<aside> 💡 Depending on the business you are in, the offer process may already be established, but broadly speaking we have outlined below a few things to think about in case you need to start from scratch, or can tweak anything…
1️⃣ Decision to Offer 2️⃣ Offer 3️⃣ Post-Offer
These may not all apply to you, but let’s dive in below to key things to think about…
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If you’ve run a smooth, effective process up until now you should ideally have 2-3 candidates at final stage interview. Whilst there’s exceptions to this, our guiding principle is to try not to rely on 1 candidate, but also don’t go for too many. 2-3 should feel good.
Before that final interview you want to do three things:
🎯 Agree on SLA / Timeframes for decision after the interview (ideally 24 hours max post-interview- momentum is everything) 🎯 Agree on who is the ultimate decision maker on the hiring team. But also decide whether you need to diarise time post-interview for a hiring team huddle or washup. If yes, get this booked before the interviews so it’s in place. 🎯 Communicate all this to the candidates. Keep them informed. Set expectations. This is a nervy, anxious part of the process.
You’ve found the person you want. You’re (hopefully) excited. You believe they’re going to make a big impact here…. now’s not the time to flex your negotiating skills.
✔️ Put your best offer forward first time. ❌ Don’t low-ball, don’t mess people around.
Work internally to understand what the best figure is you’d be willing to go to, and take into consideration a couple of things…
💭 What are other team members on comparatively - you shouldn’t over pay or under pay. 💭 Focus on your own bands, comp strategy & internal equity vs their own demands. Trying to get someone cheap, or over paying for them is just going to cause you problems down the line.
Hopefully… you’ve done the work you need to as a business on compensation, and throughout the interview process so both sides know..
Working out the figure to be offered should be a pretty quick, painless, and easy job assuming the above groundwork has been done.
(If it hasn’t put your people team in touch with www.openorg.fyi! and share this with them)
Assuming you do deliver your best offer to the candidate, you should communicate clearly to them how you arrived at that number (e.g. the process you followed to ensure you got sign off for the maximum possible offer), and make it clear that it’s non-negotiable. Despite what traditionalist’s might argue, negotiation at offer stage is not healthy. It’s unfair on certain groups of people, and harms diversity & inclusion efforts. You should do everything you can to deliver your best and final offer first time.
You want to make sure you give people time to absorb and make an informed decision on your offer, but also don’t want to wait too long. 48-72 hours is very fair. Again, the following principle applies…
<aside> 💡 The more you share, and the more open & transparent you are throughout the process, the easier the decision at the end. Offer acceptance rates will be higher, and time to hire metrics will be shorter.
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If you’ve made a verbal offer, get something to the candidate immediately in writing confirming those key details.
A few things to think about….
💭 Depending on Geography, you not need to get people to ‘sign’ an offer letter (e.g. UK). But they will need to sign a contract, which you can send out after verbal acceptance. However in the U.S it tends to be a case that Offer letters are signed. 💭 Think about how other things like background checks, notice periods and visa approvals come into play (Hopefully you’ve broached this when scoping out requirements in ‣). These things can slow down the process, but often can’t be avoided. Think ahead, and make sure your communication with candidates is absolutely spot on post-offer. Sometimes you might be waiting 4-12 weeks between accepting a role and Day 1. A lot of companies will fail heavily on the comms front here.
That’s where Onboarding comes in….
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