Offering a Job Offer: A Crucial Step in Your Recruitment Process

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<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
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<li>Decide your salary offer and plan how you’ll manage expectations if your offer is low.</li>
<li>Make offers yourself directly over the phone, not through recruitment agencies.</li>
<li>If a candidate accepts, inform them of the process for making final references and checks, and pre-empt possible counteroffers.</li>
<li>Respond carefully to negotiations and counteroffers.</li>
<li>Make written offers immediately and then carry out final references and background checks.</li>
<li>If a candidate declines, explore the reasons and consider whether you need to amend your offer.</li>
<li>If a candidate is hesitant, try to reassure them.</li>
<li>Have reserve candidates in case things don’t go to plan.</li>
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Never assume that a candidate will accept your job offer. Great Performers often have competing offers from multiple firms and their current employers might make a counteroffer to persuade them to stay. They also might have other reasons unknown to you for not taking the job. Don’t take your eye off the ball at this stage!

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Deciding the Salary

Armed with all the information gleaned from their CV, Telephone Interview, Structured Interview and Reference Calls, you have to decide what exact salary to offer:

• You need to consider the candidate’s strengths alongside any weaknesses such as limited experience or skills gaps that might have to be addressed through training. 
• If you want to offer a salary at the lower end of the advertised range or even below it, you’ll need to justify this. You might say that you expected more experienced applicants and so can only offer a lower salary to be reviewed once the candidate is in post.
• You also need to decide whether to have a probation period. In the UK it’s common to place a new employee on a six month probation period to manage risk.

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Making Your Job Offer

• Don’t let recruitment agencies make the job offer – you should do it directly. They may try to manipulate the offer process to their advantage:
  • They may delay communicating your offer to the candidate in the hope of receiving offers from clients who they’ll earn more commission from.
  • They may pressure candidates into accepting jobs.
  • They may think that you’ll tell them a lower salary than you actually offer the candidate so that you don’t have to pay as much in commission. (Don’t do this and send them a copy of the offer letter to show good faith.)
• Phone the candidate to make your offer, as opposed to simply emailing them. Consider role-playing the telephone call with colleagues because making a job offer is such a critical stage in the recruitment process.
• Be warm and enthusiastic.
• Tell them the salary and any other important terms. 
• You can answer questions immediately, and by talking to them you’ll be able to gauge if they’re going to accept.
• Say, “Well, we’ve had some great meetings. The good news is we felt that you would be the most successful at the company because {reasons}.  And for those reasons, I am delighted to make you an offer, on a starting salary of {£60,000} and based on {terms (eg. probation period, satisfactory references)}. How does that sound to you?” 
• It’s not necessarily what the candidate says next that matters, but how they say it. I want them to sound excited, as if they’ve just won the lottery!

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What to Do When a Candidate Accepts

• Congratulations! Make a written offer straight away and expect prompt written confirmation from the candidate.
• Tell them they need to arrange a Reference Call with their current employer before final confirmation of the offer; you’ll have already talked to their previous employers. (For more on taking references see our guide, Use Reference Calls: Find Out What Candidates Don't Want You to Know!)

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How to Respond to Negotiations

Strong candidates often try to negotiate – sometimes a bit clumsily!

• Recruitment agencies might have talked up their salary, or they might have seen jobs advertised with higher salaries and perhaps not realised the reasons, such as those being in a more expensive location. 
• Don’t dismiss what they ask for and at the very least stress that their pay will be reviewed after they’ve come through probation.

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Prepare for Counteroffers

• It’s very common for Great Performers to get counteroffers from their current employer. 
• Ask them how they think their employer might respond to them wanting to leave, and whether they’d be likely to accept any counteroffer.
• Point out that counteroffers tend to be sticking plaster solutions to deeper problems and that employees often end up leaving a few months later anyway. Ask them if they think their employer might only be making a counteroffer to keep them on a bit longer while they find someone else.
• If you think you need to, up your salary offer, but ask the candidate to confirm that if you offered them a higher amount they would give a clear “No” to their current employer. 
• Don’t get into a bidding war if they’re not going to accept. Simply ask them to get in touch in a few months if their situation hasn’t improved.

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Manage Competing Offers Correctly

It’s likely a candidate has been actively interviewing and considering multiple job opportunities, so could get a competing offer from another employer. 

• If the candidate turns down your offer because of a competing offer, don’t immediately offer them more money.
• Ask, “What do you see in this other job vs. our job?”
• Go back over their motivations and how well your job matches, reminding them of their previous excitement and your excitement about them joining.
• If appropriate, consider making a counteroffer.

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Make a Written Offer Straightaway

Verbal offers are sometimes withdrawn so my key strategy is to nail things down immediately with a written offer via email even before the formal contract is drawn up. In your offer include basic information about the role:

• Job title.
• Salary.
• Official start date.
• Location of the role.
• Probation period.
• Conditions on which the offer is made, which could include:
• Receiving satisfactory references.
• Confirming educational and professional qualifications.
• Proving eligibility to work in the UK.
• Completion of a probationary period. 
• Background checks, passing a criminal records check.
• Any actions required by the candidate, with a deadline.
• Instructions on how to accept the offer (they should have to write back confirming acceptance).
• Employment contracts.

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Complete the Final Reference Call & Background Checks

• Make the final reference call to the candidate’s current employer as soon as possible. 
• Carry out any background checks that you need to do. 
• Inform the candidate once these have been done satisfactorily. 
• If the conditions of employment aren’t met, you can withdraw your offer. But be careful how you do this. For example, if you took back an offer because of extended absences that were the result of a disability you could be open to a claim of disability discrimination. Get legal advice if necessary.
• If the candidate passes all the conditions on which the offer is made, congratulations! Ensure you keep on track for the candidate actually starting by reading our guide Don’t Lose Your New Hire: Ensure They Are Ready & Excited to Start and chapter 17.

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What to Do if a Candidate is Unsure or Declines

• If you offer the candidate the job and they turn you down, politely ask their reasons. If they’ve decided to stay in their job, has something changed? If they’re going to a competitor, does the job match up with what they said at interview about their aims and aspirations? 
• If money is the problem, then ask them what they were hoping for. Tell them that you’ll need to talk to your colleagues. Don’t increase your offer there and then. 
• If you don’t manage to persuade them, then say you’d love to talk again in the future. If you’re still recruiting in a month or so, contact them and see what their situation is.
• Be patient and understanding if a candidate is unsure – but also set a deadline for them to decide, particularly if you have reserve candidates.
• They might be uncertain because they’re scared of leaving their current job even if they want to. Try to reassure them that this is often a hard step to make but that it will be for the best.
• They might want to know more about the job, in which case invite them to meet your team to get more information. 
• They may be suffering from imposter syndrome and worry that they’re not up to the job. Tell them that they came through a rigorous recruitment process and you have every confidence that they can deliver the goods. 
• They might have personal and family reasons for hesitating. If they open up a conversation about these, then tactfully explore these with them. You might even offer to speak to their partner if that would help.

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Have a Plan B

• Always know what your other options are so that you can respond quickly and decisively if things go wrong.
• Have reserve candidates in the wings, or revisit your applicant shortlist. Don’t tell reserve candidates that the post has been filled until everything is finalised with your preferred candidate, including references and right to work checks.

Please remember to professionally decline unsuccessful applicants. See our guide, 3 Techniques for Declining Candidates Professionally and chapter 18.

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Additional Resources

• Recruitment book: The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; Expert Tips on How to Make & Negotiate Job Offers.
• Article; Job Offer Secrets: How to Seal the Deal with Top Staff!