A candidate interviewing with two different companies gets two offers.  One is comfortably better than the other.  But the candidate lets both companies know he is deciding between the two and the company with the lower offer increases their offer to match the other.

Recruiters are on both sides of this situation often, and I think many times we don’t give a clear picture to the candidate.  You want the candidate to truly understand what they are looking at and help them to avoid getting emotional about the decision.  In most cases like this, the company with the lower offer that matches the other offer is putting lipstick on a pig.  They are dressing up their career opportunity to make it look better than it is.

It may not always be the case, but most of the time this company is stretching to make this higher offer when the first company is comfortably at that number for that candidate and that position.  This indicates that the long-term opportunity is better with the company that made the higher offer originally.  They place a higher dollar value on that candidate and role and in the long run it is easier to increase that candidate’s pay and position while company two will not be able to keep up at the same pace.

Todd Kmiec

Todd Kmiec and Associates

todd@toddkmiec.com