Getting to the Offer
Hiring employees is the single most critical aspect of recruiting. Poorly handled, the whole thing could blow up faster than you can imagine. What could be worse than getting to a job offer and having the candidate say no thanks.
Reason for the No
There are a few common reasons why a candidate might say no,
The good news is that much of this can be handled or avoided with proper planning and screening.
Elements of a Good Hiring Process
The following are elements of a good offer/hiring process.
- Quick Selection Process
- Expedient Salary Negotiation
- Submit Offer Letter
- Clear Pre-Employment Process
- Professional Onboarding Process
It does not have be a fast process. What it needs to be is predictable. This means you need to lay out for the candidate the time frame and meet that time frame. When is the decision going to be made? Once made, when does the offer letter come? How long to take a physical and/or drug test? To the extent that you can meet the time line as described, it will inspire confidence in the candidate that this is just your process.
Other Ideas
Once the time and resources have been invested in making a hiring decision, often times it comes down to a couple small items. As I mentioned earlier, too many times I've seen things blow up for the smallest of reasons. Without exception, once the damage is done, it can't be repaired.
For example, we had a client who spent 3 months interviewing candidates until they found someone that was perfect. The sticking issue was a start date. The candidate had a bonus due in 30 days and wanted to make sure there was enough time to transfer his responsibilities to another person. He really needed the 30 days to transfer his responsibilities.
The client offered a signing bonus in their offer letter and asked him to start in the traditional 2 weeks. When they consented to the 30 days, they withdrew the signing bonus because they said it was in lieu of the bonus he was not going to get. This connection was not specifically spelled out in the offer letter.
The mistake the client made was not listening to the candidate. He needed the 30 days to make sure his responsibilities were properly transferred. It was a matter of integrity, a great quality for an employee. Instead they focused on the bonus money.
The Big Picture
In the end, they spent 3 months of time and resources interviewing dozens of candidates only to lose their prize candidate because of a difference of 10 working days.
The lesson here is when the deal comes down to finally hiring employees, don't lose sight of the big picture. I does not mean you have to roll over on everything but make sure you understand what is important to a candidate.
Final Thought
There is one last part of the hiring employees process. Once you have made the offer, it is accepted and your candidate has passed all the conditions of employment, don't forget about the candidates who did not make the cut. Send them a rejection letter letting them know of your decision. Nothing fancy but it should be professional. This just ties up all the loose ends and makes you company stand out from the rest!
After 20+ years as an engineer in the R&D world, Tom Tassinari found himself in the recruiting world. By adapting the problem solving and process discipline skills of engineering to the recruiting world, he now works with companies on locating and hiring top talent...with his own techie twist.
