Counter offers hurt

We sometimes go through a run when an employer persuades a candidate to stay. You might want to get mad, but really it is just a cost of doing business.  And the more of the right people you choose, the more employers will want to keep them. But what intrigues me about counter offers, and even the possibility of them, is how it affects an employer's thinking. I reckon at least 40% of clients are reluctant to make an offer to a candidate if they think there is a chance it will be turned down. I have never been able to understand this. It has resulted in some bad recruitment decisions, with people not offering the right one in case they get rejected. They might do, but then they could turn the job down for any number of reasons. If you lose them for the right reasons, then it is some consolation to know that you probably chose the right person, the one who was just too valuable to their current organisation. And I wonder what a manager would say to a sales executive who took a similar approach with customers. "I didn't want to offer them the deal because they might have turned it down". Bluntly it makes little commercial sense. Recruitment is a tricky process, even the best recruiters are only about 70% successful and most are well below that. But if you have the right processes, if you follow up properly after offers have been made and if you make sure you welcome people with open arms into the organisation, you can normally reduce the number of rejections by a substantial amount. But if you don’t offer them the job in the first place, I reckon they won't be joining you. Want to subscribe to this blog? click here.