A counter offer in its basic sense is when the applicant you have offered the position to is, usually upon resignation with their existing employer, offered more money or better benefits in an effort to keep them with that company.

So when a counter offer situation arises, how do you know whether to go in fighting, or walk away and start again?

1)   Be objective. Recruiting people for business, especially when it’s your own business, can be emotional, and feel personal. You become more invested in the process and the people involved, which sometimes leads you thinking you need to
‘fight’ for them. It’s really important to remain objective and leave your emotions aside, so you can use your sound judgement and the facts at hand to make your decisions.
2)   Know your market before you begin. Recruiting staff, like anything else in business, isn’t a guessing game. If you understand your market, know how common or rare the skills you want or need actually are, and what their real value is in the market, means you are educated and informed. Like all decisions, those you make from an educated and informed perspective are always better.
3)   Know your limits – there is no point getting into a ‘bidding war’ with a candidate and their existing employer if you simply can’t afford them. Let’s face it we all want the best people in our business, but sometimes what we need to look at
is what is the best person we can afford for this role at this time?
4)  Ask the right questions at interview. We all would like to think that the candidates want our job above all others, but do they? By asking questions at interview about their reasons for wanting to leave their current role, their motivations, their goals and objectives, both personal and as a career you get a better understanding of whether what you have to offer really fits in with their future plans at a base level. The other important question to ask at interview is about what they need in their next role to make them happy – it could be about the industry, the company, the size of business, the team, the location, the opportunities or anything at all.
5)   Keep the communication lines open. The reality is when faced with a counter offer, the current employer gets the last word, they are in their face, they know them, they have the opportunity to excerpt pressure, create feeling of guilt
and ultimately make things happen. As the potential new employer you need to keep the communication lines open so you are still in the picture

If you walk into the process with all of these things in place, you are in a much better situation to handle the news of a counter offer. If you know that the role you are offering ticks all the boxes for the candidates motivation and future goals, go in fighting (in the nicest possible way), remind them of the feedback they gave at interview, the reasons they wanted to leave the current role, and what you are prepared to offer. If you know however that you can’t afford them, or the offer they have is a better match to their motivations and goals, walk away and start again – it will be a better decision for you and your business in the longer term.

1) You, the purchaser / employer start out with a lengthy and perhaps not all that realistic ‘wish list’.
2) You quickly learn that you will need to compromise, but in what area, by how much and at what cost?
3) It’s personal – typically you’re recruiting a new staff member for your own business, your brand, your ‘baby’. Just like typically when you purchase a house it’s your money and you’re spending it for you.
4) The risks are high if the decision is wrong.
5) You are ultimately the one who deals with the consequences of a wrong choice, or wrong compromise.
6) At the end of the day you’ve worked your backside off to get to this point, and you want to have your cake and eat it to, you don’t want to compromise – you want it all!

So how do you know whether you are looking for a rare needle in a haystack, or in fact you are looking for an impossible dream and need to compromise and move on?

- Walk into the process with a clear understanding of what you are looking for and why. It sounds odd, but understanding why you need or want certain skills will help you to further drill down and understand which skills, experiences and competencies are essential and which others would be great to have, but you could ultimately live without
- Write yourself a values document for the new hire. This is something I never learnt in my years as a recruiter, but a rather clever business advisor shared this with me and having used it myself in my own small business I think it’s fantastic! What you do is make up a list of the values, beliefs, experiences, skills, qualifications etc that your ideal new hire would have. What this does is allows you to clarify in your mind those ‘warm and fuzzy’ traits which will be most important to the individuals success within your business and your role, and gives you a great framework to assess all your applicants against. Let’s face it, you will often find yourself saying that you liked a number of applicants, but each of them holds different strengths and weaknesses in terms of their experience. This is where this sort of document can make all the difference. If their values and beliefs don’t align, no matter how good their experience is it would be destined for disaster.
- Know where your target market is – and where to find them there. What I mean is, know where your ideal applicant looks for work, which websites they trawl, which publications they read and what networking meetings and groups they’re likely to be at. But timing can also be everything, advertising for a role targeted at a ‘mum wanting school hours who used to have a high end corporate career’ in the middle of school holidays is probably not ideal – they’re busy!
- Allow a realistic amount of time. Of course we all always want everything immediately, but sometimes it can take days, and possibly even months to find the right person. Perhaps a temp or contractor can help you get through the urgent stuff in the meantime.
- Be open to change and think outside the box! You have your wish list, but does it all have to be done by one person? Or can the tasks be broken up and completed by two or more part time, casual or contract staff? Sometimes it can be better to have people working in their areas of expertise, rather than trying to do all the tasks you want, some of them not always that well.

