#TalentAttraction #Tuesday – COUNTERING THE COUNTEROFFER SUCCESSFULLY

Do not kid yourself. When you recruit a candidate from a company today, they will find the wherewithal to present a Counteroffer to their employee.

The Science of Psychology is at play here in so many ways:

1. Humans do not like change. We all seek comfort in what we are used to experiencing, including remaining where we are not happy.
2. The Manager who currently manages the employee is afraid that losing a good employee will cost them respect within their company. Additionally, now they will suddenly have to open a new position and spend time recruiting and interviewing a replacement. This is not considering the loss of company knowledge.
3. The company suddenly does not want the employee to take their knowledge to a competitor, despite allowing the Employee’s Manager to minimally disrespect the employee or worse, treat them poorly.

When a valued employee resigns in many companies, they suddenly are awakened to the person’s value. Now they put on a full court press to retain them! An employee who was recently ignored for bonuses or promotions suddenly seems to be the most important person in the company.

Preparation Is The Key To Countering The Counteroffer

As a Recruiter or Talent Acquisition Specialist, it is important to understand that once a Hiring Manager settles on a candidate they want to hire, your sole responsibility is to land that candidate for your Hiring Manager.  Build your quiver of arrows to counter the inevitable Counteroffer from your candidate’s current company.

For instance, when should you prepare the candidate that they will probably receive a Counteroffer? Prior to the offer when the Hiring Manager indicates an interest. Simply ask them how they intend to handle a Counteroffer? Their response could be something that you do not want to hear – “I will probably accept it.” If that is the response, you should say, “Thank you for your honesty. I will inform the Manager that we need to continue to search for the right candidate.” Often, by taking the offer away from the candidate, you will draw them to you.

When the candidate tells me their company does not believe in Counteroffers, I respond with, “You are a terrific asset! They will definitely extend a Counteroffer to you.” If they do not extend the counteroffer, the person is disappointed – and happier to leave. If they do receive the counteroffer, you have prepared them.

This Is Your Counteroffer Ammunition

Statistics demonstrate that 67% of all employees who accept counteroffers leave within the first 6 months after accepting the counteroffer, most times it was not their choice.  Their loyalty is now called into question. They may no longer be invited to strategic conversations. Their employer positions someone to take their place, and the brain drain begins. Within a year, 87% of the employees who accept Counteroffers are no longer employed at the company.

Often, counteroffers make the compensation issue disappear. That is fine. However, compensation generally is only the tip of the unhappiness iceberg. The employee may despise how the Manager treats them, how the company treats their employees, or even despise the passive aggressive nature of some of their co-workers.

Let us examine the nature of annual raises. Has your annual raise met the additional costs incurred by cost of living increases? Are you receiving an annual raise of more than 6%? Probably not. Neither are your candidates.

When you extend an offer that is 8% higher than the candidate’s current salary, many times it is the equivalent of 3 to 4 years of raises.

If the current employer counters with that offer, you may ask the candidate, “Does it not upset you that instead of giving you that raise last year when you could have used the money all year, they waited until you received an offer from a competing firm?”

What Are The 8 Different Statements You May Count On Your Candidates To Receive?

I coach my candidates to expect to hear more than one of these statements when they resign. Then I gamify it. “After you resign, Tell me how many of these statements you hear.”

One candidate called me 2 days later to tell me they heard 7 of the 8 statements. He thanked me for coaching him – and he started at my client 2 weeks later.

You may find these 8 statements and more counteroffer information here – recruiterguy.com/searching-for-a-job/#counter-offer

Using these techniques to counter the Counteroffer, I land my candidate for my client 97% of the time. You may do so also if you follow these guidelines and understand the Psychology behind the departure of a employee from a company.

Talent Attraction is Better than Talent Acquisition!

If you would like a conversation on how to ATTRACT talent instead of using an Applicant Tracking System or HRIS to screen them out, we should chat. Call me directly at 435-714-4425 (mountain).

I am available to consult with your company to improve your Top Talent Attraction strategy. Attracting and integrating Top Talent gives your company an industry edge. The process is worth the effort by improving productivity, innovation, and profitability – Look at Google, Tesla, SpaceX, and Apple. Retaining Top Talent keeps your industry knowledge inside your company – instead of with the competition.

The RecruiterGuy.com Top Talent Attraction business model is my differentiator.  I focus on one client at a time and charge a flat monthly fee.  This model enables me to attract new talent to your organization while identifying and suggesting improvements to your company’s Talent Attraction process, including Manager Interview Training.  https://recruiterguy.com/

Learn how I coach my Career Transition Clients in my most recent book – Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order  http://amzn.to/2D9w39f  My book includes an appendix with action verbs and sample interview questions.

I help organizations Recruit, Onboard, Actuate, and Retain Top Talent.

See you on Tuesdays! Feel free to click on Follow Us to receive my #TalentAttraction Thought Leadership every week or to Share my Just Saying Thought Leadership with your Network through Twitter and Facebook.

Bill Humbert is available for Speaking, Talent Attraction Consulting, and Training contracts.

Bill@RecruiterGuy.com  435-714-4425

https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/23767/Bill-Humbert

©1999-2021 B. Humbert – Provocative Thinking Consulting, Inc. –

USA 01-435-714-4425 Bill@RecruiterGuy.com

Content is licensed CC-BY-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives 4.0) The right to reprint is hereby granted if the copyright notice and contact information remain with the article.