Recruiting Animal

Compensation Conversations

From: Caitlin Wilterdink (edited)

If your candidate is also interviewing at other companies she sees different compensation plans and that might make her demands go higher.

So have the comp conversation more than once.

I ask these questions before, during or after an onsite interview

1. Do you have other offers? If yes, what companies and how much?

2. How do you feel about our company. What do you like about the opportunity?

3. Have your compensation expectations changed since we first started speaking? If yes, what's changed?

You have to know this. You want your candidate to be excited about your offer.

If you come in too low it’s a huge let down. The candidate now has doubts about your ability to please her.

 

Don't Be Superficial

Your opposite number in a negotiation might have to put on a show to look tough for his backers. It doesn't mean the deal is over. This is what he has to do to keep it on track.

Below: from: Slate (edited)

It took Morsi two days to call on Egyptians to respect the inviolability of foreign embassies.

The Muslim Brotherhood issued a mealy-mouthed statement that condemned violence, but also justified the violence as a response to the insult of the prophet, which one of the group’s administrators labeled a “red line.”

But it would be wrong to think that Morsi or the Brotherhood want these protests.

Morsi is trying to cement a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to stave off economic collapse.

The Brotherhood is trying to drum up investment in Egypt (lest it be held accountable at the polls for a collapse).

Attacks on the U.S. embassy do not help their cause.

These protests, like all protests, are organized by political actors with agendas.

First, and most obviously, are other Islamists.

Staging protests against the United States is a way of showing up the Brotherhood, of saying that the group is too weak or corrupted by power to do anything to protect Islam’s honor.

If Morsi condemns the protests, he can be portrayed as a hypocrite who talks tough about the West but in reality is willing to make himself its lackey in order to hang onto power.

 

Craig Silverman on Interviewing: Part 2

Animal: Craig, this past summer I had to look for an Executive Assistant for the Executive Vice President of a large, global firm. They wanted someone who was very sharp and would stand out.

Now, I don't usually work in that field and I had a hard time finding anybody like that. Most of the people I called didn't even have a university education.

Now, your wife was the Executive Assistant to Steve Jobs. And you've hired executive assistants, yourself. How do you find good people like that?

Craig: Well, you need someone who isn't just waiting for you to land things on your desk. They know how to be proactive. So, I look for signals of that in other things they've done in their career or in other areas of their life.

Animal: You've got to give me an example.

Bare Knuckle Negotiation

For cars.

Men Are Not As Blunt As Women

Do you ever read advice for women? Usually, the author is mad at men because they were raised right while their sisters were treated unfairly.

For instance, men were, allegedly, taught to be blunt, direct and outspoken whereas little girls were taught to fade into the woodwork.

Well, it never seemed that way to me. And now I see that the Brazen Careerist agrees. According to Penelope, men are not blunt, they are wily and full of guile.

Women assume you should ask for what you want... Women are typically more comfortable with conflict than men....

Men don’t generally ask for what they want....Men negotiate more than women because women are facing conflict head-on and men are not.

It’s much easier to approach someone you are not going to instigate conflict with. So negotiations work best when you don’t assume you need to ask for exactly what you want.

Whether we're blunt or indirect, it seems we're always the bad guys in the end.