This is most often the case for those:
-      who are leaving a team of people who they really like working with
-      who have been in their current position for a long period of time
-      who know that their resignation will leave the employer or team under staffed or under skilled

If this sounds like you, then for you and many others, no matter how excited about the new role you are, the resignation process is never fun!

This can get all the more complicated when the employer is so redescent to see you leave, they counter offer you.

A counter offer, simply speaking, is when your existing employer tries to entice you into staying with your current employment, after you have resigned. The aim is simple, they don’t want to lose you from the organisation.

Counter offers are sometimes expected, but often come completely out of the blue to the employee. Typically they are based on the offer of more money, but the counter offer can also involve a change in role, promotion, more flexible hours or working conditions or a change in structure.

Whether expected or not, the counter offer can be very flattering. It’s human nature that it’s nice to feel wanted and valued by the employer, but have you been valued to this extent before you resigned?

Statistics show that approximately 90% of employees, who accept a counter offer to stay with their current employer, end up leaving anyway within 12 months.

Here are some keys to dealing with a counter offer:
-      Consider whether the offer on the table is purely a knee jerk reaction to the resignation – will your employer be able to follow through with their promises? Eg they have offered to restructure the team so you don’t have to deal with that manager anymore, but is this practical? Will you end up reporting to them again within a couple of months?
-      Reflecton the real reasons you were looking for other work to begin with. If your job search was never about the money, than an offer of an extra $5k per annum from your existing employer shouldn’t lure you into staying. You will end up very quickly feeling the same way and seeking alternate work
-      Don’t be pressured into accepting. Because you are still on site with your existing employer, and your ‘new employer’ you have often only met once or twice, it can be easy to feel pressured by your current boss. You are seeing them every day, which gives them ample opportunity to consistently make their case as to why you should stay
-      Consider what will change if you do stay. Often after accepting a counter offer the dynamics of the team around you change. Perhaps your colleagues will show resentment towards you because your manager went to so much trouble over
keeping you, perhaps you don’t feel the same about the role anymore, perhaps with the new increased salary comes higher expectation of you from management. Either way, it’s quite likely that the dynamics will never be quite the same.

No matter what your decision, to accept a counter offer or not, your decision needs to be weighed up carefully and with a clear mind. Ensure that you are clear about why you were leaving the role to begin with, why you accepted the new role, and how the counter offer will change this decision.

If you decide to accept the counter offer, relay this to the new employer as quickly as possible, so they can get on with starting the recruitment process over, and apologise for wasting their time, and explain the situation to them. They are probably not going to be too happy anyway, but if you handle the situation with honesty and professionalism it will be appreciated.

If you decide not to accept the counter offer, be firm with your existing employer, thank them, but explain your reasons for declining and let them know your decision has been made. They may not like to hear it, but this is your career and future, and you need to take control of it.

Many employees who have become disengaged in their workplace, roles, and careers during the year find themselves taking stock of what really matters and what they really want to achieve in the year ahead – and they do all of this whilst on their Christmas break.

