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Negotiate Effectively with Job Candidates
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Negotiate Effectively with Job Candidates
You’ve sorted resumes, screened candidates and interviewed the finalists. Now you`ve chosen the best of the bunch — all that’s left is to make the offers and have your promising new employee start work.
But this process doesn’t always go so smoothly. Negotiating with a job candidate can be tricky. And it if it’s not handled well, it can lead to a disgruntled employee rather than an enthusiastic one — or even to a rejected offer.
To keep negotiations from falling apart, it’s important to understand all the factors that can become roadblocks to a successful deal.
Salary
The offer should be attractive given the candidate’s salary history. Still, he or she asks for more. Why? It’s possible that the candidate’s answers to questions on salary history weren’t complete, omitting an annual bonus, for example.
But salary history can be a distraction from the real issue: what the position should pay today. “What derails it is when the candidate comes in with an unrealistic expectation of what he or she is worth in the current market,” said Marcia Stein, an HR consultant and author of “Recruiters on Recruiting."
And it’s not just job seekers who can have an unrealistic idea of what a position pays. A candidate who sounds happy with a given salary range at the beginning of the process may be less satisfied with it after interviewing at several companies and learning that others pay more. “I always tell employers, ‘You can’t look at their current salary. Look at what you’re competing with,’” said Glenn Davis, president of the Next Step Group, which places sales professionals with tech companies. “You’re not talking about the person’s salary from 2003. You’re talking about the other opportunities they’re evaluating.”
Other Compensation
Not all employees look past the first number they’re given: the base salary. It’s your job to make sure candidates are considering all aspects of their compensation, including stock options, 401(k) matches and vacation time.
Compensation plans for sales professionals can also get complicated. Since they depend heavily on commissions, starting over at a new job can mean taking a hit until the commissions start coming in.
Title
Some people honestly don’t care what their job is called — but for others, it’s an important measure both of their own success and of the status they’ll have in their new organization. “The actual title, for a percentage of people, is very important,” Davis said. He has seen candidates turn down higher-paying jobs for ones that pay less but have a better title.
Relocation
If taking a job involves making a big move, it’s possible that either the candidate or the candidate’s family will balk. Some people have spouses established in jobs or children just a few years from finishing high school, and are reluctant to uproot their familys. Today’s housing market can also make it difficult to sell a home.
In these cases, candidates may ask — once they know you want them for the position — if they can remain at their current residence and telecommute most of the time. For some positions, this may work. “But others demand on-site engagement,” Stein said.
Hours
If the company routinely expects workers to be available late and on weekends, or if everyone will need to work extra hours for several months because of a big deadline, it’s important to be candid with candidates about this from the beginning. “I have seen several deals fall apart because of that,” said Marianne Adoradio, a Silicon Valley recruiter and career counselor.
Counteroffers
Once a candidate has accepted an offer, there’s often one more step: a counteroffer from his or her employer.“They’ve taken the employee for granted. The employee says, ‘I’ve found another job,’ and suddenly the employer realizes how valuable they were,” Stein said. The recognition can be flattering for the employee, who may be tempted to stay.
HR managers can help blunt the effect of these offers with a little advance work. “Prepare them for what they may hear from their soon-to-be ex-employer,” Stein said.
Unique Situations
Sometimes either the company or the candidate has a specific need that doesn’t come up until the end of the negotiation. Perhaps the candidate doesn’t want to start the new job for a month — but the company wants the new hire to attend an annual national sales meeting before then.
Communicate
Don’t assume that your initial conversation with a candidate — about salary expectations, relocation or when he or she could start work — is the final word. “Ask, re-ask and re-ask,” Davis said. “Continue to get on the same page.”
Set Expectations
If you give a candidate a salary range, he or she will likely be disappointed with an offer that’s not at or near the top of that range. If that’s not realistic, make sure you explain that early and often. It may be better to cut the top off the range in your initial conversations.
