I must admit – this is a NEW ONE FOR ME. Just when you think you have dealt with most scenarios relative to closing a candidate – reality sets in. This summer I was working on a retained search assignment for a top VP of Marketing role with an outstanding candidate that knocked the cover off the ball in every interview she had with my client. Great cultural fit, compensation was in line with the profile and the references were all stellar. To make sure there was support for her leading the marketing team, the CEO thought it would be a great idea to have her come back one last time and meet with her future team over lunch. Good plan. They loved her!!
In the delicate phase of pre-closing the candidate, it was my job to make sure she was interested and
on board if/when an offer was presented. Based on the feedback I had been given – the offer would be made in a matter of days. I decided to give her a quick call at home – as she was much too paranoid to have me call her at work. Cool. No problem. This was late on a Wednesday afternoon. We connected and she was game on. All business. She knew this one was in the bag. Yep, her confidence level (did I say cocky??) was greater than anything I had seen thus far. She told me that she would need to understand all of the details of the offer if an offer was made, and she would review the offer in a couple of weeks.
Couple of weeks??? WHAT?
She told me she was leaving on Friday for Europe and would be unavailable to speak with me for two weeks when she returned stateside. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Let’s see what my options are… Do I choose Door #1 and book a ticket to and meet her in the UK? Or Door # 2 – work with the other two candidates and move on? OR..Door # 3 work out a communications plan with her and find a way to make this long distance situation work?
Time to approach her with my plan…OUCH! All of a sudden a (brick) wall went up – and she became very firm with me letting me know this vacation had been planned for quite some time and she did NOT want to think about this until she returned. WHAT? HELLOOOOO… Wait a minute, star candidate – you didn’t come clean with me on your travel plans, and I had NO idea about any two week vacation to Europe. She thought since she was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvtDb0ZPwQ this might take her out of the running. OK – I think I get that:-( I think.
My client would be making an offer – TO HER – in a matter of a day or two. I knew it – and so did she.
Time to get back to one of the cardinal rules of executive search – "controlling the entire process". I explained to her that while she was certainly a great candidate and would be a solid fit – my commitment to my client was to give them choices and she was one of three candidates that made the final cut. I went on to explain that if an offer were made, I would have to have a way to contact her by phone, fax or e-mail . Period. Non negotiable.
She went back and forth about being "ON VACATION" and unavailable, and in the end she really liked this new opportunity and felt she could deal with a small interruption of her vacation time if an offer was made. WHEW!!! The offer came thru and I faxed it to her hotel in London. We went back and forth for a couple of days and got the deal done. She signed the offer and started her new role as VP of Marketing with a great company and a super package. She thanked me for pushing her and was glad she had the time to think thru the offer while she was out of the country.
Controlling the entire process is the key to managing client and candidate expectations. Sometimes you just have to push a little bit harder if the circumstances create the risk to having a successful outcome.
Some might say – I went over the top on this situation…
Sorry…I disagree.
I disagree with the approach you took. These are important decisions for a person and it is absolutely okay for her to go on vacation and if its an important role the client is trying to fill then they can wait a few weeks. Am sure the process itself took quite a few weeks to get to this point. I dont think the candidate owed you a full annual schedule of her vacation plans and putting pressure was not the right thing to do but am glad it worked out for her and you.
Good post. While I understand your point, this candidate knew the clients’ timeline for making a decision and withheld the fact that she would be leaving the country during the offer phase.
In the end, I had two choices. One was to wish her well on her vacation and let the chips fall without developing a communication plan. The other option was to make sure the candidate could make herself available during the offer phase. Without being able to fax her the offer and provide feedback to my client, she could have been eliminated from the search process as the top candidate. I felt like full disclosure and developing a communications plan with the candidate far out-weighed the risks of my client going in a different direction.
Time kills the suuccessful conclusion of a search assignment whether the delay is client OR candidate driven – always has and always will.
Like I said in my post, my candidate thanked me for pushing her and was thrilled with the outcome. Thanks for your comment!
Tim,
I can certainly understand anonymous’ point about vacation – I generally consider my vacation time off-limits from work, too. That said, I like the approach you took. You were honest and transparent, set expectations, and I don’t think you were too pushy – you just weren’t soft either.
A situation like that might have thrown me for a loop – thanks for sharing a great learning experience!
- Chris