As they sit with family and friends, and start discussing New Year’s resolutions, and the achievements of the year just gone, it dawns on many people that they are unhappy in some aspect of their lives, and the quickest fix seems to be to get a new job! They return from their Christmas leave and one of three things will generally happen:

1) They stay put, waiting for a ‘sign’, some motivation, inspiration or for something to change. These people generally remain disengaged from their responsibilities and do just what’s needed to get through the day flying under the radar.
2) They promptly hand in their resignation on their first day back and commence job hunting.
3) They start searching for that great new role, giving little if any focus and commitment to their current workplace until they inevitably resign.

None of these are ideal situations for a business of any size to face at the beginning of the calendar year, but what, if anything, can you do to avoid these times and minimise the impact they have on the operations and profitability of the organisation?

1) Look for the signs of staff who have began to disengage from their roles or the organisation. These signs generally involve a shift in behaviour and some classics include taking more than the usual amount of sick leave; leaving work right on time every day, when they used to be the sort of person to work back whenever needed; not putting their hands up for those special projects they previously have been dead keen to be involved in; withdrawing from groups within the workplace; taking long lunches and in general being a different person in the office.
2) Don’t wait until after the New Year to start re-engaging these employees. By having regular reviews and appraisal systems in place, you will more easily be able to identify and manage these employees. Also coordinate more casual and off-the-record catch ups with staff to encourage open communication.
3) Keep employees engaged in the vision through regular team and company meetings – sharing with them goals and visions and allowing them the ability to provide ideas as to how they can contribute to the success and achievement of company goals.
4) Reward staff who are doing a great job! It doesn’t have to be grand or expensive, nor does a big fuss have to be made – a small gesture goes a long way.
5) Know what motivates your people – when you understand this you have the best possible chance of keeping them engaged and committed.

At the end of the day, staff will always leave organisations, and in some cases there is nothing you can do to prevent this, but you can ensure you manage the process to minimise the impact it has on the rest of the team.

If you have open and honest communication channels with your staff, and they feel they can come to you with honest feedback, you will be in the drivers seat when these situations arise. If they come to you indicating they are seeking alternate work, and there is nothing more you can do to keep them should you want to, give them your blessings, help them to find something new and start he replacement process yourself internally straight away.

The longer an unhappy employee stays with you, then more detriment it will have on your team and ultimately your business. Don’t try and delay the inevitable, nip it in the bud and move on.

1)    The Talent Pool – The Central Coast has a great pool of talent for employers can choose from. It’s a location which many people are relocating t from cities such as Sydney, due to the better affordability and lifestyle the area offers. Despite the increased population, around 30 000 people who live on the Coast commute to work in other regions every day! (as most of us know and have experienced). This means there is huge potential to have the cream of the crop working locally in our community. If we can offer the roles, challenges and remuneration we can attract extremely high quality, skilled and talented individuals to work for our organisations!

2)    People talk – Like a small town, but on a bigger scale, people on the Coast aren’t afraid to let others know what they think. We have been truly humbled by the number of clients we have had the opportunity to work with, which has come about via referral from one of our existing clients. We thank those clients so much for their support and look forward to working with you further in the next 5 years.

3)    Sense of Community – It is a great feeling to be associated with Central Coast based companies that have a similar views and values to our own. The Central Coast business community is made up of savvy and experienced business professionals and inspiring entrepreneurs, in short they are great to be around and work with

4)    Variety + – The diversity of roles and businesses we get to work with is exciting, rewarding and we love it! Unlike big cities like Sydney where you get pigeon holed working within a very specific scope of positions, or with only a handful of businesses, being on the Coast means we get to work on some really varied and interesting recruitment assignments, with a wide variety of clients across all industries. This keeps us enthused, educated and on our toes!

5)    Pride, Purpose and Direction – Central Coast businesses take pride in what they do and treat their staff well. Very few times do we see staff treated like ‘just another number’ which makes our job that much more enjoyable! Coast businesses also have clear purpose and direction, which appeals to the best candidates. Employees who are more engaged and involved in the direction and purpose of the organisation tend to be more committed, loyal and productive, so it’s a win / win for all involved.

