Job Offer

No B. S. Hiring Advice: Are Your Job Offers Getting Turned Down?

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Who Said Hiring Staff Has to Be Difficult or Painful?

On this show, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter speaks about some of the reasons why firms have their offers rejected for good candidates.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a recruiter for more than 40 years.

Follow him at the Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

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Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us.

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“I Know We’ve Made a Job Offer to You. But Things Have Changed and We’re Rescinding the Offer”

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Imagine receiving this phone call or email:

“Hi! This is a hard call for us to make but . . . yes, we know we’ve made a job offer to you but things have changed and, uh, we need to rescind the job offer. We understand that you resigned your job and made plans to join our company but, like I said, our circumstances have changed. Good luck!”

How about this one:

“Hi! We understand that you’ve been working for our company for three weeks and we’ve decided that, even though you’re a terrific performer doing a great job for us, we’ve decided to go a different direction. Friday will be your last day.”

I suspect you might feel shocked, angry and hurt all at once.

“Why did you hire me if you were considering ending the function?”

“I’m out of work now because you didn’t plan properly? I’m suing you for damages. You’ll pay for whatever income I lose because of this!”

So let me ask you this:

Why do so many people think it is OK to back out of a job offer or, even worse, start a job and quit a week or two later because “things have changed” or “something better” has shown up? Didn’t that something better exist while you were interviewing?

Of course it did and you were dishonest. You can rationalize things as much as you like but understand this: You gave your word and they made plans because they trusted you. You betrayed them and screwed them (I apologize if my language offends you). They did nothing wrong but you did.

One of the things about being responsible orabout being an adult is accepting that we make choices that affect others.

Had they done this to you, you would have been furious and lost a lot of money in lost wages.

You cannot consider yourself a professional if you calmly go about doing this to others.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2012

No B. S. Job Search Advice: How Long Can You Consider a Job Offer?

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A few weeks ago, a young man I was representing almost lost a job. He had interviewed with the firm on Thursday afternoon and received a job offer that day. He wanted to consider the offer until the close of business the following Friday . . . and almost lost the opportunity he ultimately accepted by insisting that he had “a right” to “consider it” until then.

From my client’s perspective, they understood that he was comparison shopping, had actually hired three people from the firm he was waiting for an offer from, were interviewing more people from there and didn’t want to risk losing everyone.

This situation offers an opportunity to examine how long you have to consider a job offer once you receive one.

The correct answer is that you have as long as they will give you.

Most firms would like an immediate or almost immediate response. I don’t mean an answer in 10 minutes. I mean an answer where you sleep on it. After all, in most cases, you’ve interviewed there several times, why haven’t you been thinking about it before now and able to make a decision?

And delaying for too long gives a message to the hiring firm of how you make decisions . . . or that you are shopping for another option . . . or just aren’t that interested.

The fact is everything you do on an interview is a reflection of you and how you will work with your new employer. A day to think is OK (truthfully, now, you’re not going to take a day off from work, sit in a chair in isolation and contemplate the job offer, are you), two days is often OK and more gives the employer reason to feel hesitant about you and your thought process.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2009

How Do I Choose? 6 Steps to Choosing Between Job Offers

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I want to offer a methodology for choosing between alternatives.

Step 1: BEFORE you start interviewing, jot down what the most important things are in your next job or organization.

Step 2: During the search, as companies start to come into focus and you start to see the choices that will be available, make up three lists.

a. What do I like about this opportunity
b) What I do not like about the opportunity
c) What am I unsure about in this opportunity
Step 3: Get answers to your uncertainties and move them and the questions to one of the other two lists.

Step 4: Negotiate your job offer

Step 5: Prioritize the alternatives based upon Step 1 (REMEMBER: NO PLACE WILL BE PERFECT. Some will be less perfect than others.

Step 6: Decide!

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2007

Ask for Advice from Experts . . . But Make Your Own Decision

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In recent days, the press has spent a lot of time talking about the current Republican candidate for Senator Delaware.

Is she too extreme?

Has the party made the right choice?

How can such an extreme candidate be chosen?

For several months before the election, no one considered her a viable candidate. Nor did they consider any of the other Tea Party candidates who were nominated by their party.

Going further back, no one ever heard of Jimmy Carter when he announced for President, thought Bill Clinton could ever be nominated after a scandal broke early in his campaign, though he could survive the various scandals that led to his impeachment, thought Bush was the legitimate President of the United States even though no recount, even those commissioned by the Washington Post or New York Times, ever overturned the results of the Florida tally, ever considered that Senator Obama stood a chance to become President . . .

My point is not about political commentary but about so-called experts.

All these experts, including almost everyone who makes a living forecasting the stock market, was correct about any of these elections or foresaw the collapse of the financial markets in 2008.

You will need to make a decision about a job offer at some point and, like everyone, you will have blind spots that will need illumination. Create a “Court of Advisers” before you need to make a choice and ask for their help while you interview.

