Talent Talk: PlasticsToday’s Weekly Jobs and Business Blog 9171

Often this sudden change of heart happens at the end of a process that lasts over a month, wasting a lot of valuable time. To help prevent this from happening, I will share two pieces of advice that I tell all my HR and hiring managers.

First, the main reason a candidate does not accept an offer is that you have not given him or her compelling reason to join your company. Everyone wants to feel they are fairly compensated, but getting a raise is really not why top professionals make a job change. In fact, our company will not work with a potential candidate on a job opportunity unless they have at least one valid reason for making the move, other than money.

Realizing that, you must know what it is about your company that is attractive to top talent. It might be the markets you are in, the growth you are experiencing, or the company culture. The top performers make job changes based on factors such as the ability to take on new challenges and responsibilities. The best performers at company A will typically not be motivated to make a lateral move to company B, unless there is something that gets them excited. Be honest and objective here, don't just say, "Well, I've been here for 20 years, it's a great company".

Second, be organized and ready to act. Before you place an ad or engage a recruiting firm, know your timeframe, who will be part of the interviewing process, what the criteria for making the hiring decision are, and what approvals are needed. TIME KILLS DEALS, and in a candidate-driven market, you will lose good talent to the company who can make a timely decision to extend an offer. As a general rule, once a slate of qualified candidates has been identified, the interviewing process should not extend beyond two weeks. I have seen this timeframe turn into 2-3 months because an executive considered crucial to the hiring decision was travelling out of the country, or the proper approvals were not in place to authorize the position.

In one case, the company found a fantastic candidate right away, but had a strict "rule" that they had to interview three candidates before making an offer. Six weeks later they found that third candidate, and two weeks after that made an offer to the original candidate, who declined because he felt a company that couldn't make a decision because of its own self-imposed rules was not where he wanted to be.

About the author: Paul Sturgeon is business manager with KLA Industries (www.klaindustries.com) based in Cincinnati, OH, an executive search firm specializing in plastics and polymer technology. If you have a topic you'd like to see discussed, a company that is growing, or other ideas for his blog, e-mail Paul at [email protected].