Make and Manage Job Offers
Successful post-offer engagement is about building a relationship that addresses your candidate’s needs and fosters a positive experience well into their employment.
When executed correctly, you’ll secure candidate acceptance and foster a positive transition from candidate to employee.
Beyond the Interview: The Art and Science of Job Offers
Making offers that secure top talent and set new hires up for success is a key step within your hiring process, while poor structure or a lack of communication could result in late, costly candidate drop-offs.
Extending a job offer is a pivotal point in the hiring process, and nowhere near the end of your full hiring lifecycle.
When done correctly, it becomes the culmination of your recruiting efforts and the beginning of onboarding for a great new employee. But without a thorough and thoughtful process at this stage, it can also become the moment you lose out on top talent.
In this chapter, we’ll guide you through the essential steps to ensuring a smooth and successful job offer process. This includes:
- Crafting compelling offer letters and identifying the key elements included within an effective offer letter.
- Discussing practical considerations for e-signatures vs. traditional wet signatures.
- Managing pre-start engagement.
- Delving into best practices for extending the offer, including how to conduct effective offer meetings and preparing for potential negotiations and counteroffers.
- Managing background check processes and software selection.
“I think it’s often misunderstood that all the power lies with the employer in the experience. It’s like they’re the ones making the decision, but the reality is the candidate is making a decision too.
The earlier you can make an authentic connection and level set with the candidate, that you want this to be a mutual fit, if we get to the end of the line here, the better.
Power is with both of us and so I want to give you the information that you need to make the best decision for you and vice versa.”
Spark Hire, CEO and Founder
Best Practices
Preparing an Offer Letter
Key Elements to Include
A quality offer letter is clear and comprehensive, explicitly detailing compensation, including salary and pay structure, the start date, and all applicable benefits, such as insurance and time-off policies. Utilize concise, unambiguous language to prevent misunderstandings and build trust with the candidate, ensuring a solid foundation for the employment relationship (if your offer is accepted).
Job Offer Letter Signature Considerations
Leveraging e-signatures allows you to accelerate the hiring process, provide a more seamless offer experience, especially in distributed or remote workforces, and maintain an auditing trail, including tracking the signing process and ensuring document integrity.
As with any software, it’s critical that you research and select a reputable e-signature platform with robust security measures to mitigate potential risks and verify compliance with industry standards and data protection regulations.
While e-signatures are sometimes perceived as impersonal, you can counteract these potential perceptions by pairing e-signature delivery with personalized communication, such as a phone call or email, to reinforce the human element.
In situations where there is a strong emphasis on tradition and formality, such as in senior executive roles, you may want to consider a wet signature; in other words, a physical or in-person signature.
If you go this route, you’ll need to acknowledge the potential delays and associated expenses (printing, shipping, etc.), especially for geographically dispersed candidates.
You’ll also need to establish secure processes for document delivery, storage, and retrieval to minimize security risks, as well as consider the environmental impact, which is a considerable reason why so many companies are transitioning to e-signatures: to reduce paper consumption and contribute to sustainability efforts.
Extending the Job Offer
Job Offer Meetings, Negotiations, and Counteroffers
Preparing for offer negotiations requires a clear understanding of your company’s limits, such as salary range and benefits package, and the candidate’s expectations.
As discussed in Chapter 1, you need to pre-define your budget, identify flexible areas beyond salary, and research market data earlier; this will ensure you can make a competitive initial offer.
From there, you’ll want to spend some time understanding the candidate’s motivations and potential counteroffers by reviewing interview notes and, if possible, gauging their salary expectations beforehand to make them a strong initial offer. Again, be sure to reiterate your EVP, Employee Value Proposition, to set a positive tone about all the candidate gains by joining your organization.
The process doesn’t end there.
Be prepared with a strategic negotiation plan that focuses on the mutual benefits, in anticipation of any counteroffers. Maintain open, honest communication, and document all conversations.
Establish the value of the candidate before your initial offer to ensure you can act quickly to avoid losing top talent to another offer, or be prepared to walk away if necessary.
If your offer is accepted, formalize it in writing. If the negotiation ends in a declined offer, maintain a positive relationship through objective communication, thanking the candidate for their time, which will amount to a stronger talent pipeline that you can tap into at a later time, if you choose to.
Background Checks and Pre-Start Engagement
Background Checking for Confident, Secure Hiring
First and foremost, you must establish an internal policy as to what would constitute a failed background check. Only then can you integrate an effective background check software into your process.
Some things to consider in a background check tool are its ability to verify the accuracy of your candidate’s credentials, such as education and employment, and identify any potential risks, such as criminal history, to protect your employees and customers. Also, be sure to inquire about how it mitigates the potential of fraud and theft in assessing financial responsibility and helps you reduce liability by avoiding negligent hiring claims and complying with legal regulations.
Bridge the Gap Between Offer Acceptance and Pre-Start Date
Although an offer acceptance is a great start, it’s hardly the end of the hiring process.
It’s important that you continue to foster candidate engagement, which you can do by showcasing how your company and its programs will support their professional development. Highlight opportunities for continuing education, mentorship, and career advancement, and develop flexible plans, if necessary, to accommodate both short-term and long-term career goals.