A wise man once told me “Ragan, face the fear and do it anyway.” This saying holds special meaning for me when coaching candidates through accepting offers. What keeps a candidate from accepting an offer? It could be a number of things, but the number one reason is fear. Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of unfamiliarity - fear is the ultimate deal-breaker.
Here’s the scenario - I am sure you all know it well: Candidate is interested in a new position, candidate goes through interview process, client loves candidate, client extends offer…candidate accepts offer and everyone lives happily ever after, right? Not always. The needle-across-the-record moment that brings everything to a screeching halt? Fear.
Here’s the recipe: The candidate starts doubting their decision to make a move, leave their boss, relocate, you name it. Add a pinch of extraneous time given to continue to doubt oneself before having to accept or decline the offer. Mix in a dab of the opinions of the candidate’s family, friends, significant other, college advertising professor, and mailman. Bring to a rolling boil. Let sit over the weekend. What do you get? One big-fat-broken deal.
No self-respecting recruiter wants his or her candidate to make a bad decision. If it just isn’t the right fit, it just isn’t the right fit. However, a candidate should know if the opportunity wasn’t right before the offer is on the table. All the questions should have been asked, and once the offer is out, it should be a no-brainer at this point. If it is not, you are dealing with fear and it is your job to put on your recruiter/psychiatrist hat and work through it with your candidate.
An important fact to remember is something my grandmother used to tell me, “You can’t make everyone happy all of the time.” Making an offer on a Friday and giving the candidate an entire weekend to “think” about it really equates to giving the candidate 3 days to let everyone in their lives put in their two cents worth of advice. Because you can’t make everyone happy all of the time, inevitably someone the candidate asks is going to offer a dissenting opinion, furthering the seed of doubt that was already planted by fear.
Personally, I love my family. But would I let them make decisions for my career? Hell no. I would have them make decisions for my relationships before my career. I have worked too hard to get where I am professionally to let someone who really knows nothing about what I do make a decision based on outdated, “back in my day,” criteria. Candidates don’t always see it this way and want to run it by everyone including their high school prom date for validation - this is a huge mistake because no matter what decision they make, someone will not approve.
My advice to you? Find a way to help the candidate see that fear is a mechanism and to remember the reasons they went on that first interview. Remember that change is not always embraced immediately, there is often times resistance as a method of making ourselves feel secure. It is our jobs to match the right people with the right jobs. It is also our jobs to not let that right person walk away from the right job because their own fears talk them out of it. Face the fear and do it anyway.
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