The Recruiting Animal

Irresistable Offers

A blogger wants her readers to subscribe, bookmark the site, make comments, respond to surveys and use the info supplied.

But how do you get people to act? You make them an offer. An offer is a conditional promise. "If you do this, you'll get this." How do you make an offer they can't refuse? Offer something they want.

Domino’s pizza was not, apparently, the greatest but who could refuse delivery in 30 minutes or free? The guarantee had explosive power.

Online, offers must be fast to read and so clear that they can be understood in no time at all. The first thing to remember though is that if you don't make offers people don't act.

Source: Copyblogger

Counter-Offer Boot Camp

A recap of this week's Recruiting Animal Show

I really enjoyed the session I had yesterday with that sweet Georgia Peach, Raygun Ragan Jones and The Boston Bean Man, Howard Howard Adamsky on The Recruiting Animal Show.

Raygun and Howie presented the
traditional recruiter's point of view.

- Accepting a counter-offer is career suicide
- You'll be out on your ass in the blink of an eye
- And don't come crawling back to me then because if you go back on your commitment now, it is over, over, over ya hear me!

Telling Tales

Both guests had interesting tales to tell. Howie verbally wrestled one candidate in a pizza parlour in downtown Boston from midnight to 2am. He finally got him to cry uncle with the famous California Close which neither Raygun nor I had ever heard before.

Raygan told us about a woman whom she warned about counter-offers in the strongest manner possible. But her mother wouldn't listen and followed the route outlined above.

My Country Tis of Thee

I, for my part, argued that offering and accepting counter-offers is simply The American Way. The boss doesn't offer you more money than he has to because his job is to keep costs down.

And, in the free market, the prize goes to the highest bidder. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Breaking up is hard to do

One of the most interesting parts of the show was the discussion of the trauma of resignation. Accepting a counter-offer is not just a matter of cold, calculating candidates "whoring" around for the biggest bucks.

No, no, it can easily involve a much more noble desire not to cause pain when your current buddies look sad because you are letting them down.

And these two hard-nosed recruiters solve that problem by preparing their candidates to be hard, cold and self-centred. Raygun calls it counter-offer boot camp.

That's what I've called it, too. And you can listen to it here.

Don't Look Back

Counter-Offers are like cheatin' wives.

Take a letter Maria. Address it to my wife. Say I won't be coming home. Going to start a new life.

Ozzie the Turkish Headhunter compares a counter-offer from your current employer to a cheating wife's promise that she'll never treat you badly again. Her advice?

If you just put your hand in mine, You're gonna leave all your troubles behind. You're gonna walk and don't look back.

But, really, isn't the candidate who accepts a counter-offer more like the cheater who promises never to stray?

That's what recruiters say when they advise candidates not to accept a counter-offer. "Your employer will want to keep you aboard in the short term," they argue, "But she will never trust you again. So, once you've 'sinned', you might as well go all the way." Don't look back.

Jason Davis on Offers

Jay-Dee Jason Davis believes that no formal job offer should ever be turned down.

Recruiters should tell a candidate that a written offer will only be made after she has decided that she wants the job at the salary the employer is willing to pay.

That way, by the time the offer is made, there is nothing to think about.

But what about the verbal offer? How long should the candidate have to decide on that?

Canadian Headhunter

How To Make An Offer

Give the candidate time to think.

Siam's buddy turned down a job offer then changed his mind.

The employer was still interested but didn't trust him. So, they brought in the CFO to size him up.

Buddy fed the wise man a good line and was hired on the spot. What was it?

Don't Bleepin Rush Me

The first offer was made on a Friday and the candidate was told that he had to answer by Monday at 10 AM.

Candidate: Sir, I didn't have enough time to think. I'm not someone who rushes to judgment when it comes to my career so I couldn't accept then offer while faced with that deadline.

CFO: Is this how you make all of your business decisions? We need someone who can act quickly.

Candidate: No, sir. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't make quick decisions. But this is a decision I've only had to make four times in my career. And I it's not one I take lightly.

That's right. It was the old I-didn't-have-enough-time trick. And the old I-wouldn't-be-here-if-I-wasn't ploy. And, would you believe, it worked.

Is This Case Unique?

Compare this to Hiring Revolution's strong warning to severley limit the amount of time a candidate has to decide.

It's a basic principle of the sales hustle to convince a prospect that all the angles have already been covered and that, now, he has nothing more to think about.

But, is that reasonable from the candidate's point of view? Does the candidate, generally, have enough time to make up his mind by the time an offer comes?

See also: Joe Shmoe is s!#^ out a luck

Important Update: Siam adds missing info. This candidate actually turned down the job after giving it serious thought.

He thought that his boss was going to be promoted and wanted to go with him. When the promotion fell through, he decided to revisit the previously rejected offer.

So, it looks like the story he fed the firm was a scam.

Talkdigger, Slashdot, Digg, Delicious.

Canadian Headhunter