Struggling to Secure Senior Hires: How Do You Handle Offer Rejections?

Hi All,

I have an issue with recruiting resources (Senior Level) for my concern. I am sure you would have faced this issue at one point in your career. Do help me and guide me properly to overcome this.

The candidates, once they receive an offer from us, are not joining the company. They either join another company (which has a good brand name) or choose to remain in their current employment by leveraging the offer given by us. This situation commonly occurs for senior positions (Technical Lead).

I am seeking experts' guidance on addressing this issue.

Thanks,
Raghav

Hi Raghav,

Though iam not an expert in this field I would like share few of my observations from a similar kind of situation.

These kind of issues are very commonly faced by Recruiters in day-today's manpower sourcing .There are multiple companies offering multiple jobs with attractive pay package for the RIGHT Human Resource irrespective of any level ( Junior or Senior). So candidates have multiple opportunities to opt for. They go for the one which suits them the best and if the company finds him/her performing really good they always retain them by salary hike, promotion,etc..

As per my knowledge the following factors need to be concentrated once an offer is made, though we cannot get into right conclusion but can be predicted to some extent.

1.Try to find out the No. of offers in their hand and for the one the most preference is given.

2. Try pooling information regarding his hike in present company and find out reasons for job change(need to be asked before processing resume).

3. Notice period need to be taken care i.e Max 20days for joining the company

4. Above all need to establish a very good rapport with the candidates. Unless you have good rapport you neither can extract information nor you can convince him in joining your organization.

If you find any kind of mismatch in the above, have candidates in pipeline so that you are not caught in trouble at the end. :wink:

Additions and suggestions are requested from all Members. :)

Regards

Swapna

Hi,

I may not be the right person to comment on this, but I agree with Swapna. The four points she has asked to concentrate on were followed by us. Keeping these things in mind, one can minimize the chances of candidates accepting the offer but not joining.

In my one year of experience as a recruiter, only two candidates didn't join the company after accepting the offer.

Regards,
Rashmi

Hi Raghav,

Just wanted to share something from my personal experience. In my present firm, we have stopped mentioning the CTC on the offer letter at all! Instead, we mention that "your salary would be as discussed on (date)." Of course, you would be giving this document only after having your discussion with the candidate. At the same time, you need to show him the appointment letter and mention that the appointment letter would be handed over on the day of joining. We have not had any problems mentioning that.

Because the salary is not mentioned in the offer letter, the candidate cannot go ahead and use your offer letter for shopping around with other companies! If he is really serious about joining your firm, he would not mind you not mentioning the salary on the offer letter.

Hope this information helps you.

Regards,
Sajal Jaiswal

Hi Raghav,

We all are facing the same problem. We have had a good discussion earlier also on it. Please go through the link to see the views.
[Link no longer exists - removed]
Hope this will help you.

Deepali

Dear Raghav,

The suggestion from Sajal seems to be encouraging to the employer; hence, it can be considered with senior's interaction in your company. Another factor that I see worth considering is to present your company profile to the candidate as a major "career-oriented" firm rather than technology-driven or in other ways. This can provide a different insight to the candidates.

Let me know how others feel about this difference in orientation.

Regards,
Abhi

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for sharing your views and suggestions on the query raised. I will try to adopt a few successful points mentioned in the discussion thread. I will come back soon to post my opinions on them.

Thanks,
Raghav V

Rashmi:

I am glad to know that you only had two offer declines in a year. Apart from the four points you followed to avoid offer declines, is there any other primary point that helped you to overcome this issue.

Senthil

Hi Lakshmi Narayana,

I too want to share my knowledge with you, Raghav.

I agree with Swapna and Sajal Jaiswal in what they have shared with us. Always build a good rapport with the candidate, and the notice period should not be more than 20 days. Always follow up with the candidates to see if they have received any other offers and ask how much they are offering. Follow up with the client regarding this and explain the reasons for the candidate's failure to join. Nowadays, companies are issuing offer letters without a background check, and after receiving the offer letter, these candidates are giving a 2-month notice period. Within that joining time, they might receive other offers and will look for the best alternative to join another company.

My suggestion is to negotiate with the candidate that the notice period should be no more than 15 to 20 days. If it is longer, try to convince the candidate; if not, do not send the profile to the client.

Let me know others' views on this.

With Regards,
Lakshmi Narayana
HR Global Consultant
lakshminarayanamba@gmail.com

In addition to all the points my fellow members have mentioned, here are a few more points to consider while recruiting the right candidate.

Notice Period Considerations

Most senior candidates will have a notice period of one month or more, given their current senior positions, making it challenging for them to move quickly. Even if you ask them to negotiate on the notice period, they may not agree. Once the company has issued an offer letter, during the notice period, it's crucial to keep in contact with the candidate weekly to confirm their intention to join us. We cannot prevent them from considering other offers that offer better pay or benefits. However, by maintaining regular contact, they will keep us in mind and inform us if they plan to decline our offer for another opportunity. In such cases, we will be informed and can take necessary actions.

Dealing with such situations can be tough for recruiters, as I also face similar challenges. But I ensure that they inform me before deciding to decline our offer, or else, they will join us.

All the best.