10 Quick Tips for When You Positively Must Get Someone to Accept Your Job Offer

1. Speed wins. During the final stage of the interview, offer the person you like the job. This shows that you’re decisive and interested, so much so that you’ll break protocol to speed up the process. The job market’s too tight to wait too long.
2. Sweeten the deal. This isn’t always the cheapest option, but when you really want someone to accept your offer – make sure it’s one they can’t refuse. This can include financial incentives including bonuses, but also non-financial perks, like a bus or a train pass, a gym membership or continuing education options.
3. Include the CEO. If you really want to entice someone, have the CEO make a personalized call a day or two before the final interview. And/or, include a personalized note from the CEO as part of the job offer.
4. Hire a team. Whether it’s a chief people officer, brand ambassador or an experience specialist, companies are ‘bringing out the big guns’ in order to win over new and existing employees. Having a team supporting the hiring process – including third-party recruiting partners, like The Intersect Group – means every detail of the interviewing, job offer and onboarding stages are accounted for. It’s important not to miss a beat when you’ve got top talent on the line.
5. Meet all of their criteria. Throughout the interview process, both parties should become well-acquainted with what one another wants and expects. Know what they’re looking for and be sure your offer meets all of the criteria they’ve shared with you.
6. Include a “rider.” After you know you’ve met all of their criteria, add something extra. For example, after detailing the vacation policy, throw in an extra paid week off, or allow for remote work on designated days.
7. Give them what they want. A good job offer meets a candidate’s needs, but a great job offer gives them what they really want. Make the job a true dream come true by offering things like the ability to choose their own title or pick their own office.
8. Let them bring a friend. This won’t work for every company, but if yours could use two talented professionals with the same skill set or an additional professional with a complimentary skill set to the job you’re hiring for, like an Accounts Receivable Specialist to go with your Accounts Payable Specialist or a QA Lead to go with your IT Project Manager, make this part of your job offer.
9. Let them start when they want. This can include both the timing of their typical day once they start, for instance allowing them to work 10-6 instead of 9-5 to avoid traffic, but it can also mean the actual day they start. Let them pick when their first day will be.
10. Offer them the job face-to-face. Hopefully your interview process is full of meaningful, high-impact touch points, and the actual offer stage is just one of them. Don’t miss the opportunity to make the moment special and in person.