Executive search is a personal business, and the path to salary negotiation with top talent is a strategic one, with many important steps and considerations along the way. Helbling recruiters believe the key to successful negotiations is making sure you have covered all the right questions with prospective candidates before talking dollars and cents.

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Negotiating Job Offers with Top Talent
It’s More Than Just Dollars and Cents
rom an outside perspective, salary negotiation with a job
candidate appears to be a simple process: just find a
candidate who has the right skills and
offer them slightly more money than
they are currently making. This may
sound like an oversimplification, but
many professionals responsible for
hiring think this way. Our search
consultants at Helbling & Associates
believe that recruiting is a personal
business. When partnering on a
project as personal as executive
search, finding a mutually agreeable
solution is not always straightforward.
Successful offer negotiation is about
far more than salary. Hiring is a
strategic process, with a number of
stages and crucial variables to
consider along the way. Failing to
make these considerations or
bypassing important steps can result
in unsuccessful searches or
problematic salary negotiations. This
article will address several key factors
that come into play when making an
offer to a top talent candidate.
Before an Offer is Made
All the moving pieces of the role itself need to be in alignment
before even thinking about dollars and cents. Does the role
meet the company’s current needs? Is the scope of the job and
opportunity clearly defined? What is the value of this role to the
company? Our recruiters consult with our clients throughout the
search process (including improving position descriptions,
identifying candidates, interview
coaching, and negotiating
compensation packages), alerting
them to all of the critical factors
discussed in this article and helping
them focus on selling the opportunity
to a candidate.
And, there is always the undeniable
importance of cultural fit. At Helbling,
we emphasize this component of
every search we have the opportunity
to perform. Even if a candidate has
the technical ability to perform the
functions of a role, if the cultural fit is
wrong, the salary doesn’t matter. On
the other hand, once the client and
candidate determine that they want
each other, the compensation
arrangement becomes much easier to
navigate.
Many hiring managers wrongly
assume that the strategy ends once a
candidate comes in for an interview,
and that may impact the way they
negotiate salary. Convincing a
candidate to walk through the door does not necessarily mean
the candidate is sold on the opportunity. It’s important to stay
strategic and remain focused on the value of the role and the
overall goals of the organization throughout the interviews and
negotiation process.
By Caroline Drazin, with the assistance of Helbling consultants, Tom Dunn, Marc Datz, Jim Lord, Matt Lesher, Ryan Pugh, and Joe Wargo
F
All the moving pieces of the
role itself need to be in
alignment before even
thinking about dollars and
cents. Does the role meet the
company’s current needs? Is
the scope of the job and
opportunity clearly defined?
What is the value of this role to
the company?

