When you have a vacant position, particularly on your executive team, you want to fill that position with an executive whose skills and expertise are the right fit for the position and for the company. You and your team will interview many candidates until you finally select the perfect candidate. After investing weeks or, hopefully not, months into the process, you make an offer to our perfect candidate who rejects it outright. You can either try to overcome the rejection, try to hire your second or third choice or resume your interviewing process.
What went wrong and how can you avoid this major pitfall in the hiring process?
Well qualified candidates are generally employed, well compensated and are promised strong incentives to stay with their current companies. They don’t need to make a change in their employment. However, a great recruiter like JK Consultants will make it possible for their clients to interview these strong candidates. After all, every person wishes they could change something such as career progression, making decisions, and ability to innovate and implement ideas.
The interview process is a time when the company and the candidate really get to know each other, their needs and how they can work together. It is important to understand what the candidate is looking for in their next career move and whether the company, the vacant position and the long term career progression align with the skills, experience and needs of the candidate. The interviewer can explain all the positives of working at your company and how that relates to the needs of the candidate. The interviewer should also be prepared to openly discuss any deal breakers or negatives including any shortcomings of the candidate, corporate weaknesses and the challenges faced by the position.
During the interview, it is important to understand and address the candidate’s questions, doubts and concerns about, among other things, your company, CEO, the leadership team, the position and the future plans for the company.
At the end of the interview the company and the candidate should understand their needs and how they will be met, what is required to be successful in the position and in the company, what needs to be accomplished within the first 90 days of employment, what success will look like in the short and long term, and if they are a good fit. The candidate should know that the company is very enthusiastic about hiring them and is attempting to resolve any of the candidate’s remaining doubts.
It is also important to understand that the decision to make a career move is one the candidate will make together with their family particularly when the new position requires a relocation and involves a working spouse or partner, children and real estate. The interviewer should learn all of the candidate’s personal challenges so that they can begin to work through them. For example, it may be necessary to provide temporary housing until the end of the school year when it becomes possible for the family to move. The interviewer should also be prepared to explain all the personal positives such as shorter commute, a corporate culture of not working evenings and weekends, and daycare options.
If you have a sense about the candidate’s situation and needs, you will know what the compensation package needs to look like for the final offer. A great recruiter like JK Consultants will help you to put together a compensation plan and a job offer. The offer should be made as soon as possible in the interviewing process so that you don’t lose your top candidate to another offer. After the offer is made, JK Consultants will continue to work with the candidate and company until an agreement is reached.
JK Consultants is ready to help you with all your recruiting needs.