How Can You Tell When a Candidate is About to Take a Counteroffer?

There is nothing worse than being played by a candidate interviewing with your own company. A counteroffer acceptance is not only a monumental waste of time, there is also the burning sensation of knowing a candidate used you to get more money at their present company. How can this be avoided? You need to think more like a recruiter and less like a hiring manager.

I consider myself to be a career doctor. Just like a medical doctor, an accurate diagnosis is the key. Ask yourself (and the candidate) these questions: What is the candidate’s career wound? How much pain is this causing? And, what has this person done at work, right now, to resolve this? The weakness most hiring managers have is in the assumptions they make about the candidate’s intentions. “Well, if this candidate sent in a resume and took the time to interview, they must be interested in making a move.” We also face a tight and difficult market to attract top automotive-quality professionals. When a great candidate strolls into our office, we start salivating and want to believe. Trust me, I’ve been there, too. Oftentimes, we build a great rapport and even visualize this candidate working for us—we think about and how this person, this superstar, will give our department such a great boost.

To avoid disaster, let’s engage in a little Recruiting 101, and then you should set up this robust interview system.

What is The Candidate’s Career Wound?

The simple way to describe this would be, “Why are you looking?” The reasons may range from not making enough money, to hating their boss, to a lack of professional growth and everything in between. We all have to question the candidate thoroughly to understand the situation. Reasons for hiring managers tend to be rather vanilla, compared to the blistering honesty us recruiters get. You need to be empathetic in your questioning, because candidates are generally smart enough not to throw stones while keeping their reasons politically correct. Then, we must make a decision, if the explanation for moving and their thought process makes sense. In most cases, this first question is just setting them up for the next two, which are more important in accepting a counteroffer.

How long have you felt this way, and how has this affected you?

What have you done to resolve this issue, both internally and externally?

Allow me to give you a few examples of career wounds and the follow-up line of questioning for the candidate:

Not enough career growth: This is the candidate who is moving for more upward mobility. Find out in more detail for how long has this stifled feeling gone on, and why doesn’t the candidate believe they can move forward where they are now. Make sure to ask, “What exactly has your management said, regarding your career track?” If they answer, “They are not talking to me about it,” then this person is ripe for a counteroffer. You make them an offer, they accept it, and their boss says, “I’m so sorry that we didn’t tell you how much we love you.” The company then pulls three executives into a room to flatter the pants off the candidate. Congrats. You just helped them to get a big, fat raise. Be very aware of this: The younger the candidate, the more susceptible this person is to a counteroffer of this kind. More experienced candidates generally know that holding a gun to the head of your present company and then throwing that gun away with an acceptance to stay does not bode well for a long-term solution. But, no candidate is immune to praise and money. What should we do in this case? If they have not had a career-track conversation yet, I require them to have that talk before we move forward. It is only fair to have their boss get the chance to make things right. You and I would both like the chance with any of our employees, as well.

Underpaid: Statistics on the www.asqi.com website show “How to Get a Raise in Automotive Quality” is the most popular article. This is not surprising to me, since I refer candidates to it on a regular basis. We are in the best position of almost anyone in society to know the value of APQP. After they go to their boss for a raise and are told ‘No’, they now have two reasons to move, not enough money along with not being appreciated for the job being done. When you do your APQP, counteroffers are rarely taken.

Shorter commute or moving to a new city: These are easy. Moving to a new city or state is a no-brainer. When a commute is cut from 30 minutes or more to a short one, a counteroffer can’t reduce the risk of being on the road, fuel costs and wear and tear. The above steps must be taken, anyway. Even when the move makes sense on the surface, it is still much easier for a person to stay at a familiar job than taking the risk of a new opportunity.

‘I don’t get along with my boss’: Statistics show this is one of the most common reasons for employees to bolt. We move many candidates with this situation, along with not liking how the company is run, overall. My first concern is listening to the candidate to make a determination if their personality is at fault. I will look at how many moves they’ve made and what their past reasons were.

There are many more reasons of why a person might interview with your company. The above situations illustrate how we need to pay close attention to what is being said and don’t just rely on the hope that an offer will bring a desired outcome. Ask the tough questions and do the proper APQP, so a job candidate does not play you. If you have any questions about situations, feel free to shoot me an email. Good hunting…and…Go Automotive Quality!

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