Making Competitive Job Offers 101

Many employers simply don’t know how to make a competitive job offer.

Question: Why do companies refuse to pay market rates and then complain that they can’t find anyone? Here’s a short version of the conversation I’ve heard again and again:

“We can’t find anyone.”

“What seems to be the trouble?”

“No one seems to be accepting our offers.”

“Can you give some examples?”

“Once the candidate came in for the interview and looked at our benefits, the person just left. The person did not even interview. In another case, we made an offer to a candidate and the person turned us down. They wanted an extra $15K.”

Companies leave positions for key initiatives vacant for months and blame “the talent shortage.” Do they have any idea they are the problem?

Nick Corcodilos: The problem is embarrassingly obvious, and we discuss it in this column periodically because no one really seems to confront it head on: Many employers simply don’t know how to make a competitive job offer.

Research done at the Wharton School backs this up. For a good synopsis, read “Don’t Blame The Work Force” in The New York Times.

Here are the three takeaways if you want to hire competitively.

Define Your Hiring Requirements Reasonably

The big job boards tell your HR department that the more qualifications, requirements, and keywords HR jams into a job posting, the better. “You’ll find the perfect candidate in our database!”

Bunk. You’re just wasting your time. Include only your key requirements, and then use your judgment to select the best applicants. The Wharton research says HR’s criteria for a hire are ridiculously exacting.

What you can do: After you deliver your job requirements to HR, insist on reviewing the job posting before it’s published. HR frequently expands requirements under the dangerous misconception that more is better. For example, I’ve seen highly qualified job seekers laugh their heads off when a job requires five years’ experience with a technical tool that has been in existence for only two. That’s HR driving away great candidates who think you’re batty. Make sure the requirements are reasonable.

Advertise And Promote Training

I see it again and again. A company interviews half a dozen excellent candidates, but rejects them all because “we want someone who has done this exact job for at least three years.”

Gimme a break. Why would anyone who has done a job for three years want to do it three more for you? Surveys show people take new jobs primarily for the growth opportunity. While your HR department proclaims it wants “talent that’s looking for a challenge,” that may be exactly who you’re turning away. Wharton’s analysis of decades of data shows that what’s changed is not the talent pool. What’s changed is that today employers allow no learning curve and provide no training.

What you can do: Define ramp-up time for smart new hires and define mentoring and training to help them get up to speed. Hire people who learn quickly, then teach them. Promote the heck out of this in your recruiting process because that’s what the real talent is looking for when it looks at your company. (See “Get Off The Line: What Your Recruiting Says About Your Future.”)

Pay Up

Perhaps the most damning finding of the Wharton research is that employers can’t fill jobs because they’re not paying market rates. That’s right: The first thing to look at if you can’t fill key jobs is whether you’re making competitive job offers.

What you can do: Don’t leave it up to HR. Take a hard look yourself at what you’re paying your best people and what it takes to hire more of them in today’s market. HR will dish up “average salary ranges.” Since when do you want average hires? Offer better compensation packages and benefits to get the best people.

Wharton has shown there is no real skills gap. The gap is usually in an employer’s grasp of what it means to hire competitively. Don’t leave it up to HR. Take personal responsibility for your hiring.