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‘Grate’ Expectations
When recruiting new team members, many firms tend to focus primarily on the technical skills the candidate has, their experience thus far in their career and whether they have the skills required to perform the duties of the opportunity at hand.
That seems to make sense to me. However, some firms tend to go overboard in their expectation of commitment. Let’s look at one case in point.
I was recently recruiting for a smaller CA firm in Toronto who needed a CA who would be a senior accountant and could grow into a supervisory role within 12 to 18 months. All fine and dandy. I identified a great candidate with precisely the work experience they were looking for who had a solid five years experience at a similar sized firm, who wanted to grow professionally and this role seemed a perfect match for them.
My client loved them and all seemed well, until we got to talking about an offer. Salary - no problem. Hours – no problem. Job title - no problem. Vacation - no problem. In fact, everything seemed great, until we hit upon one thing - commitment.
Now, keep in mind that this young CA had already stayed for just over five years at their previous firm, and had established their loyalty and ‘stick ability’ so to speak, but the client wanted the candidate to make a written commitment to stay for a minimum of three years.
I understand the firm’s point of view. “Steve,” the HR Manager at the firm said, “We’re going to invest a lot of time to get this young person trained into our way of doing things. They’ll learn a lot of new skills, develop a specialty in the niche market we serve, and won’t be that productive or profitable to us until they’ve been here for 18 months or more. All we’re asking is for a period of commitment to get our investment back.”
As I said, I understand the employer’s position.
I put this scenario to the candidate and they said “How can I make a commitment for three years when I haven’t even worked there for one day yet?” another fair point. “I would commit to two years right now, but three years? I’m not so sure.”
We had reached an impasse.
The firm missed out on a great new CA with a lot of potential and the candidate missed out on a bright career opportunity with a very good firm, as neither was prepared to compromise.
On another project I am head-hunting for a senior manager with potential to become a partner within two years. “I want it written into the offer that a partnership will be offered after the two year period” the candidate stated.
“We’re not going to commit to that in writing from day one” the client said. “They haven’t worked a single day in the office yet!” retorted the client.
The candidate in this scenario had been at their present firm for eight years, and for the last two years they had been promised a partnership opportunity at the following review, only to be told ‘next year, next year’.
This procrastination by their current employer is what provoked the candidate to be open to approaches from head-hunters in the first place and they wanted some form of certainty in their next firm that a partnership offer actually would be forthcoming, and they were prepared to sweat it out for another two years to prove themselves to the new firm.
No surprise that a deal was not able to be negotiated here, either. Now, please don’t get me wrong,. I am able to fill the occasional job now and then!
What I wanted to highlight from these above two examples, was that a candidate’s expectations, or an employer’s demands can sometimes grate against the other party’s and cause a good thing to not happen.
The lesson?
Both employer and employee should create a list of ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ issues when entering into negotiations, and be prepared to be a little flexible in order to get the right deal.
There is no right or wrong on either side in each of the previous examples.
Employers: If the candidate has the skills required to do the job at hand and seems to be upwardly mobile, have some personality and be capable of growing with the firm, don’t let - with all due respect - trivial details spoil your chances of securing their services. Good people are still notoriously hard to find (else we’d all be in the recruiting business, wouldn’t we?) so when you find someone you want, try to be a little flexible. It will usually pay dividends.
Candidates: Keep an open mind. Once bitten, twice shy is an old saying, but not the best way to deal with a potential new employer. Don’t make the new guys pay for your old firm’s shortcomings. You could be seen as bringing ‘baggage’ to your new workplace and thus passed over by a potentially great new firm.
I don’t expect readers to feel sorry for me - the recruiting part of my business can be frustrating sometimes, but it is equally likely to delight and excite me when we successfully connect the dots between employer and employee – and that’s what makes it all worthwhile!
© 2003-2011,
Steve McIntyre-Smith. All Rights Reserved. |
