He Wants How Much? In This Economy?

Although we are in the middle of one of the worst economic climates in years it is very important for Corporations to remember that it won’t last forever. Through my years as a Technical Recruiter, I have coached multiple companies on the importance of making the best offers to candidates. This may seem like something that shouldn’t have had to be said during good economic times with low levels of unemployment, but believe me it was!  It’s easy to see why it is important for my clients to make their best possible offers in a highly competitive market where candidates received multiple offers and had many choices. What isn’t so easy to see is why it is just as important for them to continue making high offers in these times of economic struggle.

 The first reason to continue making high offers will always be the same - you need to excite your new hires about coming to work for you. They need to feel valued by the organization they will be a part of. These feelings alone will squash any thoughts of accepting a counter offer, as well as reduce the risk of a case of cold feet.

 The fact remains that the large number of lay offs has led to a larger candidate pool, creating more options for companies. Since this is the case it is important that companies look at their new hires as strategically as ever. It is inevitable that the economic marketplace will change yet again, and sooner before later companies will be immersed in a battle for human capital. This is the time your current hires should be preparing you for. If you are in fact hiring based on the idea of better talent for less money now, you are planting seeds that will only grow into more complex business problems down the road.  As an organization you will find the people you are hiring will be back on the market and accepting new positions at a higher pay scale the instant the economic climate turns.  The seeds you planted in this market are then in full bloom and you will find yourself facing a situation where you need to replace these team members, but there are no candidates out there.  There will of course be solutions to pick from, but in the end you will likely be paying agency fees and higher salaries to land the type of talent you simply could have retained if approached correctly in the first place.