It’s taken some time but you’ve got the perfect candidate. You offer them that all important job and they decide to take it. It’s going well and your recruiting record seems secure. Or—maybe not.

Less than a week after you secure that ideal candidate who fits the skills and the culture, they call you back and tell you that they’ve gotten an offer from their current company that they just don’t feel like they can refuse. The counteroffer has been accepted.

Of course, you’re going to break out all of the old statistics, you can tell them that they aren’t going to keep their job long. You can let them know that more than 80 percent of people who accept counteroffers either quit or are fired within one year. The fact is that despite all of those realities, many of your prime candidates will accept the counteroffer.

Partly it’s nervousness about starting the new job and partly it’s thinking that things CAN get better when they stay in the old job.

All of that aside, how can you prevent them from accepting the counter offer? There are a few methods that you can use that may help to keep your prime candidates from accepting counter offers.

Among these:

Address the subject before it comes up. Let them know all of the statistics and the cons of accepting a counter offer before it actually happens. If you wait until they’ve given one it seems as if you’re defending rather than addressing it. Ask them directly if there is a chance that they will accept a counter offer. If the answer is yes, they probably are not the candidate you’re looking for.

Take a look at the job perks and let them know. Address what they have to look forward to and give them a full scope of the benefits and perks of working for this company. Make sure that they are aware of the up side of moving to the new company.

Determine their priorities. Ask them all of the questions that you have about why they want to leave, what they want to change with the new job and then ensure that those things are going to happen. Ask them why they want to work with your company. Take a hard look at what their priorities are and address them.

Extend support with the job offer. Once the candidate accepts the formal offer that should not be the end of the support that you have to offer them. Talk to them about the process, help them through the references and the background checks and establish a background of trust. Making it a positive experience means being there to keep them on track.

Stay in Touch. The resignation and the formal acceptance doesn’t end your responsibility to the candidate or the client. Until they are absolutely on board, you need to be in close touch and give them all that they need to help them to get through the counter offers or the discussions from the current employer. Leave plenty of time to contact them a few times a week to ensure that they aren’t tempted or overset by nerves.

Counter offers are going to be part of many of the candidates and jobs with which you are part of the recruiting team. You’re competing with an organization that has their long-term trust and has kept them on board for – in most cases — an extended period of time. If you keep on top of it, the odds are good that you can best the counter offers and on-board your candidate.

 

Article provided by, Advocate Search Group – a recruiting firm focused exclusively on filling academic nursing program positions throughout the USA

 

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