2. Negotiating Job Offers with Top Talent Spring 2014 Navigator
Identifying Key Motivations
In a previous article, How to Evaluate a Prospective Hire’s True
Motivations & Interests, we discussed the importance of
identifying a potential candidate’s key motivations, technical
capabilities, career goals and personality in order to assess
whether they are the right fit for a company’s culture. This type
of intelligence can not only help determine whether a candidate
should be considered, but it is also
useful to have when structuring an
offer.
Discovering why a candidate is
looking to leave their current
employer should be one of the first
things to uncover. Many employers
ask this directly as part of their
standard repertoire of interview
questions, but as our previous
article notes, this often triggers a
rehearsed response that tells little
about true motivations. A series of
more probing questions may yield a
better understanding of what is
driving a candidate to make a
move.
One possible motivation unrelated
to salary is quality of life. For
example, a candidate currently with
a construction or engineering firm may be wooed to an owner
organization (such as an institution or public agency) due to
the quality of life typically associated with that type of
organization, even if the compensation package isn’t quite as
attractive. Quality of life can refer to such things as vacation
time, opportunity for personal development, working
environment, or work-life balance, to name a few.
The current state of the economy and job market is another
factor that may realign a candidate’s priorities when assessing
a job opportunity. When the market is particularly volatile, job
seekers may be more focused on guaranteed positions in
stable companies than achieving a bump in salary or taking on
more responsibility. As the markets shifts, employers must
adapt their hiring strategies to those changing conditions.
As experience will tell, it’s not always about the money.
The Million-Dollar Counter Offer
A high-level candidate we recently placed turned down a
substantial counter offer due to other aspects about the new
position that made it more enticing, such as location, trusted
leadership, and opportunity for growth. Again, most serious
candidates are not only looking for higher salaries. Still, it’s
important to identify the ones who are early on, versus those
who are committed to the new role. If compensation is the only
motivating factor, a candidate is much more likely to accept a
counter offer.
Counter offers are a weighty consideration in any negotiation
that requires drawing a passive candidate from an existing
position. When targeting “top-tier” talent, a counter offer can
generally be expected, and hiring managers will want to be
prepared for that in advance.
When working with our recruiters,
clients are given the luxury of
knowing what potential candidates
are currently earning; part of a
recruiter’s responsibility is
gathering this kind of information to
help clients make tailored offers.
However, it’s a misconception that
a candidate’s offer should be solely
based on what they were previously
making (for example, there is no
specific percentage raise that is
appropriate across the board), and
ideal candidates should not be
undervalued just because they
were underpaid at their last job. An
offer should be based on the value
of the role and the abilities of the
candidate, particularly when a
counter offer is likely.
Making it Personal
A candidate’s spouse can have a huge effect on the success
of a hire, whether they are advocating for or against taking the
new role. At times, a husband, wife and/or partner can be a
client’s best cheerleader if they are on board. During the
negotiation process, it’s sometimes helpful to invite the
candidate and their spouse to dinner, getting them engaged in
the process and helping them buy in. This can increase the
spouse’s/partner’s level of comfort with the change and remove
the uncertainty associated with a new company.
In one instance, a candidate requested that our client join him
and his wife for dinner. The experience was critical in
demonstrating the company’s personal commitment in the long
term, and gave him a higher level of comfort with what was to
come. With his spouse’s support, the candidate ultimately
accepted.
On the other hand, we have seen an offer flatly rejected
because the candidate’s spouse decided that, astrologically,
the alignment of the planets and stars was unfavorable for
making changes at that time. Whether that particular reason
was true or false, the influence a husband, wife and/or partner
can have on a candidate’s decision can’t be underestimated.
Most serious candidates are not
only looking for higher salaries.
Still, it’s important to identify the
ones who are early on, versus
those who are committed to the
new role. If compensation is the
only motivating factor, a candidate
is much more likely to accept a
counter offer.

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Beyond the Base
Base salary is only one of many elements that make up an
offer. Every candidate is unique, and structuring an attractive
compensation package tailored to their individual needs can
show a company’s commitment to bringing him/her on board.
Depending upon the type of company, there are a variety of
creative ways to enhance an offer. For example, a higher
education institution may not be able to offer equity to a
candidate, but they may be able to offer free tuition to a
candidate’s children. Other possible components include
guaranteed bonuses, signing bonuses, relocation assistance,
or additional vacation time.
As noted earlier, getting verification of the full package a
candidate is currently receiving can go a long way in helping a
company understand how to structure a favorable offer. It’s
important for a company to know where there is flexibility and
where there isn’t, and to not be afraid to say no. A company
may not be able to give candidates everything they ask for, but
should know ahead of time where it may be able to concede.
Conclusion
When preparing to enter negotiation with a candidate, the most
basic rule of thumb to remember is to make sure everything is
in alignment (including the planets) before putting an offer on
the table. Understand what the company is looking for, what
the candidate’s parameters are, and what kind of offer it will
take to satisfy both parties. Here are just a few questions to ask
before making an offer:
• What are the candidate’s key motivating factors?
Salary, location, family, upward mobility, etc.
• Does this candidate have the right cultural fit for this
organization?
• If relocation is necessary, is the candidate willing, and
what will it take to make that happen?
• What is the candidate’s full compensation package
now?
• In terms of compensation, what areas are flexible, and
what areas are firm?
• Are there other incentives beyond salary that might
entice this candidate to accept?
Back to the earlier point about staying strategic, the work is still
not over once the candidate says yes. It’s crucial to stay
engaged after the offer is accepted. Both the client and the
search consultant should stay connected throughout the
onboarding process. Encourage other team members to reach
out and make contact, congratulating the new hire and making
them feel welcome.
Negotiating Job Offers with Top Talent Spring 2014 Navigator
Caroline Drazin is Marketing Coordinator with Helbling & Associates. She works closely with our search consultants in developing
articles and blogs about talent management, career development and executive search. She may be reached at
carolined@helblingsearch.com.