I know the last thing many people want to do at this time of year is plan ahead and think about work tasks for 2012, but being prepared and organised can really set you up for a successful start to the new year.

A new year can be a hot time for resignations, transfers and staffing changes in any organisation. Many employees who have become disengaged in their workplace, roles, and careers during the year find themselves taking stock of what really matters and what they really want to achieve in the year ahead over the Christmas / New Year period.

As they sit with family and friends, and start discussing New Year’s resolutions, and the achievements of the year just gone, it dawns on many people that they are unhappy in some aspect of their lives, and the quickest fix seems to be to get a new job! They return from their Christmas leave and one of three things will generally happen:

1)    They stay put, waiting for a ‘sign’, some motivation, inspiration or for something to change. These people generally remain disengaged from their responsibilities and do just what’s needed to get through the day flying under the radar.
2)    They promptly hand in their resignation on their first day back and commence job hunting.
3)    They start searching for that great new role, giving little if any focus and commitment to their current workplace until they inevitably resign.

None of these are ideal situations for a business of any size to face at the beginning of the calendar year, but what, if anything, can you do to avoid these times and minimise the impact they have on the operations and profitability of the organisation?

1)   Look for the signs of staff who have began to disengage from their roles or the organisation. Use this time to start to open up conversations with the team about taking the time to relax over the break, and set goals as a team now for some of the things you want to do in the new year. The signs you might be looking for  generally involve a shift in behaviour and some classics include taking more than the usual amount of sick leave; leaving work right on time every day, when they used to be the sort of person to work back whenever needed; not putting their hands up for those special projects they previously have been dead keen to be involved in; withdrawing from groups within the workplace; taking long lunches and in general being a different person in the office.

2)   Don’t wait until after the New Year to start re-engaging these employees. By having regular reviews and appraisal systems in place, you will more easily be able to identify and manage these employees. Also coordinate more casual and off-the-record catch ups with staff to encourage open communication.

3)   Keep employees engaged in the vision through regular team and company meetings – sharing with them goals and visions and allowing them the ability to provide ideas as to how they can contribute to the success and achievement of company goals.

4)   Reward staff who are doing a great job! It doesn’t have to be grand or expensive, nor does a big fuss have to be made – a small gesture goes a long way.

5)   Know what motivates your people – when you understand this you have the best possible chance of keeping them engaged and committed.

6)   Plan a day for very early in the new year for planning, team engagement and morale building – and let the team know about it now. Having something fun and interactive planned gives them something to look forward to, and may get the excited about coming back to work, rather than dreading it!

At the end of the day, staff will always leave organisations, and in some cases there is nothing you can do to prevent this, but you can ensure you manage the process to minimise the impact it has on the rest of the team.

If you have open and honest communication channels with your staff, and they feel they can come to you with honest feedback, you will be in the drivers seat when these situations arise. If they come to you indicating they are seeking alternate work, and there is nothing more you can do to keep them should you want to, give them your blessings, help them to find something new and start he replacement process yourself internally straight away.

The longer an unhappy employee stays with you, then more detriment it will have on your team and ultimately your business. Don’t try and delay the inevitable, nip it in the bud and move on.

There is a huge range of pre employment assessments, tests, and tools which employers can use to help them through the hiring process. Whilst I certainly don’t advocate using all of them (you would be spending much more time and money than is necessary), I do suggest using an appropriate mix of the right tools for your organisation and the specific role. So to ensure that your next hire is the best possible fit for your team, what other tools are available to assist you?

