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Hi Radhika,
Very nicely said. I really liked your approach towards this problem.
Apart from these factors, we also have to keep the legal aspects in mind. When we make an offer of intent to a candidate, he resigns from his job and gets ready to join us. Making multiple offers just like a candidate does with multiple offers is just not possible for any organization. Legally speaking, the organization would HAVE to take him on rolls irrespective of whether the other candidate joined or not. Consider this example, where there is an offered candidates and there is a back up candidate. If the organization makes an offer to both of them, and the first choice candidate joins, the organization would be forced to absorb the back up candidate too. Certainly not a good problem to have, as far as organization dynamics, resource utilization and financial aspects of the project(s) are concerned.
Organizations deal with this scenario in various ways. A good way is to study the hiring metrics and the hiring funnel very carefully and have adequate number of candidates at various stages, so that in the eventuality of an offer decline or a no-show, the recruitment team does not have to go back to the drawing rooms. This stage is called RTMO-Ready To Make Offer stage, where all levels of interviews are done with and candidates are kept ready at the Offer stage. As and when there is a decline, the back up candidate is given a formal offer stage called RTMO stage. This reduces the gestation time for on-boarding compared to the regular hiring time needed to get a resource on-board.
Having said that, it is not possible for organizations to do much in these scenario except to take steps like the above to minimize the impact of a no-show or an offer decline. This is because, irrespective of how robust an organization we are or how strongly process-oriented we are, there is a human element in the process which is beyond the scope of all these external factors.
Waiting to hear other members pen their thoughts.
Regards, Harish
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Making multiple offers
Type: HR, Report if not a HR topic
Posted 07-11-2009Reply
A candidate usually keeps one Offer Letters in his hand and then goes out in search of other better options just in case something works out. If it does, he does not bother to inform the previous hiring company and on his day of joining he makes some or the other excuse for not being able to join. It leads to a complete wastage of time and efforts that are put into closing the position by HR.
So if the candidates can play with this thing why can't HR give the Offer Letter to more than one person for a position just to be safe ?
A company is also a reflection of a Brand, Values, Objectives.. If it hands out several offer letters its reputation will be much more at stake and it may also have to pay a heavy price in the future. In the HR field intangibles must be equally understood as the tangibles.
On the other hand, when an employee meets out the treatment the concerned HR and team will know about his misdeed but other companies will continue hiring him and it will not malign his career a great deal!
Thus, an organised Database Management System, Strong network, Established referral systems may help in hiring quickly and effectively. Also, when hiring it is always better to have a 2nd level backup (this is more practical in smaller organisations where selection is not very ruthless and compromises are made)
On the other hand, when an employee meets out the treatment the concerned HR and team will know about his misdeed but other companies will continue hiring him and it will not malign his career a great deal!
Thus, an organised Database Management System, Strong network, Established referral systems may help in hiring quickly and effectively. Also, when hiring it is always better to have a 2nd level backup (this is more practical in smaller organisations where selection is not very ruthless and compromises are made)
A company is also a reflection of a Brand, Values, Objectives.. If it hands out several offer letter... See Radhika's complete reply
Hi Radhika,
Very nicely said. I really liked your approach towards this problem.
Apart from these factors, we also have to keep the legal aspects in mind. When we make an offer of intent to a candidate, he resigns from his job and gets ready to join us. Making multiple offers just like a candidate does with multiple offers is just not possible for any organization. Legally speaking, the organization would HAVE to take him on rolls irrespective of whether the other candidate joined or not. Consider this example, where there is an offered candidates and there is a back up candidate. If the organization makes an offer to both of them, and the first choice candidate joins, the organization would be forced to absorb the back up candidate too. Certainly not a good problem to have, as far as organization dynamics, resource utilization and financial aspects of the project(s) are concerned.
Organizations deal with this scenario in various ways. A good way is to study the hiring metrics and the hiring funnel very carefully and have adequate number of candidates at various stages, so that in the eventuality of an offer decline or a no-show, the recruitment team does not have to go back to the drawing rooms. This stage is called RTMO-Ready To Make Offer stage, where all levels of interviews are done with and candidates are kept ready at the Offer stage. As and when there is a decline, the back up candidate is given a formal offer stage called RTMO stage. This reduces the gestation time for on-boarding compared to the regular hiring time needed to get a resource on-board.
Having said that, it is not possible for organizations to do much in these scenario except to take steps like the above to minimize the impact of a no-show or an offer decline. This is because, irrespective of how robust an organization we are or how strongly process-oriented we are, there is a human element in the process which is beyond the scope of all these external factors.
Waiting to hear other members pen their thoughts.
