It is understandable for employers to extend a job offer to an attractive candidate and simply expect them to accept. After all, they have been showing great interest in your company, why wouldn’t they want to work with you? The truth is, talented candidates often have options and know their worth, especially after the onset of the pandemic.
As much as that top candidate needed to impress you to secure your job offer, you need to equally impress them enough to accept. Here are some ways to avoid common job offer mistakes so you can entice that selected candidate with an offer they can’t pass up.
Maintain Communication With Candidates
Failing to maintain communication with candidates is the biggest mistake companies make during the hiring process. When you allow weeks to go by without getting back to your applicants, talented professionals will continue to apply and interview for other positions. An unresponsive prospective employer will frustrate a candidate and cause them to lose interest in the role.
If you want top talent to stick around for that final job offer, the hiring manager should prioritize prompt communication and updates about the candidate’s status in the decision-making process. Let them know from the beginning how many rounds of interviews they can expect to go through and when they can expect to receive job offer letters or final decisions. If you fail to inform them of the expectations, applicants may feel as though you are making them jump through hoops and become wary, or simply move forward with a more responsive potential employer.
Make an Attractive Offer
One of the most common mistakes that business owners make when extending a job offer is offering a conservative annual salary with limited benefits. During the final stages of the interview process, you should ask a candidate about their salary expectations. If you end up making an offer for much less than their previous salary, you can risk insulting them and turning them off to your company entirely, especially if you brought them through a long hiring process.
You can attract top talent from the beginning of your hiring process by listing an expected salary range in your job description. Candidates appreciate transparency and if you are upfront from the start, you won’t be wasting anyone’s time. If you offer a very competitive base salary and benefits package, be proud of that and impress the career seekers with this information during rounds of interviews.
Today, many professionals also value flexible schedules for a work-life balance. If you offer remote or hybrid work models, be sure to mention it in the job interview. Post-pandemic workers seek out flexible schedules and your company should aim to adapt. The same goes for other perks like opportunities for skill development and professional growth. Job seekers often prioritize their long-term career goals and they will want to know if there is room for career advancement at your company.Ā
In every case, research market trends in your industry and take note of average salaries for the role you are hiring. A potential employee will likely be doing this research for compensation expectations on their end, so by being just as informed as them, you will have an edge. The goal is to make a reasonable offer for your budget that still entices your chosen candidate and stands out against the competition.
Be Open To Negotiation
You can avoid another common job offer mistake by being open to negotiating the potential employee’s offer upon request. Many employers shy away from the negotiation process because they believe that the candidate should simply be grateful for the offer. Some business owners are not willing to extend anything more than what was offered. Other companies choose to move forward with someone else to save time because they fear that the request signifies the candidate’s disinterest.
This is a huge mistake to make. You made an offer to the most attractive candidate for a reason and after they made it through the entire interview process, they deserve to be heard on some requests before accepting. Some professionals may merely be asking for a slight adjustment to the 9-5 policy where they leave early one day a week or they may just want to get to know your company culture a bit more to see if they fit in.
Sought-after professionals may also come with strong salary negotiation tactics where they understand your constraints and settle for reasonable increases. If the chosen candidate becomes aggressive or hostile during the negotiation, then, of course, this is a red flag, but it never hurts to come to the table.
Assess Your Success Rates
Another common job offer mistake that companies make is failing to assess their success rates. Do you often extend job offers only for them to be turned down? If this is a consistent trend in your company’s hiring process then you need to assess your hiring procedures and find out what isn’t working.
Maybe you are hiring at the wrong time of the year or maybe your competitor offers more attractive perks like student loan payment plans or wellness programs. Maybe your company has a bad reputation or you move too slow in your interview process. If you want to make job offers that follow through, you should look to adapt for success. A staffing agency can help you assess your hiring process to avoid common job offer mistakes.
Read our blog How Do Staffing Agencies Work and Why Recruiting is the Most Important Business Strategy to learn more about how FirstPro’s Recruitment Services can benefit your business.
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