What Happened to Our New Hire?
Has your company encountered a scenario in which a new hire seemed thrilled to be offered a position on Monday, only to reject the job before the week was over? These sudden changes of heart before the job truly begins are not just puzzling – they’re becoming increasingly common.
Sue Shellenbargerin the WSJ article, “Wait, Where Did Our New Hire Go?” explains that one of the main reasons this happens is the candidate’s experience or lack of experience with negotiation.
Why Is This Happening
Negotiation is something that doesn’t come naturally to everyone, the need to do so doesn’t feel urgent until it is absolutely unavoidable – like the day before the offered job is due to begin. New hires who seemed gracious to accept an offer just days before suddenly back out of the position because they have offers elsewhere, but the employer doesn’t know this and is left wondering where their hire disappeared to.
Or, a candidate may not receive the kind of offer they need. Instead of asking for a better offer or letting a potential employer know that they have a better option elsewhere, many new hires will simply wait until the last minute and withdraw their acceptance of the job – again leaving the employer scrambling and confused.
What Can Employers Do?
Reducing the chances of ending up on Day 1 without an employee requires consistent communication throughout the recruiting process. At Risch Results, we make sure we have a clear understanding up front of what our candidate is looking for and the range of compensation for our client. We also recognize that the candidate who wasn’t looking for a job when we first reached out to them may actually be interviewing at other organizations by the time our client has decided to make an offer. Therefore, we have to ask if they are considering other offers multiple times. Also, understanding our client’s organization besides the salary is hugely important. We typically ask our clients what makes them unique and why people like to come to work every day. This way, when we speak to candidate’s about the organization, they are weighing out more than just the compensation. They are also considering the culture of an organization.