But ultimately, it is your decision. You will have to live with the consequences and, perhaps your family, if your decision is wrong.

You will have to decide, not them . . . and use that power and authority wisely.

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2010

Accepting Less

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One of my viewers on YouTube asked me to offer my thoughts about accepting or considering lower offers.

The notion of accepting a lower salary than you are accustomed to hits home at a deep emotional level as well as a professional level. It is emotions that cause someone to agonize over what is really a straightforward business decision.

Let me offer a few pretty straightforward scenarios.

Mohammed has been out of work for 8 months and is offered a position at a comparable level to where they were previously for $20000 less than the $150000 they previously earned.

Yes, it will take while to return to their previous earnings but they have already lost two thirds of a year’s income. The longer they are out of work, the less likely they will be able to return to their career.

Accept the offer. No one is beating a path to your doors.

A second scenario:

Preeti has five years of experience, is currently working and is offered a job that she is interested in for $10000 less than she is earning. The position is five miles from her home and she will never have to commute again.

Here she has to consider the financial cost of commuting, the personal value of her time and make a decision (personally, I would do it but I would try using my technique from, “The Easiest Way to Negotiate a Higher Salary” video to see if I could persuade them to improve their job offer.

In my mind, the harder issue is combining less money and lower position. Where you are asked to consider such circumstances, even when the job is attractive, if you can afford to turn down the job, it is worth doing so.

NOTE MY CHOICE OF PHRASES–IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO

Here the issue changes to one where you have to think longer term.

Will the impact of a demotion affect your career? Yes.

Will that cost you money and opportunity? Certainly money. Probably opportunity.

But even that isn’t clear cut. After all, if I were to add in that the job offer was from Apple or Google on their next hit product you would answer differently, wouldn’t you?

So, to sum up, there is no clear cut simple answer to whether to accept less money. But there is a clear cut suggestion of detaching the emotional charge of doing so with the factual.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2013, 2015

Accepting or Declining a Job Offer: Seeing Things as They Are

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I have a friend who I’ll call “Sal” for the purpose of this article who has been in sales for almost a million years and almost 30 with his current firm. He’s good at what he does but, now that he is in his 60’s, started to have the bug about looking for a new job selling a product instead of a service as he has been doing.

One of his clients approached him about a job selling their “new whizbang software” and Sal met with them several times . . . the CEO, the CFO, one of the Board members. He was going to meet several of them for one final meeting at which time he was going to receive a job offer.

“During the last 9 months, how many hot leads have you generated?”

“Twelve.”

“What are your expectations of me when I come on?

“Sell one per month.”

“How many have you closed so far?”

“None.”

“OK. Let me make sure I understand this correctly (he repeated the last few items of the dialogue).

“Yes.”

“OK. Two things. It takes longer than a few weeks for counsel to go through the contract and try to negotiate better terms and, secondly, we’re about to enter the fourth quarter when calendar year companies firm up their budgets for the following year and no one has already put this into the budget. How do you expect someone to sign a contract?”

“Thank you very much but you want miracles, not a salesman; I’m going back to work.” And he left.

I’m sharing this story because too often people have unrealistic expectations. They see things through tinted lenses as they want to see things, rather than as they are.

Sal took the time to create a relationship with several friends who he went to for advice before accepting the proposal who all viewed it from a different perspective.

 

He saw things as they were, not as he hoped they would be!

By being clear, Sal was able to avoid a disaster that he could ill afford.

 

Not enough people do that.© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2010

Do Not Leave Money on the Table!

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Congratulations.

You’re scheduled to start your new job in two or three weeks.

Don’t leave money on the table.

Before you give your notice, ask your new employer about your eligibility for a partial bonus this year (this assumes you are joining at some point after the beginning of the year).

AND

Ask your former employer for a partial bonus that covers your contribution during the time you’ve been with them this year.

They may turn you down . . . And maybe they won’t.

 

© 2011 all rights reserved

Avoid Job Offer Indecision

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More and more frequently, job applicants are having a pleasant problem when they receive a job offer.

What’s the problem?

Choosing between multiple job offers?

Multiple job offers?

“Wow! People are getting multiple job offers,” you say.

Yes. The days of multiple job offers are occuring again in both skilled and unskilled job areas.

And job offers themselves are starting to arrive at salaries that are startling to my eyes with almost 40 years of experience in recruiting.

So how do you decide?

1. Ask great questions during your interview. Too often people go through an interview and fail to ask any relevant questions to help themselves learn more about working for a firm.

2. At the beginning of your job search make sure to write down what is most important to you in your next job and organization as well as what you will need to see and hear in order to know if it is the right place to go to work.

Doing these two things will help you avoid decisionmaking mistakes at a time when you are most confused and vulnerable to error.

© 2010 all rights reserved.