Frustrations…. Counter offers
It’s not very often that I get a chance to write, however, truth be told, it’s something I love to do! There are always high highs and low lows within recruitment, but my personal experience this calendar year to date, has been extremely hard, stressful and soul destroying at times! This could be a controversial read, however, I thought I would share over the next few weeks some of the top reasons why it’s been a frustrating time for me as an experienced recruiter. It would be great to hear if anyone else is experiencing the same pain?!
Last week, I touched upon ghosting. This week, I want to write about another of my current frustrations…. Counter offers!
For those unfamiliar with how recruitment agencies work, you may or may not realise that a recruiter usually makes their money once a candidate is placed and the company is usually invoiced upon the candidate starting. There are recruiters out there who will ask for money upfront as a retainer, but here at Global CTS, this is something that we currently don’t do.
This means that all the work we put in, all the advertising costs, which like everything else currently, is incredibly expensive, we outlay this cost upfront, regardless of whether we place a candidate for the role or not. This makes it especially important for us to be successful in not only finding the right candidate for our clients but to find the right opportunity for our candidates too.
A very common reason for candidates wanting to move jobs right now is feeling under-appreciated and under-paid during this cost of living crisis.. A question I now ask candidates often is: “what happens when you go to hand your notice in with your employer and they offer you more money to stay?” Quite often, the response I receive: is “it would be too little too late if they did this”.
I can only do so much due diligence to ensure my placements are right and stick, but in reality, counter offers are happening all over the place. All too often I have a candidate accept a job offer and days later they advise me they’re going to stay put after all. I’ve had roles that I’ve had to fill three times due to counter offers. I can only invoice the client once for the successful candidate once started, but in actual fact, I’ve worked triple hard to make that placement! It’s very frustrating to work so hard on a role and not to fill it.
So why are so many candidates accepting counter offers right now? Uncertainty perhaps? Are candidates worried that if they leave, they could potentially start somewhere new and be made redundant and the delight of being offered a little more on salary to stay, appeases their concerns for the short-term?
Are employers realising at the point of their employee handing in their notice that they’re too valuable to lose? That the cost to recruit and to train the new team member outweighs the pay-rise?
It would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions?
