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2017: The year of the lost offer….

By Emma Tee on

As you would expect we see a lot of offers of employment – it is the aim of what we do.  Shall I tell you what we see more of, and have seen happen more in 2017 than in any previous year? The lost offer.

So what is the lost offer, I hear you ask? Well, for you, Mr or Mrs Client, it’s the hours spent interviewing a candidate to be told that they’re accepting a counter-offer by their employer. It’s to be told, I really like you but company B down the road has offered me £10k more (you’d laugh if this wasn’t the actual case). It’s the (and this is the biggest kicker of all), you know I said I was relocating, actually, I’m not.

Hours and hours of interviewing, soul-searching and decision making, straight down the toilet. Don’t get me wrong, when dealing with humans, life gets in the way and there is no amount of planning which can change that. But there are things that you, the client, can be doing to mitigate these circumstances.

It’s worth mentioning that these scenarios are equally as likely to happen whether you’re recruiting directly or through a recruiter. As part of our process, we question candidates about their motivations for moving, the factors which are important to them, and actually what they’re looking for (although most can go out of the window when it comes to money). Most of the time candidates are honest, sometimes they’re not.

So, first and foremost, make decisions in as timely a manner as you can. Don’t wait to make a decision, make an offer, and then be surprised when a candidate has had interest from elsewhere; it’s a candidate’s market and they know they’re in demand. Make them want to work for you – if someone is desperate to work for you because they’ve bought into your company or the interviewer they won’t want to go anywhere else, even if another company is offering more money. An interview is a two-way process, not just for you to see if you like them. Finally, if you are working with an external recruiter, talk to them, be honest with them, and most importantly listen to them. They may be working with the candidate exclusively and handling all their interviews and can provide valuable insight into how to get the right person on board.