Intelligent People
Laura Richards
Written by Laura Richards
Marketing Director
16 Nov, 2022

This blog focuses on a tricky stage of recruitment – the offer process and how to onboard new starters.

As expert product management recruiters, we’ve included some areas you’ll need to consider more consciously than before, considering the current market.

Read the first and second instalments of this best practise series here:

We are always here to support you with your recruitment needs, whether you’re looking for help to fill permanent, contract or executive search positions. Tell us about your hiring needs today.

Product management recruitment: The offer process

This blog focuses on the best practise advice that we can pass on to employers about how to navigate the offer process.

You’ve gone through the recruitment process from start to finish and have offered the role to the perfect candidate. All that hard work has paid off, nothing could go wrong now. Could it?

Given the current movement in the market, employers are thinking hard about retention of current staff. So, when an employee hands in their notice, employers are using the counter-offer tactic to persuade candidates to stay, reducing the need to re-hire and re-train.

We wouldn’t recommend a candidate takes a counter-offer for many reasons, but they do pose a problem for employers. So, when hiring, what can you do maximise a candidate’s engagement with your business, and therefore reduce the threat of a counter-offer?

How to reduce the threat of a counter-offer?

Understand candidate sentiment

How can you make the offer process run smoothly? It’s important to understand a candidate’s sentiment from the first interview, to ensure you as an employer do not waste time taking them through the recruitment process.

Key questions we ask candidates to get to know them better, assess their needs and engagement in the recruitment process are:

    1. Why are you looking to leave your current role?

    1. What would need to change for you to consider staying in your current employment?

    1. How quickly are you looking to move?

    1. What is important to you in your next job? What are you looking for?

    1. What level / seniority do you want for your next move

    1. What are your salary expectations?

    1. How do you feel about this opportunity?

    1. What excites you about this new opportunity?

    1. How many other processes are you current in? At what stage are these?

    1. How does this opportunity match up to the other opportunities you are looking at?

We would suggest making notes on these topics for each candidate so you can refer to these throughout the recruitment process. Even though you may have the ideal candidate within the process, it’s always best to have good depth of candidates for each role – so you have a contingency as back-up in case of dropouts or counter-offers.

Engage your candidates

How can you engage your candidate pool throughout the hiring and offer process? You can do this at every stage:

    1. Invest in your employer brand to attract and engage candidates in your business in the first place.

    1. Engage candidates through the interview process by establishing what is in it for them, why the role is exciting, what the roadmap looks like, and how they can develop and progress at your brand.

    1. Engage candidates at the offer stage by offering the best salary and benefits package that you can. Do not leave them disappointed at this stage by offering anything less than they are worth.

  1. Engage your chosen candidate throughout their notice period, and before they join your business. Increase their emotional attachment to your business by involving them before they start – email touch in’s, opportunities for them to meet the team, see the office in person, send them their induction plan, and what they can expect on their first day of work.
Read our guide about how to make your job offer completely counter-proof.

Onboarding

A candidate will instantly feel engaged with your business if they feel supported throughout the offer process and into the onboarding period.

What does a good onboarding experience look like?

    1. Clear plans sent ahead of schedule about their first day. i.e. what is the dress code, what time should they arrive?

    1. IT, phones and passwords set up

    1. Any compliance paperwork is completed on day one including HR forms etc.

    1. Walk around the office, introducing team members and showing where toilets, fire exits, kitchen etc are located

    1. Introduction to line manager and buddy / mentor

    1. Meetings pre-booked, with key members of the internal team and external suppliers / stakeholders

    1. 1-2-1 with the line manager already booked for the first day to talk through key activities

    1. Training days and requirements are set out

    1. Lunch for the first day organised

    1. Business strategy and objectives are shared with the employee

    1. Employee objectives set within the first month of starting the new role

    1. Constantly check in with the new employee and be on hand to answer any questions they may have

That’s the end of our guide into the offer process in product management recruitment. If you are interested in reading about the other stages of the process, read the first and second instalments or watch the full webinar here.

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