How to Accept or Reject: A Guide for Recruiters
Daily, you help candidates accept job offers, so you should be great at making this decision, right?
You are good at making this decision, right?
Sadly, it is almost always easier to help make decisions for someone else than yourself.
It is one of those psychological issues that many of us face: we can offer advice that is very good, useful, and helpful, yet struggle to follow the same advice.
It's a weird thing being a Recruiter; you get to witness so many human quirks and yet suffer them ourselves.
To help overcome this problem, below is a process that you can follow to help you accept or reject a job offer in a decisive way.
Step One: Understand What You Want
Ensure you are clear about what you want from a new job, and what you do not want. This is the foundation that unlocks the entire decision-making process.
If you are unaware or unsure of what you are looking for in a new role, it will be easy to avoid getting swept up in the interviewing process.
As Recruiters, we have all seen people who have gone along with the process, accepted it, and left after a month or two. Know what you are looking for.
Key areas to understand what you are looking for include:
Salary: Minimum you are willing to accept. Be honest and look at your finances. Ensure to include different commuting costs in this.
Benefits: Benefits that you require, or at least would like to have. For instance, is health insurance important to you? Would you want a company car? Or is it an enhanced pension contribution? Think through what you are looking for and make sure that must-haves and nice-to-haves are separated and defined.
Distance: Maximum you are willing to travel in both terms of time and distance. What impact might a longer commute have on the amount of money you need as a salary? What is the cut-off point?
Relocation: Are you willing to relocate? If so, which locations are off-bounds and which are acceptable?
Job Titles: The titles you are looking for? Is the title important? Is it a nice-to-have or a deal breaker?
Industries: Industries and sectors you will or will not work in. For instance, if you love the insurance industry, would a move into a cosmetics company be right for you? Or is it not important to you?
Working Location: Are you looking for a remote, hybrid, or full-office role?
Team Size: What size of team are you looking for? Are you looking to move into a small tight-knit team, or a team of dozens of people?
Company Size: Are you looking for work at a large company or a mega-corporation?
Company Culture: What type of company culture are you looking for? 9-5? Work hard, play hard?
Travel Opportunities: Do you want the option to travel in your new role?
Responsibilities: Are you wanting to manage people? Manage budgets? Or are you just looking to focus on recruiting candidates? Reviewing these, and honing down on what is important to you, will allow you to focus on opportunities that suit your career and lifestyle needs.
Step Two: Do You Have All the Right Information?
This step is important. What information are you making the decision based upon?
For instance, have you learned about the full benefits package?
Or are you interested in the flexible working options they have on the table?
You have been made a job offer, so at this point in the process, you are in your strongest position to ask the questions that you need answered.
Assess what questions you need answered, what information you need, and ask questions about these issues.
With this information, you will be able to make the right decision.
However, remember, too much information can lead to procrastination.
Step Three: Assess What You Know
Compared to What You Require in Step One:
Is the salary what you want and need? Does the salary meet your needs regarding travel and commuting costs? Is the location practical for you to work in? Do you feel the company culture matches what you are looking for? Do you like your potential boss and colleagues? Does the company meet your other requirements?
Step Four: Your Current Situation?
All decisions are made in a wider context. We, of course, would all like to earn more money, but if, for example, you have just become a new mother or father, a 90-minute commute each way to a better-paying job might not be the right decision.
However, a small pay decrease for a five-minute walk to work or the option to work from home might be the right decision in that context.
Understanding what your context may look like shortly is also important to understand what you are going to do next.
Step Five: Make a Final Decision
I am a very big fan of taking walks to help create clear thinking. It is a fact backed up by science that taking a walk helps to aid thinking and decision-making, and it is also pleasant.
Making the decision is going to be a difficult one, as you are making a final decision.
When I walk to think over a complex problem, I like to set a goal of walking to a specific point and then back again, so to the point, I think about.
When I get there, I make the decision, and on the way back, I think and plan out how I am going to implement it.
This framework allows me to then take action and move past the decision, which is hard as procrastination is an easy route to fall into.
Ultimately, you will have to decide, and it should be your decision. Do not feel pressured to make a decision quickly.
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I have also published two recruitment books, Recruitment Hacks and The InHouse Roadmap, both available on Amazon.