The last several interviews for jobs I have done the recruiters or HR personnel spend a lot of time trying to down sell me on the job. They start the down pressure on salary or benefits right from the beginning. This week Rands talks about how to go about landing a high quality candidate. This is not a warm body to fill a slot, but the grade A candidate that is going to really get things done.
The part I like the best is when they get to negotiations. It is all about the company saying they “understand” and “want” the candidate. It seems like companies I have dealt with are afraid to say this for fear it will make them weak in negotiations. I once spent an hour with the HR representative during the interview “negotiating” my expectations. They didn’t just listen as described here, but countered every point I made. Needless to say I didn’t get the job and it would have been a bad move if I had.
When we started the offer negotiations, she’d worked with the recruiter and knew exactly what we’d need to do to lure the candidates. She knew that base salary was a big deal for Alex. She knew Sean was going to be a stickler about stock. There was no offer negotiation because Michele constructed offers that were going to be accepted. She presented them: “This is the offer you wanted. This gig is perfect for you. We want you.”
Read more at Rands in Repose: Wanted
