Can You Sell the Flipping Offer a Little Bit, Please?

Here's a big struggle for me as an internal recruiter and HR pro - I like the manager to make the offer to a candidate.  After all, he/she is the lifeline for the employee within the company, so it makes sense that the offer comes from them.

Plus, making offers on behalf of managers makes me feel like the Darth Vader of HR.  Come to the Death Star for all employment matters - you can't talk to your manager about stuff like that...<shudder>

But, there's this little problem with managers making offers.  They don't sell hard enough, because they don't have the same skills in this area as a good recruiter or HR pro. 

Apparently, I'm not alone.  From David Szary at the Fordyce Letter:

"When an offer is made, most recruiters usually don’t start like this…

I am so excited to present this offer. Based on our initial discussion, we can provide you with:

• An opportunity to move into a supervisory role in 18 months.
• A chance to lead a team of 10 responsible for launching a new system in 15 facilities throughout North America.
• Six Sigma training. We will sponsor you to become a black belt!
• Opportunity to manage the project from Day I using RET technology.
• A commute of 15 minutes and less than 25% travel.

Most often, we skip over the career, non-monetary motives and start like this . . .

We are pleased to provide this offer.

• Your base compensation is…
• Your bonus is this…
• Your benefits are XXXXX
• Of course this is all contingent upon finalizing your background check, etc.

Based on the typical process, why wouldn’t a candidate dwell on the monetary part of the offer, since it’s all we talk about and is documented in the offer letter?"

Tell it like it is, brother Szary.  I'd add the postive points on culture and an opportunity to learn from some of the talent around whom the candidate would be working.

Can we sell the flipping offers a little bit today, people?  Please?

It's worth 2-3% of the salary you are offering in counter-offers, if you are making a market-based offer to begin with (no lowballs!).

Comments

[Michael Homula]

While I agree with the theme and the major point I think using the wording "sell the offer" misrepresents what a hiring leader (or recruiter) should be doing when extending an offer.

I think it is more importantly to understand that the role of recruiter and hiring leader should be consultative and needs based. If both are doing their job of uncovering the career wound, offering a remedy for it, debriefing with the candidate along the way, gaining conditional acceptance of phases of the offer along the way in exchange for moving forward in the process etc. then every offer will get accepted without having to "sell" it. If one has to "sell" the offer then they have lost control of the candidate and haven't addressed the career wound or decision making criteria the candidate will use to choose prior to extending the offer. Having to "sell" means you feel you are offering something the candidate may not need or want.

Engaging in right behavior during the recruitment of a candidate means that no offer gets extended that has to be "sold" and no offer gets extended that you aren't 100% sure will be accepted.

Hey, I guess I smell a post on this topic alone huh Kris?

[Tim Ruef]

While I agree that "selling the offer" may not be appropriate for an HR textbook, selling is indeed exactly what should take place when the offer is extended. But let me explain what I mean by "selling the offer". What I don't mean is embellishing the offer, or stating anything that is not factual, or trying to lead the candidate in a direction he or she doesn't want to go.

What I do mean is that candidates absolutely have to be reminded at every juncture in the search process about why they want to do this - and particularly at the offer stage. If we have done our job correctly, we have listened carefully to what the candidate wants in his career and then matched that to the particular position we are recruiting her. It either fits or it doesn't and that should be apparent early on. However, candidates have to be contiunally reminded of what they want - what they have said to us on numerous occasions during the search proces of why they became interested in our opportunity in the first place.

While it is always good to keep the hiring manager closely involved - and that includes the offer process - be very, very careful about having the hiring manager extend the offer. NEVER, NEVER allow an offer to be presented without first summarizing the benefits of the position and gaining commitment from the candidate that this is indeed a wonderful match with what he/she wants to do. It doesn't matter that the recruiter has said the same thing the day before. Candidates are human and they continually need to be led and guided on issues like this that can be quite emotional at times. THey may have talked to a disgruntled former employee of your company the night before, or the spouse may had some last minute misgivings about relocation. So yes, you need to sell, sell, sell - meaning that you need to continually reemphasize how this particular position can help the candidate achieve the job results and career potential that they have told you that they want.

[Michael Haberman, SPHR]

I think this approach to an offer is great. Sparks that enthusiasm I like to see from both sides. But to splash a bit of cold water on it, you do have to be careful about what you say or promise.. this may come back to haunt you as an implied contract. For example the "chance to move into supervision" might need to be qualified a bit more. The applicant may have a tendency to interpret that as "you will be in a supervisory position within 12 months." But other than that I like it!

[KD]

M. Homula -

I get your point and like the post under development on career wounds. The problem is the skill of the manager making the offer from the ground level of where I work. I just want them to be energetic, and to tell them why this is a great move. I'll be interested to know moving foward how we can teach our managers to look for career wounds, and how we can do that ourselves...

Michael Haberman - good point on the supervisor tease, there are cases out there where that could create an employment contract. Sounds like you make a living trying to keep people on the straight and narrow...

Tim - good thoughts... are you pro or con on the aspect of hiring managers presenting offers given your concerns? Are you a HR pro in the field?

Thanks - KD