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'Til their butt's in the chairWell, you finally did it! It took two long months (.....two long weeks, six weeks... whatever!) to find the right candidate. You nterviewed 10 (... 15, 20 ...whatever!) candidates and finally found the right one. You offered the job. It was accepted. The new hire agreed to start in two weeks (... three weeks, one month... whatever!) The search is over. Your position has been filled. You can relax and act on the other important business issues…. Wrong! Your search might be over. But don't think for one moment that you can relax and assume that your "new hire" to going to show up. We estimate that at least 20% of the "new hires" that commit to start dates.... don't show up! That's right... 20%. (If you were dealing with an experienced recruiting firm, that figure is more like 2%.) Until their butt is in the chair, and they've been there for at least four or five months, you cannot assume that position has been filled. The "new hires" that make up this 20% have all kinds of things happen to them and keep them from showing up on your job. They keep looking for a job even though they have committed to you. After all, those in motion tend to stay in motion. They use your offer to leverage other offers. They use your offer as "insurance" as they keep looking. They use your offer to leverage a counteroffer with their present employer. And even after they start, they might get a call from the hiring authority offering them the job they r-e-a-l-l-y wanted….and walk out on you. As professional recruiters, we spend a lot of our time making sure that candidates that accept one of the positions that we have help them attain, actually show of for the job. Now, you can "curse the darkness" and act appalled that people could do such unethical things or you can take steps to ensure that it doesn't happen, or a least it is less likely to happen, to you. The reasons. The reasons that this kind of thing happen are many. The job market is better than it's been since last recession. Some people remember how harsh the job market was to them during that recession. Some have no empathy for the employer’s position. For others, personal needs outweigh any possible guilt over being a “no show.” Career employment is a thing of the past. Loyalty toward employees as well as the company's people work for has been eroded by layoffs, mergers, buyouts and business failures…more often and more rapidly than any time in history. The world is flat. Companies expand and contract more rapidly than they ever have. Very few people feel as though their job is "safe." In spite of the expanding economy, a recent Conference Board study claimed that 69% of the American workers are fearful about job security. The average 40 year-old in the United States has changed jobs 10 times. The average job in the United States lasts 2.5 to 3 years. Individual employees have been led to feel that if they don't watch out for themselves, nobody is going watch for them. Loyalty and commitment are not as ingrained as in past generations. Bluntly, most job seekers feel like that they have to do what is best for them and their families regardless of what they tell you today or tomorrow. The underlying reality is that since the job is only going to last 2.5 to 3 years, they need to get the “best” deal they can right now. So, they may commit to you today, but if a better deal comes their way tomorrow, they will opt for the latter. So, how do you protect yourself from this potential mess. Here are the do's and don'ts: The Don'ts Don't assume the candidate is going to show up just because he or she accepted your job. You have to assume that if you are making an offer to the candidate, three other organizations are doing the same thing. Don't stop "courting" the candidate after they have accepted your job. Keep them engaged until they start the job and they've been there for awhile. Don't lose contact with any runner-up candidates that you might have. Inform them that while you have made a selection, that you liked them very much also and, if for one reason or another, the new hire doesn't work out, you'd like to call them Don't put off a candidate start date. Make it as soon after the offer is accepted as possible. Don't assume a candidate/new hire won't be aggressively pursued by other organizations that he or she is close to an offer with. In fact, sometimes, candidates are perceived to be more valuable when someone else has offered them a job. Don't assume an employee candidate/new hire is not going to be presented with a counter offer by his present employer. No matter how much your candidate/new hire insists that he or she is leaving their present employment, when their ego is stroked, they may change their mind. Don’t assume that just because the candidate/new hire has started the new job, that he or she isn’t still getting calls from other recruiters or companies they were close to getting offers from. The Do's Do try to get the candidate/new hire to start the new job as soon as possible. If the candidates/new hire is presently employed, be specific about how much notice they need to give. Depending on the level of job, any time beyond a standard of time should be suspect. (Two weeks is a standard for most non management positions. The higher up the management ladder the candidate/new hire is, the longer the period might be.) Anything beyond a month should be carefully scrutinized. The longer the period of time between acceptance of the job and the start date, the more likely the candidate/new hire won't show up. Do send your candidates/new hire's family a "woo package" welcoming them to the company. A "woo package" can be anything from a basket of fruit, a bottle of wine, gift certificates to a fancy steakhouse, or T-shirts and trinkets for the kids. These should be sent with a personal note welcoming the whole family to the company. One of our clients a few years ago, gave to our candidate and his son a half a day of deep sea fishing on one of the days the family was in the town to house hunt in the city they were relocating to. Another client sent our candidate and his family on an expense paid weekend ski trip to Colorado, before he started the job. Another one sent press releases to their customers and local papers with the candidate/new hire’s picture announcing his joining the firm… before he started. These efforts are worth every bit of the cost. Do assume that if employed, the candidate/new hire is going to be presented with a counteroffer. Discuss with the candidate/new hire any counteroffers. You'd better know exactly what the probabilities of him or her getting presented a counteroffer and what their reaction will be. Give them a copy of Chapter , of my book, The Job Search Solution where I discuss the disasterous consequences of accepting a counteroffer. (We can email you this chapter if you wish.) Do discuss with the candidate/new hire any other offers that he or she might have or is expecting to get. Find out, in detail, what the candidate/new hire thinks about each one. Get them to explain to you why your offer is superior and why they will stop entertaining any of these others. Do keep your second and third runner-up candidates informed about what is going on. Tell them that you have extended an offer to another candidate but he would like to keep their information on hand for any future possibilities. You may need them, so don't simply tell them that the position has been filled. Do keep up the selling and the “romance” with the candidate/new hire even after they have started the job. They are still getting calls from recruiters and other firms they were close to getting offers from at least three or four weeks into the new job. Reinforce the fact that they made a great decision to go to work with you. Help them get acclimated and appreciate the “newness” they are experiencing. Do be prepared for Murphy’s Law…and he was an optimist. Remember: It ain’t over ‘till their butt is in the chair.. and they have been there for a while. |
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