Wednesday 31 July 2013

The Counter-Offer Conundrum

Ok, so you've been working in your job for a while. You've been feeling like there is not a lot of room to move up so you've been putting out some feelers. You get called by a fabulous recruiter like me, you go to some interviews, and the company you are interviewing with loves you. You love them too. They make you an offer for a job that is slightly more senior than your current one and it comes with a bigger paycheque. Life is good.


So you accept their offer and your references are good (of course!) and you make an appointment with your manager to give her your notice. You've been prepared to work out your notice and you've been prepared to be walked out of the building by security. What you were not prepared for is when your boss offers you a promotion and pay raise to stay.

Welcome to the counter-offer.

The candidates we have are talented people and it's not surprising that their current employers want to give them an incentive to stay. And, boy oh boy, is it flattering to be the object of so much affection.

When presented with a counter offer, you have a choice to make: in the immortal words of The Clash, "should I stay or should I go?" You carefully weigh the two offers.




The temptation will always be to stay. People, as a rule, don't like change. There will be a probationary period at your new job, you'll have to meet all new people, you'll have to prove yourself again and, let's face it, you might lose your status as the Four Square mayor of the nearby Applebee's. If you've ever watched Let's Make a Deal, you know that if you turn down the certainty of the brand new washer and dryer set for door number two, you just might get the donkey.

But I'd caution you here. The Clash was pretty wise when they observed, "If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double." Our research and experience has shown that most employees who accept a counter offer from their current company leave the organization within the year. In other words, the counter offer is almost always the donkey.

Your current employer should understand and value your skills better than an outsider. If it takes another offer to make them realize how good you are, that is an indication of a problem. Perhaps you and your manager have not communicated effectively and he is not aware of what you do. Perhaps your organization is in cost-cutting mode and will only remunerate you fairly when they have to. Perhaps you've been underpaid because you are not a great cultural fit with the organization but they still want you around to complete your projects. Unless there are some other changes going along with the counteroffer (perhaps your unobservant manager has just been replaced) the underlying problems will continue.

Also, once you've tipped your hand that you are looking, your organization's attitude towards you might change. People tend to value loyalty and if you are viewed as the type of person whose loyalty can be bought, there could be long-term repercussions. Our advice is to never take a counter offer where the only factor on the table is money.

The last thing you want is to accept a counter offer, finish up the project that made you indispensable, and find yourself out on your ear. When you call back the new company that wanted to hire you, you'll likely find a less than warm reception. If the counter offer is too good to pass up, we recommend getting an employment contract drawn up that provides you with some job security.

It's nice to be liked. But being liked by way of a counter offer can be tricky. Remember that if your employer had been offering you everything you wanted in the first place, you would not have gone to all the work of finding a new job.

Happy hunting!

Nancy






Thursday 25 July 2013

You're hired! Now what?

So let's say that one day, out of the blue, I call you and tell you about an amazing opportunity to work as an account manager for one of our clients. You've been working as an account manager for a smaller firm in the same industry. You love your work but you are looking to handle larger accounts and there is no upward mobility in your current role. The job I tell you about sounds pretty perfect.

So you send me your resume and I love it. I show the client your resume and they love it. I ask you some general questions about your skills and experience. Finally, I arrange for you to meet the client. The first interview goes well. The second interview goes even better. You love the people you meet and they love you back. One day, I give you a call and tell you the good news: they want to make you a job offer. They want you to start in a month.

Now what?



Before you dance into work, hand in your resignation, and start singing na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye to your annoying co-worker, there are a few things you need to do.

1) Gather your references. Chances are, the job offer is conditional on references. So don't quit yet. Occasionally offers are rescinded based on poor reference checks, and it's better safe than sorry. Think about who the best people are to tell your new employer about you. Your current employer is ideal but unless you are in a downsizing situation, it's unlikely you want to tip your hand that you plan to leave your job. Offer the name of a former employer, ideally the boss at your previous job. Another good bet is someone who has left your company recently, who can talk about your current role. This person does not have to have been a supervisor; a co-worker can still talk about your skill set. It's a good idea to call whoever you give as a reference to give them a heads up and thank them in advance for their glowing remarks. Tell them a little about your new role so they can tailor their comments.

2) Review any employment contracts or agreements you may have signed. Did you sign a non-compete clause or any other agreements that might put limitations on what you do in your new role? How many weeks notice must you give? Discuss any limitations on future employment with your recruiter. It might be worth hiring an employment lawyer to review your contract if anything is unclear.

3) Think about your start date. If you are moving to a competitor, you will likely be walked off the property as soon as you resign. Some employers will want you to work during your notice period so make sure you give your new employer a realistic start date. If you were thinking about taking a holiday, it can be wise to take it before you start your new job so that you can have a few uninterrupted months to get settled. This might push your start date out too.