Regards, Harish
Interesting query, Anika.
Thanks a lot to Harish, who has done an excellent synthesis on this. Almost all relevent points have been covered by Harish.
One way to reduce the number of no shows on the joining date is to keep a very very strong follow up with the candidate, whether he has resigned or not, if yes, request for a copy of his resignation copy duly received by his seniors, request for names & contact numbers of his seniors & that of hr team. If you as an organisation cannot do it, request your consultant to do it for you.
If he is a clean guy, he will not have any issues in sharing these details with you. However, if he is playing smart, he will keep on stalling or postponing it, or he will keep giving excuses. Give him some time to give you these details, but after a reasonable amout of time, if he has still not shared the details with you, your alarm bell should start ringing, he could be a potential no show candidate. You should try and get some inside information on this candidate from the organisation where he is currently working. It will give you a clear indication of where your candidate is heading to, so that you can be prepared for "alternates".
These are just a few ways to build up pressure on the candidate to come clean, in case he is not interested.
I incidently know of a case in which all these precautions were taken, and on friday, (Candidate was supposed to join on monday), news came that the guy has resigned & has been relieved. But on Monday ... No Show !!!
The candidate had outsmarted everybody by sending all the confirmations & telling everybody that he is joining on Monday, and then Joined a Third Organisation !!!
Now what can we do in such a situation :)
Thanks a lot to Harish, who has done an excellent synthesis on this. Almost all relevent points have been covered by Harish.
One way to reduce the number of no shows on the joining date is to keep a very very strong follow up with the candidate, whether he has resigned or not, if yes, request for a copy of his resignation copy duly received by his seniors, request for names & contact numbers of his seniors & that of hr team. If you as an organisation cannot do it, request your consultant to do it for you.
If he is a clean guy, he will not have any issues in sharing these details with you. However, if he is playing smart, he will keep on stalling or postponing it, or he will keep giving excuses. Give him some time to give you these details, but after a reasonable amout of time, if he has still not shared the details with you, your alarm bell should start ringing, he could be a potential no show candidate. You should try and get some inside information on this candidate from the organisation where he is currently working. It will give you a clear indication of where your candidate is heading to, so that you can be prepared for "alternates".
These are just a few ways to build up pressure on the candidate to come clean, in case he is not interested.
I incidently know of a case in which all these precautions were taken, and on friday, (Candidate was supposed to join on monday), news came that the guy has resigned & has been relieved. But on Monday ... No Show !!!
The candidate had outsmarted everybody by sending all the confirmations & telling everybody that he is joining on Monday, and then Joined a Third Organisation !!!
Now what can we do in such a situation :)
May be we can explore the idea of giving Offer letter by giving bare minimum details, especially not mentioning the salary details so that we are negating the chances of prospect using the offer letter to his/her advantage. I think across the board all the HR heads should not encourage this practice of recruiting people who show offer letters and grab offers at an attractive price. This attitude of using the offer letters as ransom should not be encouraged at all. Ethics are important and also may be we can explore retaining certificates or issuing bank guarantee for amt. deposited with the organisation before accepting offer letter. Why this business of accepting offer letters and bargaining for more attractive offers elsewhere does not happen in Govt. Sectors and only happens in pvt. sector is a moot point. Are we all missing the trick in the rigmarole of our functions?
Hanu
Hanu
Thank you all for your valuable inputs.
In the light of recent events we have adopted a new method where we make an offer to one candidate and another one is kept on reserve. The first one is given a Letter of Intent which does not state his salary (so that he can't use it elsewhere to negotiate for a higher price) but there is a clause in it that the candidate would have to submit his letter of acceptance of resignation or relieving letter by the date mentioned (usually three days from the issuance of the letter) failing which would lead to the cancellation of the offer. The offer is then made to the second candidate.
This may not be a fool proof method yet it might go a long way in avoiding wastage of time while searching for a fresh candidate in case of a "no - show". Moreover, the inputs provided by all go on to show that this method would prove effective.
In the light of recent events we have adopted a new method where we make an offer to one candidate and another one is kept on reserve. The first one is given a Letter of Intent which does not state his salary (so that he can't use it elsewhere to negotiate for a higher price) but there is a clause in it that the candidate would have to submit his letter of acceptance of resignation or relieving letter by the date mentioned (usually three days from the issuance of the letter) failing which would lead to the cancellation of the offer. The offer is then made to the second candidate.
This may not be a fool proof method yet it might go a long way in avoiding wastage of time while searching for a fresh candidate in case of a "no - show". Moreover, the inputs provided by all go on to show that this method would prove effective.
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