1)     Interviews – whilst not always the most reliable, interviews remain the most widely used recruitment and selection tool. Phone interviews and face to face interviews should form some part of your recruitment process. The key to making interviews a success for you is in asking the right questions, keeping the process consistent across all applicants and remaining impartial throughout the process

2)     Skills Testing – particularly useful for positions which require a level of competency in any specific software programs, computer operations or ‘testable’ skills such as customer service responses and alike. These assessments are regularly used by Recruiters and are available to you, generally at a fee, through any number of recruitment and HR service providers.

3)     Personality / Psychometric Assessments – perfect for assessing team fit, motivation, and work styles around customer service, sales and a range of other industry specific skills. Whilst many employers still see these assessments as unnecessary and unreliable in our experience they can be an excellent tool to help hone your interview questions and assess appropriateness for your current team.

4)     Aptitude and competency based assessments – similarly to the two types of testing and assessment listed above these tests are great for industry specific skills. This may include numerical reasoning assessments for accountants.

5)     Reference Checks – it’s an oldie but a goodie, past behaviour predicts future behaviour. Ensure you are conducting your reference checks with previous managers who they reported to, and ask specific questions relevant to the skills and attitudes you need in the new recruit

6)     Police checks and working with children checks – depending on the industry and role, these checks may be appropriate to have conducted. In many industries these checks are a standard and potentially compulsory check to maintain quality ratings, and for employers they can provide sound peace of mind

7)     Don’t forget your network – all of the tools mentioned so far are fairly standard, but don’t forget to think outside the square. If you know previous employers personally, or even colleagues, friends of customers, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and ask for some general feedback (provided it doesn’t jeopardise their existing employment of course).

There are probably a raft of other tools available which I haven’t mentioned which may be available to you, but this covers the most popular. Before you next recruit think about which tools could be valuable to you in ensuring your hire is the right fit for your organisation, and the specific role.

Recruiting staff will take between 20 and 4 hours – if not longer – to do yourself. Consider whether you have the time and, if you do, whether this is the best use of your time?

If in doubt, engage a professional!

Here is a detailed breakdown of how long recruitment can take with and without the help of a professional:

Now if you are having any doubts about the value of using a professional to help with your recruiting, think about this – if you had 20-30 hours to spare in your business – how much money could you make if you were doing the things you are great at, and the things that your business is successful for? I am sure your answer is at least twice whatever the cost is to hire some professional help.

Ok, so the numbers stack up, what should you be looking for when seeking help from a professional?

1. Do they usually recruit for these sorts of positions? If not, what skills, experience and knowledge are they bringing to the table which tells you that they can handle what you need?

1. Who else uses them? If you know your competitors are getting great staff from a particular supplier, likelihood is they can help you too! Ask for referrals and recommendations from other business that you know, or ask the Recruiter / HR Consultant for some references you can contact to discuss their service.

1. What service do they offer, does it provide value for money and what’s included?  Not all service providers are the same, and there are many out there who promise the world and deliver nothing. Take the time to understand the processes they go through to find you that perfect person, and make sure they follow these processes.

1. Do they offer to come out and meet with you, to gain an understanding of you and your business needs? If they don’t offer, don’t invite them, and find someone else. A good Recruiter / HR Consultant wants to understand you and your business to ensure they find the right person.

1. Are they interviewing all candidates face to face? If they aren’t local to you, the answer is probably no – and if that’s the case what else are you paying them to do?

1. Are they providing copies of the references they have done, the testing the applicants complete and a thorough resume and interview feedback? If not, how can you be sure that they have followed the process they promised?

1. Do you trust them? Like all things it ultimately comes down to gut feel most of the time. Do you trust the consultant you are dealing with and do you believe they have your interests at heart?

‘Multi-listing jobs’ simply means clients listing the one vacancy with several different recruiters.

After having many conversations with a range of clients in recent months on this very topic, I thought it was time to revisit the reasons clients feel the need to do this – and why it’s not such a great idea!

Now, as clients, or potential clients reading this, I am sure you are running through a raft of reasons in your mind as to why it is a good idea for you to list your position with several recruiters. I am guessing the following are on the list:
- to get as many good candidates as possible
- in case one agency has a candidate the other doesn’t
- to keep us on our toes
- to see what else is out there
- am I on the right track, are there any others?