4) Make sure you understand any terms of probation. Often a new employer wants you to have a probationary period where they can terminate you without cause (or remuneration) should things not work out. While you can assume that any firm working with a research-based recruiter like me wants the relationship to succeed, it's still important to understand the risks before you sign on the dotted line. Find out what measures will be put into place to help ensure your success on the job.

5) Discuss the job change with any key stakeholders. Change can be scary and the bigger the change, the scarier it can feel. If the new job requires you to relocate or make other major lifestyle changes (eg. lots of travel, working from home) make sure everyone affected by the change is on board.

6) Understand any contracts you'll be expected to sign. Your new employer will likely have an employment contract they will want you to sign. Make sure you understand all of the terms of employment before you formally accept the offer.

Once your references have been checked, you've accepted the terms of employment, and you have all key stakeholders on board, it's time to resign. There is only one more thing to consider:

7) The counter-offer. Sometimes your employer will refuse to accept your resignation and will offer you more money or a promotion to stay. Next week, I will discuss the pros and cons of the counter-offer in more detail.

Until then,

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Build a better reference check

As an employer, once you've found your dream candidate and have extended him or her an offer, there is one final step: the reference check. This is usually a rubber stamp but occasionally there is an ugly surprise, so it's always a good idea to be thorough. Here are some ways to make the process more effective:

1. Read between the lines. People are litigious. Some days it's hard to order a sandwich without getting sued. Many former employers are reluctant to give anything but a glowing reference even if it is undeserved. When you are talking to someone's reference, listen to hear if they are being enthusiastic. If I asked you to describe your favourite friend right now, I bet you'd say some pretty nice things. Your voice would be warm and you'd err on the side of giving out too much praise. If on the other hand, I asked you about your weird cousin Ned, you might not say anything bad, but you'd hardly sound enthusiastic. Many firms, not wanting to say anything negative but also not wanting to lie, use what I affectionately like to call Weasel Talk. A great example of Weasel Talk when describing someone lazy is "You'd be lucky to get him to work for you." Clever, huh? Ask questions, ask them to clarify. If they keep using exactly the same phrase, you can be sure it was prepared by a team of lawyers. Proceed with caution.

2. Ask the hard questions. Ask about your candidate's weaknesses. Because of the whole fear factor expressed in point one, you may not get much information but sometimes people will surprise you. At a firm for which I worked when I was just starting out, one candidate - who looked like a winner on paper and in person - was described by his best reference as being "a few cards short of a full deck." The client pushed forward and hired this particular fellow, so sure that the reference must have somehow got it wrong, and the results were as expected: he was a few cards short of a full deck and eventually had to be let go. Sometimes people are shockingly honest. But if you don't ask, they'll never have a chance to tell you.

3. Dot you i's and cross your t's. Call the university and verify the listed degrees. Call the listed professional associations and make sure you are dealing with a member in good standing. One accounting candidate, whose resume made the rounds years ago, completely fabricated his accounting credentials. His former employers had no idea as they simply relied on the previous employers to have done their due diligence. This fellow had worked his way into quite a senior position before he was discovered. If you run into road blocks due to privacy laws, then insist your candidate show you proof of degrees and designations. It feels like busy work but can save you a lot of hassle down the road.

4. Network a little. Anytime you are given a new contact name, it's an opportunity to make a new connection. Often the candidate in question worked in a similar field before and the reference will have knowledge about your industry. Be friendly and see if you can find out at bit about their company and corporate culture. Gather a little market intelligence. Ask the reference about their career path: perhaps they might be interested in working for your firm one day too. I'm not saying to go into headhunting mode or act like you are trying to find a new best friend but a little soft networking rarely goes amiss. The more collegial the reference feels towards you, the more likely they are to give you some honest information about the candidate too.

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Thursday 11 July 2013

Recruiting Lessons from Moneyball

One of my favourite movies about recruiting is Moneyball (the book, by the always awesome Michael Lewis, is amazing too.)

Moneyball is the story of Brad Pitt's Billy Beane, the real-life General Manager of the Oakland A's, who had to rebuild his ball club on a shoestring budget after losing his star players. To help him, he hires Jonah Hill's Peter Brand, the Ivy League economics whiz kid who figured out how to analyze the club's needs and the skills of potential players in order to build an inexpensive winning team. As a research-based recruiter, my clients are Billy Beane: trying to hire a winning team on a budget that is never as large as they'd like. I'm Peter Brand: dissecting the market to find them a team that works.

