I had been sitting on a draft blog post for a month or so, in which I was going to attempt to share a brilliant discovery – that the length of time that it takes a candidate to evaluate a job offer is directly proportionate to the likelihood of accepting the position. And then I started thinking that maybe the discovery was also or instead that the length of time a candidate takes to eventually accept a job offer is directly proportionate to retention in some way. But then I realized… I was just overanalyzing these factors to death and came to this brilliant conclusion instead:
The length of time it takes a candidate to accept a job offer is directly proportionate to… how well I’ve done my job.
Yep, that’s it.
I know I’ve done my job well with a candidate when I have no hesitation in picking up the phone and making an offer because the result is going to be that they’ll accept the position immediately. I know I’ve potentially not done my job well when… I’m nervous about making a job offer because I’m not sure they’ll accept. And that looks like me stalling in getting approvals for the job offer through my chain of command. Or, it looks like me having to write out some talking points of all the arguments factors I need to present to the candidate to help them really see why this is the right job (it shouldn’t take that much convincing, you know?). Or, me not doing my job really well also could look like having to spend more than 20 minutes on the phone from the point at which I say, “We’d like to offer you a position with us!” to saying, “See you on your first day!”
Let me rewind a little bit to even before an offer is made. Doing my job well means I’ve found and presented candidates to my hiring managers who…
- are a good fit for our culture
- have the right skill set
- have salary expectations that are in alignment with ours
- understand the role being offered including its challenges and opportunities
- have the right motivations for wanting to take our job
And that’s it. If candidates I’ve drummed up meet the five factors above, then making a job offer and sealing the deal should be easy as pie.
85% of the time, thankfully, I’m certain I’ll get an acceptance on a job offer. I know they want the job. I know we want them. I know their trigger points. I know the money it’s going to take for us to bring them to APCO. And in those cases, I make the offer, and the deal is sealed in less than 15 minutes. That only can happen though if I’ve built a relationship with a candidate in order to determine they meet the five factors above. It takes me not trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and going for a long shot that might not work out, even in my wildest dreams. And that can only be done by building upon every step along the way during the selection process with a candidate and working on pre-closing them, so to speak.
Think about it. The length of time it takes a candidate to accept a job offer is directly proportionate to how well you’re doing your job. Yep. So always be closing, as they say. Always.
Nice.
“The length of time it takes a candidate to accept a job offer is directly proportionate to how well you’re doing your job.”
Not much gets written about the importance of making the responsibility personal. It’s often the case that the tools we use to measure our performance have an embedded bias away from personal responsibility. In HR, like any important business function, real leadership stems from taking responsibility for the things that are outside of your control.
What differentiates leaders from others is this willingness to accept results as a reflection of your work. Not ‘I did the best I can’ but ‘I didn’t do my job well enough’.
Thanks for bringing attention to the question
Agreed! The ideal situation is one where you know the candidate is simply sitting by the phone waiting for your call with an offer, and if we’ve done the work upfront we should be able to create this situation consistently. But it only takes a small instance of letting our guard down or getting too comfortable for us to loose this edge.
My goal is not to be selling on that final call, I want that candidate to simply be waiting to say yes but it takes doing the right things consistently through the whole process to get you there.
Makes me feel validated to read your thoughts on this part of the process as a direct indicator of performance in a key facet of our job.
Thanks for another great post, I love reading your stuff!
Generally right on the mark, Jessica. But as external practitioners, we are fighting a battle with our clients about just how “good” a person they can attract in such a “down” market. We can present those actually viable (read: affordable) candidates and the client complains they are not strong enough, we show them the superstars we know they probably cannot afford and they waste time attempting to put 10 pounds of flour in a 5 pound bag. Then they question us on why we cannot close the candidate for them.
Your premise is right, and we certainly strive to make the process seamless and painless and timely for all involved, but this market has also generated some whacked-out logic that has been hard to deal with.
Jessica, great post and right on the money. I agree with John, that this is a major accountability for recruiters. The ramifications for waiting any period of time for an acceptance is potentially losing candidate #2 as well, at least when the market picks up again.
In my experience, if a candidate won’t say they will accept the job (using a hypothetical close) Something like “will you accept our position if we make you a reasonable offer?” then they won’t take the job.
Curious about the 15% that didn’t accept. Why did you make the offer? Also wondering what your percentage of acceptances for offers where you didn’t know if they would accept.
For me, when I hear “I am 90% sure I will take the job” I hear a no.
@john – you know… a while ago, i saw a piece written by kevin wheeler about the idea of a candidate bill of rights… and it totally peeved me because i couldn’t understand where the accountability for recruiters and employers was. candidates shouldn’t have to demand to be treated in a particular way. they should expect it because recruiters and employers are being accountable and responsible for their actions and results. seems that has gotten lost in some circles though…
@becky – thanks for swinging by! always be closing… always be closing.
@don – agreed on the whacked out logic. i don’t completely get it and have been left stumped by a few offers recently!
@tom – on that 15%… i was dreaming. or i misread the candidate. or the communication between me and the hiring manager or team maybe wasn’t strong enough. i’m pretty sure that with that 15%, i knew in my gut it was going to be a tough close but i wanted to go for it anyways… but ya know, i’ve never asked teh question “will you accept if we make you a reasonable offer.” i can’t believe i’ve never thought of that. i feel incredibly silly admitting that – but thanks for that tidbit. it’s helpful and making me think a bit further…
I like this very much. You know at first I was thinking….but wait—are you talking about a recruiter sell job. Don’t get me wrong there is recruit mode and there is sell mode–both equally important. But my first response was, if recruiters sell too much then depth of candidacy can get lost and long term fit can be compromised. The more I read though—-you are spot on.
If you look at the recruiters job as a whole from sourcing, to creating questions, to interviewing to hiring manager partnership to comp to offer—you are absolutely right—i think it is directly proportionate and I like the recruiter accountability.
I love flexiblity and partnership in recruiting—but I need accountability (personal) and measures. Its too easy to point fingers otherwise…..
Nice
In this market, candidates are sitting by the phone, and if the recruiter is not saavy enough, the candidate may use social media to speed up the process and go direct to the client and why shouldn’t they? Candidates are experienced, and ready to work. Just because the recruiter has 6 other searches they are working on….shouldn’t stop candidates from fostering relationships with their potential employer. Bottom line, the use of social media is speeding the process…and creating a whole new candidate/client communication process that the recruiter is often not even aware of.