So of course you are thinking I am about to tell you to use one recruiter only, and of course for that to be Footprint Recruitment!

Truth is, yes I do think you should have one recruiter who you have a sound relationship with as a primary contact, if that is Footprint Recruitment – excellent. But fundamentally you need to know your recruiter, feel comfortable with them, confident in their skills and abilities and assured that they know your business and understand the roles they are recruiting for.

As Mr Savage accurately points out in his article, if you list a role with 4 recruiters, you can not expect 100% commitment and effort from those recruiters in return. What you will get is 25% commitment, because that’s all you have shown them.

Ask yourself this question, if you were an Accountant, would you complete a full year end on a potential clients accounts, to the most thorough and detailed level possible, if you knew that at the end of the process you would not be paid for the job, because another Accountant who was also working on the same task in competition got chosen instead? Probably not I imagine.

By having a sound relationship with your recruiter, and using this recruiter exclusively for an initial period for each position, you ensure you gain the full commitment from that recruiter, seeing them throw their full range of skills and resources at filling your role with the ideal applicant.

If, after an agreed initial period of time (which will vary depending on the position), your recruiter has not been successful in filling the assignment, and after an open and honest discussion you feel it is appropriate, then it may be the appropriate time to approach another agent to assist with that assignment.

The final thought to consider is this; here on the Central Coast, as we all know, it’s a small world. Recruiters are effectively all fishing from the same, sometimes limited, talent pool. So by multi listing positions with recruiters you will most often end up with the same list of candidates. How does this end up?

1. With frustrated candidates getting confusing calls about the same role from several sources;

2. With some recruiters resorting to unprofessional and inappropriate screening processes in order to get the candidate in front of you first to try and secure the placement fee, with little regard to the suitability of the candidate for the role; and

3. With you with your time wasted trying to liaise with several recruiters and having resumes put in front of you which don’t fit the brief.

Your time is precious and best spent working on your business, so don’t waste it.

Business owners, managers and decision makers have been questioning whether it’s their business, their culture, what they have to offer, their clients, projects, salaries, benefits or any other tiny detail that has caused them to be in a situation where they are finding top quality talent hard to attract.

In most cases, the simple reason is, there are not enough quality candidates in the market to fill available positions.

In our local market place we see this in many technical, specialist and professional areas, such as engineers, chartered accountants and technical managers. But the same situation could apply to any market at any point in time – it’s a matter of pure supply /demand economics.

So how do you attract candidates to your business in this market? In my opinion, there are 2 key things to look at:

1)   Rule out the obvious, you need to look really carefully at your business, and attitudes, to make sure it’s not in fact you and your pre set ideas which are excluding your ideal candidate. What I mean by this is:

- are you paying a fair market salary which would attract your ideal candidate?
- are you looking for a candidate with ‘all the bells and whistles’ but in fact are not allowing this applicant to use all of these on the job?
- are you looking for more in a candidate than what the role really needs?
- are you looking for someone who actually doesn’t really exist?

2)   Once you have ruled this out – you now need to think about how you can attract the candidates you want in a market which is not on your side. And my simple solution is this – think outside the box.

The reality is it’s not going to be easy, but if you fight on the same grounds as every other employer, you’ll probably lose in one way or another. So think laterally, think like a candidate and think left field!

Like when assessing your sales and marketing mix you look for your Unique Selling Point, do the same as an employer. What can you offer a candidate that’s better, different or more exciting than other employers in your marketplace?

While salary is always important to candidates, it’s often not the deal breaker, and many candidates are happy to ‘trade’ a little on salary if their other desires are met within a role.

So can you offer more exciting projects, creative outlets within work time, other non monetary benefits like flexible work hours or multiple locations? Get creative, think outside the box and get your applicants attention!