Do this, or your placement dies

“Hey, how are you, young Brett,” I said to a recruiter that I know well recently.

“Placed anyone in a job lately” was my next question, which is standard fare.

Smiling, he affirmed that he had done precisely that, and it was a meaty salary.

“Well done”, I beamed, “when does she resign”?

Without missing a beat, with no qualms, he blithely replied, “Oh, sometime this week. I am not sure”.

W, T actual F?

…was my calm response.

You are talking about ‘a placement’, and your candidate hasn’t even resigned yet, and you don’t know when that is happening?

But Brett was on a roll!

“Chill, Greg, this one is in the bag. She really wants my job.”

Oh Lord, save me!

Talk about famous last words and the innocence of youth.

So, we had a little counselling. Right there.

Brett has a better plan now

Do you?

I have spoken about the Valley of Death and provided you with a 19-step process and an explanatory video to ensure we all manage that most dangerous of times.

The time between the offer being accepted and the candidate starting with your client.

But let’s delve deeper into the crucial skills of managing the resignation because that is your job and a critical recruiter competency.

Now, with candidates being bombarded with offers and more choices than they have ever had before, it is pivotal!

When you have offered someone a job, and they have accepted it, take the view that the hard work is only beginning. And don’t you dare be tempted to pump out a little joyful placement dance, because the ‘God of Recruitment’ loves to stomp on such presumption.

Here are the bare minimum steps to manage the resignation. Own them.

Confirm the start date.

Obvious right? But did you before the offer? Have you nailed it now that the rubber is hitting the road and your candidate is about to hand her notice in? And her boss will not only try to convince her to stay, but failing that, guilt her to giving a more extended notice period because, you know, she is ‘leaving them in the lurch’. Find out what notice she is obliged to provide, and make sure her available start date at the new gig gels with your clients preferred start date, and that no coercion by her current boss will sway that. Placements go belly up every day because of this. Nail the start date!

Confirm ‘personal allies’.

What now? Your candidate is red hot and ready to move, right? But has she spoken to loved ones? To trusted mentors? A partner? Parents even? You must tread carefully here. Make no assumptions, and don’t infringe where you shouldn’t. But something along the lines of, “Have you spoken to important people in your life about this move and do they support it?”. You don’t want to hear this; “I’m a bit nervous about telling my family about my new job tonight. Not sure they think I should move at this time”. Oh, dear.

Agree on the resignation meeting.

Don’t be like my friend Brett the recruiter who is leaving the resignation meeting up to fate! Agree with the candidate when the meeting is going to be. If necessary, encourage her to set up an appointment with her boss and make sure all the appropriate people who should be there, are there. Short version. You need to know the exact day and time your candidate is resigning.

Provide resignation letter.

Your candidate needs to go into that resignation meeting with a carefully prepared professional resignation letter. I used to have several different examples of these letters to provide candidates. Help her design it and make sure it categorically states she’s resigning, and the date she intends to leave.

Coach on resignation meeting.

Some candidates can’t wait to resign because they don’t like their boss or current job and want to leave immediately. Others have a lot of loyalty and are very tentative, nervous even, about resigning. So, you’ve got to coach them through these feelings, explain that it’s normal, and reiterate that loyalty is an admirable trait. Still, at the very end, she needs to be loyal to her career, and as long as she exits appropriately and with dignity, she is betraying no one.

Address possible employer reactions.

Ask your candidate what reaction she is likely to get when she hands in her notice. Will her employer try to guilt-trip her? Will they bring in the heavyweights from head office to try and persuade her? The critical thing is that you try to ensure that your candidate is not ambushed in the resignation meeting. It’s almost certain that her boss has had more resignations than she has had opportunities to resign, so her employer will already have a game plan ready. Prepare her for the likely responses, and help her work through how she will deal with those.

Reiterate why the new job meets MTA

This is critical. Your candidate is leaving this job and taking your new role for specific reasons, which, if you are a good recruiter, you would have identified at the beginning of the process. Just before she goes into the resignation meeting, work with her and get her to reiterate why the new role fulfils all her Motivation To Accept criteria. Don’t lecture. Work with her to get her to repeat why she’s leaving this job. It’s far more potent if she tells you why she should resign rather than you tell her.

Address the counteroffer again

Yes, go through the counteroffer again. Prepare her for its likely occurrence. Get her to remind you why a counteroffer and more money will not solve her problems. I’ve written a detailed strategy on counteroffers here

Celebrate the decision

This is a big deal for your candidate. Make sure you celebrate and reiterate that her decision to move is right. Of course, I’m assuming you are an ethical and professional recruiter, and it is indeed the proper role for her. But that being the case, just make sure that she realises how well she’s done to get this offer, what a great move this is, and how she should not allow any last middle hurdles to derail the move.

Set post-resignation call back time

This is big. So, you agreed the candidate has set up a meeting at 11 am on Thursday to resign to her boss. Ask her to call you directly after the meeting. Reiterate this and get her absolute agreement. If she doesn’t contact you by 1230, start to worry.

Follow the rest of the VOD advice

Many recruiters follow through on only a fraction of these steps. Please make sure all your placements follow this plan. But even then, you’re nowhere near finished. Please refer to my Valley of Death template for the 19 steps to ensure that your hard-won placement follows through and allows you a chance to shake out those placement dance moves – with confidence.

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