recruiter can counsel the company on designing an offer that
will stick – in terms of title, responsibilities, compensation
package, etc. Second, the recruiter can test the offer with
the candidate and identify any issues that need to be resolved
before it is officially extended. In effect, the consultant
serves as a third-party facilitator, helping both sides avoid
the risk of losing face – or blowing up the offer –
through direct negotiation.
Today’s
Full-Employment Market
In the
U.S. and other countries enjoying statistical full employment,
employers are begging for people. The resulting seller’s
market has resulted in rude surprises for unwary companies.
More and more candidates, for instance, are turning down one
job offer in order to accept another, and there are increasing
numbers of no-shows on the date employment is to begin.
Today,
more than ever, time kills all deals – so don’t
allow important job offers to become bogged down in bureaucracy.
Recently, a Big Five accounting firm took a month to offer
a six-figure senior vice presidency to a promising candidate,
but he was long gone – to a company that offered him
a job within eight days. As The Wall Street Journal observed,
"In the Race to Fill Job Vacancies, Speed Demons Win."
As soon
as you believe a candidate will accept your job offer, extend
it quickly and send two copies of the formal offer letter,
along with any employment agreement. At the bottom of the
letter, include an acceptance statement for the candidate
to sign and return. (For example: "I, [Name], have read,
understood and accepted the above offer of employment; agree
to report to work on [Date]; and affirm that I have no contractual
provisions with my current/most recent employer that would
restrict or prohibit my acceptance of the offer.") If
another job offer lurks in the background, or unresolved issues
remain, the acceptance statement is likely to smoke them out.
Finally,
expect your search consultant to advise your anticipated new
employee on the wisdom and techniques of resisting a counter-offer
from his or her current employer. Once past that hurdle, you
can breathe a sigh of relief: The person is likely to report
to work.
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