Never let another placement slip through your fingers with our comprehensive checklist!
For first-time founders of recruitment agencies, getting early deals over the line is the number one priority.
Good for cashflow, good for morale – locking in the first few placements builds essential momentum for new agencies to flourish.
How best to ensure that these all-important deals don’t slip through your fingers?
With a robust checklist that provides a comprehensive framework to close deals methodically and with no surprises.
From junior hires to experienced consultants, we can all be guilty now and again of letting the buzz go to our heads and grabbing the phone to share the good news with the lucky candidate ASAP.
It’s exciting, and we’ve got a target to hit… this is what we’ve been waiting for!
But blurting the news to the candidate without a plan usually leads to problems.
Instead of firing off an email or dialing the candidate’s mobile, our default reaction should be to immediately start building a plan to be able to close the offer successfully.
This is the culmination of hours of work – profile screens, messaging, scheduling, interview management… not to mention work done on other positions that won’t produce offers.
When we get offers, we need to close them with scientific precision – it simply doesn’t make sense for this critical point – where we convert all our effort into success and reward – to be the one part of our process that doesn’t have a detailed plan!
PREPARING TO CLOSE
More often than not, the information we have to discuss with the candidate from the initial client offer is not enough for them to be able to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to taking the job.
Nine times out of ten, even if the candidate is interested, they’ll have additional questions – it could be the job title, the start date, holiday allowance, over-time pay…
These might all be things we don’t know the answer to, meaning we need to go back and ask the client…
As recruiters, we want to reduce this back-and-forth as much as possible.
Every time we have to go and find something out, it delays the process and gives the candidate time to:
- receive other job offers
- get a raise or a promotion in their current job
- head off on vacation, or for business travel, freezing the process
- decide against changing careers altogether
To eliminate this risk, it’s critical that our presentation of the offer to the candidate be as clean and comprehensive as possible – not fragmented and drawn-out.
The information we need includes:
- all relevant details about the candidate’s current position
- matching information about what the client’s offer includes
#1 – Role details
Before we get into the specifics of pay and benefits, we should have a strong grasp of how the two opportunities stack up against each other as career options.
What does it mean for the candidate’s future to stay, and what changes if they take the job on offer?
JOB TITLE
Do we know what the candidate’s current job title is, and what the offer is for?
- When is the candidate’s next likely opportunity for promotion?
- Are the requirements for achieving this clear?
- What are the consequences of promotion? (New responsibility, salary increase, job title etc.)
- Does the candidate have a formal, scheduled performance review?
- What are the trending historic base salary raise rates in the company for comparable positions?
COMMUTE
- Longer / shorter time?
- More / less traffic?
- Driving / public transport?
MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
- Size of team
- Anticipated growth of team
- Recruitment budget and resources
- Other budget, tools and training resources
SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT
- Acquiring new hard skills?
- Building new soft skills?
- Receiving new qualifications?
- Developing more autonomy, or ownership of a project or division?
- Experiencing more exposure to senior leadership?
- Working more closely with key customers?
- Adding experience in a new business environment, market or geography?
- Working with innovative or industry-leading colleagues or managers?
- Using advanced resources or technology?
- Working with top-tier customers, client accounts or partners?
- Networking with influential business people?
#2 – Employer Profile
Together with the specifics of the position, the business behind the job also weighs in the balance for every career decision.
PUBLIC VS PRIVATE
Is there a difference in ownership status between the employers – what are the consequences for employees?
How have the two companies performed in recent years?
- Headcount growth
- Revenue growth
- Profitability
- M&A activity
- Share price (if applicable)
- Product releases
- Key personnel hires
- Innovation and IP
- Who are the people at the head of the organisation?
- Investors
- Advisors & Board
- C-level Managers
- Divisional Managers
- Where have they worked before?
- What have they achieved, what is their track record?
What is the corporate culture like in each business?
It can be worth looking into
- Mission, vision and values
- Staff turnover / retention rates
- Glassdoor reviews
- LinkedIn Insights data (if available)
- Internal promotion track record & success stories
- Social activity & corporate responsibility
- Team events
- Office locations & environment
Has either company received recent investment?
If so:
- How much?
- From which investors?
- How recently?
- Is there any PR discussing the investment rationale?
Are the businesses different sizes or ‘shapes’? How might this impact career development?
- Headcount
- Office locations
- Team sizes and distribution
- What is the market position for each company with regard to their products or services?
- Leader?
- Challenger?
- Legacy?
- Cutting-edge?
- Is there a difference in the breadth or complexity of solutions each company offers, and how will this impact careers within the business?
- Is there a key difference between the companies’ customer groups?
- Household brands
- International accounts
- Regional / domestic focus
- Large vs small total customer book
- Cross-industry vs highly specialised?
- Rapid customer growth rate vs static book of business?
#4 – Other Options
COUNTER-OFFER
Have we discussed the possibility of a counter-offer with the candidate?
#3 – Remuneration & Perks Package
Critically, when preparing to present offers we need to understand pay.
SALARY
Do we know the candidate’s current salary, and the starting salary on offer?
If it’s a sales role, do we understand both the candidate’s current and offered commission structure in detail?
- What % is paid out for performance at goal?
- What % is paid out for performance beyond goal?
- What % is paid for sales to new customers, what % for repeat sales?
- What is the goal / quota set, and how easy is it to hit?
- How regularly have current team members hit it?
- What size of territory / accounts / verticals does the candidate have access to in order to hit it?
- What is the average deal size?
- What is the average sales cycle?
- What sales and marketing support is available?
- How well positioned is the product or service in the market?
- How competitive is the pricing?
- Is commission capped? If so, at what level?
- How frequently is commission paid out – monthly, quarterly, annually?
- Are there any secondary incentive tiers, SPIFFs or accelerators?
- Does the candidate have commission due on sales pipeline?
- Is there a sign-on bonus available to compensate?
Just like commission, a bonus system usually has some complexity that needs investigating.
- Is the bonus discretionary, or objective-based?
- What is the objective set, and how easy is it to hit?
- How regularly have current team members hit it?
- What % of their bonus have people in comparable positions typically received?
- How frequently are bonuses paid out – monthly, quarterly, annually?
- Is the bonus capped at a fixed amount or % of salary?
- Does the candidate have a bonus payment due soon with their current employer?
- Is there a sign-on bonus available to compensate?
- What form is the equity, full shareholding (grants) or the potential to buyer shares (options)?
- What is the vesting schedule linked to the equity ownership?
- Does the candidate need to remain employed for a fixed time period, or hit a performance goal?
- How will the candidate ‘realise’ the value of the equity (IPO, dividend, sale of stock, acquisition)?
- What is the most recent valuation of the company (recent investment, share price)?
- What is the anticipated future valuation of the company (and what supports that valuation)?
- Does the current or offered role offer overtime pay?
- At what rate, under what conditions?
- Does either role offer flexibility to work from home?
- Under what conditions and with what restrictions?
- Does the employer contribute to WFH costs, or are there savings from not having to commute?
How do the perks and benefits plans of the current and offered positions compare?
- Pension
- Gym membership
- Company car
- Travel or entertainment budget
- Catered meals
- Parking
- Training & development
- Team-building & social
- Hardware
- Pet-friendly offices
- Does either position offer (or obligate!) travel away from home?
- To which locations, and how frequently?
- What contribution does the employer make to travel costs?
