Having spent a considerable amount of time finding your ideal candidate, it may be the case that their existing company want to retain their services, or another company has offered to employ them as well. Although often perceived as a negative situation, rest assured, a counter offer will confirm that the candidate is obviously a good choice.

How to Deal with a Counter Offer from their Existing Company

Find out why they have changed their mind
By and large the most common counter offer is an increased salary. However there are often subsidiary reasons for a candidate’s decision to remain with their current employer. They will most likely be settled in their current job, having proved themselves to the management, made good friends, feel comfortable with their role and would prefer not to have to start again at another company.

Find out why they wanted to leave in the first place
Although the above may all be true, you must strive to find out why they wanted to leave in the first place. This could have been for a number of reasons, not just the lure of more money. Tension with other members of staff, location problems and lack of opportunity could all still exist despite the increased wage.

Invite the candidate for another chat
By meeting the candidate again, it highlights your enthusiasm to get him/her on board and also allows you to discuss the reasons he applied to your company in the first place and the limitations or problems at his current company that led him/her to do so.

Be Positive
If a second meeting with the candidate persuades them to join your company then you have succeeded. If you don’t manage to change their mind, be positive, they were probably only concerned about the money and as a consequence are not the candidate you thought they were. This gives you the chance to hire somebody different and probably better.

How to Deal with a Counter Offer from a Rival Employer

If an individual is searching for a new job, then it is highly likely they will apply for a number of jobs. As an obviously desirable candidate, it should come as no surprise if a rival company offers them a job.

Be Wary
Be wary that a prospective employee may attempt to play you off against another company with the hope of securing a better financial deal.

Invite the candidate for another chat
As with the existing company situation, it is advisable to meet the desired candidate again and attempt to persuade them to join your company. However this prove to be difficult and lead to the playing off situation described above.

Anticipate a Counter Offer

In an attempt to avoid counter-offers or predict when they may occur, it is important to investigate during the interview stage. To indentify a potential counter offer situation early (in the interview stage) and help you prepare for it, one should consider the following issues as potential interview questions:

Are there any problems or issues with your current job and if so, what have you done to rectify them? Has this worked?

If successful in this interview, do you expect a counter offer from your current employer? How would you respond? What would it take to make you stay?

Have you applied for any other similar jobs? Are they as an attractive option as this one?

Sometimes a counter offer is unavoidable, you may be successful or you may not. Always remember that you can rely on Coyle to provide you with any help or assistance required during the whole recruitment process.

Back