Present the Offer Well
Stein suggested making the offer in a way that focuses on the job and
Source:
http://www.hrworld.com/features/negotiate-effectively-candidates-090808/
But this process doesn’t always go so smoothly. Negotiating with a job candidate can be tricky. And it if it’s not handled well, it can lead to a disgruntled employee rather than an enthusiastic one — or even to a rejected offer.
To keep negotiations from falling apart, it’s important to understand all the factors that can become roadblocks to a successful deal.
Salary
The offer should be attractive given the candidate’s salary history. Still, he or she asks for more. Why? It’s possible that the candidate’s answers to questions on salary history weren’t complete, omitting an annual bonus, for example.
But salary history can be a distraction from the real issue: what the position should pay today. “What derails it is when the candidate comes in with an unrealistic expectation of what he or she is worth in the current market,” said Marcia Stein, an HR consultant and author of “Recruiters on Recruiting."
And it’s not just job seekers who can have an unrealistic idea of what a position pays. A candidate who sounds happy with a given salary range at the beginning of the process may be less satisfied with it after interviewing at several companies and learning that others pay more. “I always tell employers, ‘You can’t look at their current salary. Look at what you’re competing with,’” said Glenn Davis, president of the Next Step Group, which places sales professionals with tech companies. “You’re not talking about the person’s salary from 2003. You’re talking about the other opportunities they’re evaluating.”
Other Compensation
Not all employees look past the first number they’re given: the base salary. It’s your job to make sure candidates are considering all aspects of their compensation, including stock options, 401(k) matches and vacation time.
Compensation plans for sales professionals can also get complicated. Since they depend heavily on commissions, starting over at a new job can mean taking a hit until the commissions start coming in.
Title
Some people honestly don’t care what their job is called — but for others, it’s an important measure both of their own success and of the status they’ll have in their new organization. “The actual title, for a percentage of people, is very important,” Davis said. He has seen candidates turn down higher-paying jobs for ones that pay less but have a better title.
Relocation
If taking a job involves making a big move, it’s possible that either the candidate or the candidate’s family will balk. Some people have spouses established in jobs or children just a few years from finishing high school, and are reluctant to uproot their familys. Today’s housing market can also make it difficult to sell a home.
In these cases, candidates may ask — once they know you want them for the position — if they can remain at their current residence and telecommute most of the time. For some positions, this may work. “But others demand on-site engagement,” Stein said.
Hours
If the company routinely expects workers to be available late and on weekends, or if everyone will need to work extra hours for several months because of a big deadline, it’s important to be candid with candidates about this from the beginning. “I have seen several deals fall apart because of that,” said Marianne Adoradio, a Silicon Valley recruiter and career counselor.
Counteroffers
Once a candidate has accepted an offer, there’s often one more step: a counteroffer from his or her employer.“They’ve taken the employee for granted. The employee says, ‘I’ve found another job,’ and suddenly the employer realizes how valuable they were,” Stein said. The recognition can be flattering for the employee, who may be tempted to stay.
HR managers can help blunt the effect of these offers with a little advance work. “Prepare them for what they may hear from their soon-to-be ex-employer,” Stein said.
Unique Situations
Sometimes either the company or the candidate has a specific need that doesn’t come up until the end of the negotiation. Perhaps the candidate doesn’t want to start the new job for a month — but the company wants the new hire to attend an annual national sales meeting before then.
Communicate
Don’t assume that your initial conversation with a candidate — about salary expectations, relocation or when he or she could start work — is the final word. “Ask, re-ask and re-ask,” Davis said. “Continue to get on the same page.”
Set Expectations
If you give a candidate a salary range, he or she will likely be disappointed with an offer that’s not at or near the top of that range. If that’s not realistic, make sure you explain that early and often. It may be better to cut the top off the range in your initial conversations.
Present the Offer Well
Stein suggested making the offer in a way that focuses on the job and
Source:
http://www.hrworld.com/features/negotiate-effectively-candidates-090808/
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Raghunanda 16-12-2008
Very Nice article. Given the market conditions today, it`s all the important to negotiate hard to reduce the overall recruitment cost.
