Can you ‘counter’ the counteroffer?

Every day recruiters contact me for advice on dealing with counteroffers.

Sometimes it’s just a sob story they must tell about ‘the big one that melted away’.

Meetings with a Recruiter or an Owner covers the same ground.

Some of the numbers bandied about in terms of upping current salaries are mindboggling.

It is an epidemic, and it’s getting worse, and it won’t go away soon.

So, I am updating my advice on countering the counteroffer, based on what I am hearing and seeing now.

It’s still true that Making assumptions is where most disappointment in recruitment is born.

But in this era of frenetic hiring, skills shortages and changing candidate behaviour, the need for recruiters to manage the ‘moments of truth’ and pre-empt adverse outcomes, is now a core consulting skill.

Attempting to diffuse a counteroffer after the offer has been made is futile. Too little, too late, too bad. You have no credibility, and you sound desperate. Not going to happen

It’s a big ego stroke for the candidate when a counteroffer comes unexpectedly. And it’s usually a juicy extra money offer with other delectable goodies thrown in like a job-title change, additional responsibility, and maybe a little ‘employer-induced guilt’ thrown in.

And the key word in the preceding paragraph is ‘unexpectedly’.

It’s your job to make sure it is expected.

Not only expected, but considered, analysed… and dismissed!

Countering a counteroffer starts at the very first interview.

It happens toward the end of that first meeting, where you have agreed with the candidate the ideal job, the ideal conditions, and the required salary.

Here is the critical skill that most recruiters lack.

You do not tell the candidate that accepting a counteroffer is a bad idea.

You don’t lecture at all.

You take the candidate, in their minds-eye, to the resignation day.

You transport them to that moment and ask the candidate what’s likely to happen.

It requires subtlety, it requires patience, and it requires the ability to shut up at critical moments.

Not our core skills set, you will agree. (So yes, it was hard for me, but I learned once I saw the benefits.)

Something like this. (Just conceptual and an illustration. Not a script. Although you could do a lot worse)

You: “Ms Candidate, I think I have a clear understanding of the sort of role you are looking for. However, when I secure you that position and you have been offered it, and accepted it, when you go to your current employer to resign, what will they say?”

Candidate: ‘They will be very disappointed.’

You: “I am sure. You have played a key role, and you have excellent skills. What might they do or say specifically?”

Candidate: “Well, they would probably offer me more money to stay.”

You: “And how do you think you would respond to that.”

Candidate: Either “no way” or “depends how much”.

If it’s ‘no way’, then dig into that and reinforce why the candidate would not stay.

If ‘depends how much’, take the candidate back to the reasons they gave you for wanting a move. (EG.no career, no learning, lousy culture, lack of flexibility. Remember my blog on MTA! Reread it now)

Will more money solve that?

Get the candidate to conclude that a counteroffer solves nothing. Take as much time as it takes. You are saving a placement gone wrong here!

But I remind you. Let them tell you! Not you lecture them.

• Explore the answer in detail.
• Look at body language.
• Dig behind the cliches.
• Test how much they would stay for
• Offer up scenarios as to what their employer might say.
• If necessary and appropriate, encourage them to go and ask for a raise! Yes. If they tell you they will stay for more money, best they go and get a raise, and remain where they are, as they always were going to. Or they get turned down and come back to you highly motivated to move!

The secret to countering the counteroffer is to take the candidate to the resignation discussion, explore the likely response, and get them to turn the counteroffer down before they have even got one!

Making an offer that will be accepted is not an event. It’s not a conversation. It’s a progression. A step-by-step process. Managed… by you!

We must understand that salary is not the only factor determining which job a candidate accepts.

Yes, of course, money is critical. But more than any time in my recruiting career, other factors now play a leading part in the decision.

So, a great recruiter will take the candidate on a journey that ends up with an acceptance.

Yes, it includes the interview process, but it also ensures the unveiling of company culture, flexibility arrangements, and the company stance on social issues.

You must know the MTA!

I have written in detail about ‘Motivation to Accept.’(MTA)

Now you must dig into ‘Determination to Reject’ (DTA)

Reject a counteroffer, that is.

Then you need to return to this conversation when you brief them on the first interview you get them out on. Then another version of the same discussion in the post-interview debrief, and again close. This is a crash course on recruitment consulting influencing skills.

Be slow to understand

But make sure you do understand. What is essential to the candidate. Question and listening. And dig deeper. Peel the onion. What is their actual hot button?

It is not enough to send the candidate details of the company culture, training programs, social issues policies and think, ‘job done’

You need to bring it to life. Talk them through it. Show examples. Get the client engaged in expanding on what you know is important to the candidate.

Shine a light on the career path.

Remember getting an acceptance is not a conversation. It is a sophisticated holistic process.

And the same applies to the potential hires’ career path in the new employer. You don’t just blithely say, “Great Opportunities exist, and a promotion to Financial Controller is possible at some point“. Map it out. Bring it to life.

Get the client to have thought it through as. Coach the client to articulate the career path potential. Work with the client to get the candidate to meet a current employee that s/he can empathise with, and who has had a strong career evolvement with your client company.

Sound like hard work?

Well, welcome to sophisticated recruiting 2022 and beyond.

Or ignore it and have half your ‘placements’ fall over because of counteroffers.

Lots more on counteroffers and world-class recruiter influencing skills on The Savage Recruitment Academy

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