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How to Make Sure They Accept Your Job Offer

, Workopolis

You crafted an amazing job posting. You screened through your qualified candidates. You spent time and money carefully selecting your next star employee. But don’t start onboarding just yet — your candidate needs to accept the job offer first.

And creating an enticing job offer becomes all the more tricky at a small business, where budgets are tight and resources are limited.

That said, it’s certainly not impossible to make them an offer they can’t refuse. Here are six ways to make sure they accept your job offer.

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Gather intel at the interview

A truly attractive job offer is fine-tuned to the needs, priorities, and aspirations of the candidate. And, the best way to get the specifics on what that candidate is looking for is to ask in the interview. What, to them, makes an ideal work environment? How important is training and development? Where do they see themselves in five years? Incorporating these types of questions into the interview process will help you to craft an engaging offer — and also show the candidate that you’re invested and interested in their future.

List your perks. All of them.

You never know what little benefit or perk will strike a chord with your candidate. Something small, like a monthly lunchtime yoga class, might be the reason they decide to accept. When developing your offer, assume that everything you do for your team is worth mentioning, from the group health benefits to the Friday morning bagels. These perks also help to supplement any shortcomings in the salary department — but more on that below.

Take a close look at your compensation

Money will always be a crucial component of a job offer. According to a recent survey by Randstad, 64 percent of Canadians rank competitive salary and employee benefits as the most important factor when job hunting.

What salary you can offer your potential new hire depends on several things: minimum wage; industry standards (Payscale is a great resource for this); the candidate’s current salary; and the tasks, required skills, and specialization of the role.

As a small business looking to keep costs down, you’ll likely want to pair a competitive salary with other workplace perks that will differentiate you as an employer without depleting your budget. One word of warning: don’t panic and over-promise. Wooing a candidate with a sky-high salary leaves little room for raises, and can cause frustration among current employees (and yes, they will definitely find out).

Explain how they will be rewarded

No, we don’t mean talking vaguely about bonuses or prizes. Get specific: list the reasons why you’re hiring this individual, and how these particular abilities will garner them rewards and accolades. Explain the opportunities for growth and development that will be available to them — in short, how your company will play a crucial role in their career path.

This is also great opportunity to show-not-tell your potential new hire how employee acknowledgement is handled at your company — or, more generally, how employees are celebrated.

Go big picture

This is sometimes called the “Total Offer” or “Total Opportunity” — the combination of your salary offer, any benefits or perks, as well as promises of growth, training, development, and everything else that makes the job awesome. Recruitment expert Andrew LaCivita calls it the “Employer’s Value Package — those tangible and intangible reasons an employee would choose or stay with an employer.”

Again, be sure that you don’t make any promises you can’t keep. You’re looking to keep your candidate for the long-term, after all — baiting them with promises that disappear after the first few months will likely mean that they’ll disappear, too.

Make the offer ASAP — and in person

As we mentioned in our recent article on time-saving hiring tips, when you find the right candidate for the job opening, move quickly — they likely will have other offers coming in before too long.

And when you are ready to make an offer, don’t do it via email. Start with a phone call to make a verbal offer (this shows the candidate how excited and enthusiastic you are about making them a part of your team). Then, if possible, bring them in to go over the offer letter together, in detail. This will let you assess their general response to the offer, and give you a chance to answer any questions or address any concerns that arise.

Tell Us What You Think

Have you ever been surprised by what inspired a candidate to accept your job offer? We want to hear from you. Tell us your story in the comments.

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