Are You Losing Candidates to Other Offers

The battleground in today's "war for talent" between companies has become the employment offer. In today's markets, high demand candidates considering a job change often may choose among competing offers. The dynamics involved in closing a candidate on an offer are so complex that, not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of all offers are declined. A company losing more candidates than it is hiring would do well to consider the following strategies:

1. Examine how the company addresses the needs of candidates. If more than half the people interviewed do one or more of the following:

a) accept another job before the company can make an offer;

b) make salary demands that creep up between interviews;

c) require more than a day or two to "contemplate" the offer; or

d) have a change of heart after accepting the offer;

delays or indecision by the company may be the cause. To rectify the problem, the company should strive to shorten its hiring cycle, either by scheduling multiple interviews on one day or by making its decision more quickly. The longer it takes to reach a hiring decision, the more time the candidate has to investigate other opportunities.

2. Treat job seekers as customers. Just as the company would not leave a client "out in the cold," it should not leave a worthwhile candidate "hanging." The appearance of indifference on the part of the company may engender bitter feelings and frustration in the candidate. Such obstacles to building a trusting relationship handicap the company that eventually decides to offer the candidate a position.

3. Avoid the five most common hiring mistakes. Any or all of the following practices may account for missed hiring:

a) The company's offer is too late. Move quickly on a hot candidate! An interminable interview and offer cycle invariably turns off a job seeker.

b) The company's offer is too low. A company must know and compete in the current market. What the market was last year and what the prospective employer feels the market should be are not important. Hiring personnel should appear calm when the candidate states his or her salary needs.

c) The company leaves salary negotiations until the eleventh hour. Ideally, the company and the candidate have reached an agreement on salary before the company extends a formal, written offer. The candidate might perceive attempts by a company to negotiate salary after the candidate has turned down its offer as poor planning or, even worse, an exercise in bad faith.

d) The company's story keeps changing. It is vital that a company and its interviewers consistently describe the job throughout the hiring process. If different managers present a candidate with either conflicting accounts of or new revelations regarding the nature of the job, the company is likely to drive the candidate away.

e) The company gives mixed signals. Job-seekers have a sixth sense regarding a prospective employer's sincerity, urgency and level of interest. Body language or other indicia of indecisiveness during an interview will spook a candidate and may influence him or her to mirror such mixed signals, e.g., by consciously or subconsciously undermining the company's offer.

It is never too late for a company to rethink and adjust its recruiting strategy. A company that has trouble finding candidates to interview or experiences a high rate of rejection of its employment offers can improve its hiring prospects immediately by following these hiring principals.