We as hiring authorities are in a world that is quickly changing everyday. We used to just have the pressure of trying to find the right person, hire them, get them acclimated with their new position. It was enough stress hoping that the Managers, V.P.’s, etc. were satisfied with your choice! Now we are in a market that is saturated with job opportunities and not enough job seekers to fill them!
If you have been in an “HR/Hiring” position, then you are already aware of how much corporate hiring has changed over the last couple of years. The reason for the dramatic change is that the “Baby-Boomers” are now creeping up toward retirement age. This generation is very important in Corporate America! The sheer numbers alone are enough to explain why positions will go unfilled for a period of time.
When you are attempting to hire an individual, many steps are taken to try to ensure that this new hire actually starts the job.
Due to the candidate-driven marketplace, many of the job seekers are receiving multiple offers. Another common problem we are dealing with is the “Counter Offer!”
Many of the top notch professionals are aware that they are valuable to their current employer. However, they are also aware that other corporations are hiring on an ongoing cycle. Therefore, they take advantage of the market, their new company and also their current employer. They are actually just using the new company to get what they want from their current company.
If you suspect that a candidate is strictly looking for a counter offer, you need to confront them very early on in your process. You do not want to deal with this in your offer stage. Signs to look for are: won’t commit to a start date, want a 3+ weeks start date, take a significant amount of time accepting your offer and asking for your offer in writing immediately once you have given the verbal offer.
If you really still want this candidate, you need to ask them how they feel about counter-offers AND IF THEY WOULD ACCEPT ONE IF GIVEN a counter offer. It is a difficult question because you may not like their answer. Again, the earlier it is addressed the better chance you won’t waste a lot of your time!
You might also talk with your candidate regarding what usually takes place once they do accept a counter offer.
The lack of trust becomes a major issue with current employer. They may view you as lacking integrity. They will definitely question your loyalty to them and to their company. Using a counter offer is a “tricky” way to get an increase in salary or any other gains! Statistically, a rough estimate of 60+% of employees that accept a counter offer are no longer employed with that company within 6 months.
Counter offers will be a serious threat to Hiring Authorities for a long time. The quicker you look for them, the quicker you can prevent them from happening to you!

Nancy J. Phillips, CPC

The following questions are questions you can use to conduct a thorough reference check. It is extremely important that you use a standard form with the same questions every reference you check. The only way to compare one candidate to another is to ask the same questions and then to compare their answers. Utilizing a standard form also prevents you from asking any type of discriminatory questions. The following are all legal questions and will allow you to gain insight into your prospective employee.
1. Summarize their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Give examples of accomplishments to support major strengths and weaknesses.
3. How did the weakness affect job performance?
4. How would you rank this person as a manager?
5. Give me an example of where they took initiative.
6. What was their biggest accomplishment?
7. How well does this person work with a team? As an individual?
8. How would you rank this person’s technical competence? Examples?
9. Give examples of their interpersonal skills.
10. Determine timeliness – get examples of ability to work under pressure.
11. How well do they handle criticism? Examples?
12. Give me an example of their level of commitment.
13. How strong are their communication skills? How measured?
14. How strong are their decision making abilities? Examples?
15. What single area could they change to be more effective?
16. Describe this person’s character and personal value system. How did this affect performance?
17. How would you compare this candidate to others at the same level? Why?
18. How would you rank overall performance on a scale of 1 to 10? Why?
19. Would you rehire this candidate? Why or why not?
20. May we contact you again if we have any additional questions?

Again, these are just some examples that you can use to gain more insight into your candidates. Make sure all questions you ask are legal. When taking a reference check, write down exactly what is said and do not embellish the answers given. I have found that by looking at someone’s past, you can make a good assumption what their future performance might be!

Nancy J. Phillips, CPC