No matter what industry you work in, I can tell you right now that there is a war on talent! Everyday great candidates are being contacted by multiple head-hunters, in-house recruiters and even being forwarded targeted jobs based on LinkedIn’s highly sophisticated skill matcher. With all of these temptations, strong candidates now have full control over the recruitment process.

Here are my top tips to sealing the deal!

It’s all about timing

Recruiting seems to be no different to dating. After meeting a great candidate, hundreds of thoughts will go through your head – “Do I send a follow up message?”  No wait, that seems too keen…. “Should I play hard to get and leave it a few days?”

It is so important to take a candidate on a journey. Moving fast is completely fine if handled correctly. Personally, I think that it is important to move quickly and maintain momentum, however, NEVER offer a position after the 1st interview! Although you may have the greatest judgment of character then think again. An interview process should be an opportunity for you to actually take time out of your busy schedule to invest and take interest in potential candidates. This will show candidates that you are investing in them and that, fingers crossed, it is a sign of many more things to come.

Don’t play games negotiating

The worst thing you can do is kill momentum by trying to save a couple of dollars. DO NOT go in with an offer that is under a candidate’s expectations. I know it should go without saying but as soon as you engage with a potential candidate you should have discussed their salary expectations so everyone is on the same page! If they are over budget, then start negotiation at this point rather than at the offer stage. If you fail to do this, you are running a high risk of damaging your individual reputation, your company/brands reputation and furthermore you have just wasted the candidates and your businesses time and money!

Understand what is the key motivator

Strong candidates are no longer just looking for a salary increase or a more senior title. During the interview process make sure to dig and truly understand candidate’s motivations. Recently, we had a candidate that openly admitted that they were not looking for a pay rise. For them, the biggest motivation for moving was to be mentored and exposed to senior members of our team. At first, I thought that this was a tad weird but you will find that great talent (especially millennials) are motivated by being the best at something rather than receiving a huge paycheck. 

Delivery

Sometimes the delivery of an offer is just as important as the engagement with a candidate. It is so important to make this personal! Do not just send a standard template email out, with a standard template offer letter, with a standard template contact!

When making an offer, the most senior person throughout the interview process should pick up the phone, call them and tell them how excited they are for them to be joining the team!

Talent is the greatest asset to your company so don’t try and pull any fast ones as you will lose. Refine your engagement, recruitment and delivery strategy!