In Moneyball, before Peter came along with his methodical approach to recruiting, the ball club had all sorts of interesting ways of assessing who might be a good fit for their team (you'll note that Beane was not part of these discussions:)

Grady Fuson: Artie, who do you like?
Scout Artie: I like Perez. He's got a classy swing, it's a real clean stroke.
Scout Barry: He can't hit the curve ball.
Scout Artie: Yeah, there's some work to be done, I'll admit that.
Scout Barry: Yeah, there is.
Scout Artie: But he's noticeable.
Matt Keough: And an ugly girlfriend.
Scout Barry: What does that mean?
Matt Keough: Ugly girl friend means no confidence.
Scout Barry: Okay.
John Poloni: Oh, now, you guys are full of it, Artie's right. This guy's got an attitude and an attitude is good. I mean it's the kind of guy who walks into a room his d*** has already been there for two minutes.
Scout Pote: He passes the eye candy test. He's got the looks, he's great at playing the part. He just needs to get some playing time.
Matt Keough: I'm just saying his girlfriend is a six at best.

Yikes!




I'm not saying this is how most firms hire (thank heavens!) Yet, sometime even firms with a great recruiting process get hung up on certain notions. When you work for a company, you get very immersed in that company's culture and like hires like. But when "like" is not easy to find, that's where a recruiter can be very helpful in expanding your idea of "fit." Yes, in an ideal world, every candidate attended Harvard, needs 2 hours of sleep, has no personal life yet is a fabulously fun person, believes in giving 110% at work, is never sick, is so handsome and charming that people line up to buy your product or service simply to bask in his or her glory, has direct competitor experience, is loyal to a fault (except when it comes to leaving your competitor and bringing all of that amazing knowledge to your firm) and only wants to be paid minimum wage. It's easy to form an opinion about who the ideal candidate might be (often we see a slightly better version of the person who just vacated the position.) And even though we come up with a job description that breaks things down into skill sets and experiences, we often have that ideal candidate in mind. As Moneyball shows, this can be short-sighted. Peter explains:
People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. 
When you hire someone, you are buying a set of skills. You are not buying someone who looks good in a suit or attended the right schools or has a firm handshake. These are nice to haves (and in some roles, essential to have - which is why building out a good job description is key) but they are not necessarily what makes a winning team. Sometimes the person who you might have overlooked in a pile of resumes is your next star player. That's where the Peters and recruiters of the world can be helpful:

Billy, this is Chad Bradford. He's a relief pitcher. He is one of the most undervalued players in baseball. His defect is that he throws funny. Nobody in the big leagues cares about him because he looks funny. This guy could be not just the best pitcher in our bullpen, but one of the most effective relief pitchers in all of baseball. This guy should cost $3 million a year. We can get him for $237,000.

With enough money to throw around, anyone can hire A-Rod. His talents are obvious. You don't need us. Where recruiters can come in handy is finding those diamonds in the rough like Chad Bradford. Players who can help your team win.

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Thursday 4 July 2013

Increasing your job search success

We know of a fellow who did not want anyone to know that he had lost his job. Each morning he got up, put on his dress shirt and slacks, and pretended to drive to work. He'd hang out at Starbucks and would discretely look for a job online, figuring he'd let people know he'd been laid off when he secured another job.

This is NOT something we'd recommend doing.

Yes, it's awful when you are let go from your job. But let's face it, it's commonplace these days. It's hardly something of which to be ashamed (unless you were fired in a spectacular fashion with cause, because you did something socially unacceptable, in which case hiding out at Starbucks until the smoke clears is not a bad strategy...)

The reality is, the best way to find a job is by talking to other people. If people do not know that you are looking for a job, people can't help you find one. So here are some ways to use your existing social network to find employment:

Update your status on LinkedIn. Let people know you are looking. This might be hard to believe but recruiters are looking for talented people looking for new opportunities. Nothing tells us that you are keen to talk to us like seeing that you are "between successes," so to speak.

Update your status of Facebook and tell people what you do. I recently heard of a fellow who had dated a woman for the better part of a decade and had no idea what she did for a living. People are pretty wrapped up in their own lives and may not know that you were the best marketer of brass widgets in the Tri-state area. Tell your network you are looking for work and tell them what kind of work you seek. It's amazing what your network can do for you. We're not telling you that you need to get a mega-phone and shout about your job status wherever you go. Then again, we aren't telling you that you don't need to do this.



Get out and about. When you are laid off, you go through a grieving process. It's normal to want to den in and watch Game of Thrones for a month. But the jobs are out there, not in your living room. Go out, talk to people, let them know you are looking. That's how things happen.

Have an elevator pitch prepared. Be able to summarize the kind of job you want and your skills in about 30 seconds. You never know who you might meet when you are out and about and you don't want to be trying to figure out what you want career-wise on the fly. Have a couple of lines about you at the ready so when someone asks what you do for a living, you have a good answer.

Happy hunting!!

Nancy