How to Handle a Counter Offer
Posted by adminIn: Recruiting
23 Oct 2009
You made a decision to seek out a new job, interviewed with a prospective company, an offer was extended, and all was going great until you gave notice to your current employer and they hit you with a counter offer. What to do now?
If you are a valuable resource to your current employer and boss they won’t want to see you walk out the door, particularly to the competition. They will entice you with a counter offer with the hope that you will stay. Although being made an attractive counter offer can be validating to your ego, you should question a few things before giving them your answer:
• Why didn’t the company recognize your worth while you were there and adjust your compensation and title accordingly?
• If your employer truly thought you were worthy why didn’t they improve your situation earlier? Do you need to resign every time you want to increase your visibility within a company?
Of course not.
Let’s face it, there were reasons why you considered leaving your current job. Those reasons still exist. If money was a prime motivator for resigning, receiving a better counter offer will not change the current situation or state of play. Before accepting the counter offer ask yourself why the employer has made it in the first place. Much research has been done over the years which shows only 6% of employees who accept a counter offer are still with their current employer after 12 months.
Counter offers are often a reactive attempt by employers to keep their knowledge base from walking away. There is a concern now they may not be able to fill your role in time so they will want to keep you there in the interim while they search for a replacement. Then consider you a risk and start contingency plans, for you may no longer be seen as a dedicated member of the team.
Part of the initial discussion with a prospective company and internal recruiter revolved around the best way to manage your career. You were asked why you were looking to begin with, your compensation expectations for a new job, and what ultimately is important to you. With this information a picture was formed on whether or not the new opportunity would meet your needs. If you have just received an offer from the prospective company then in all likelihood all your key points had been addressed. Why would you now consider a counter offer?
Leaving a job you have invested a lot of energy in is hard but there are a couple things to help make this transition go smoothly:
• Decline the counter offer in a respectful way and thank the current employer for the time you spent there. Be nice on the way out.
• Provide a plan to help transition your work and train a replacement, however, with some companies don’t be surprised to be walked out the door.
Either way, this will help ensure your moving forward with a clear conscious, knowing the reasons you decided to take the new job was based on informed decisions.
Much success!
Retaining Employees through Good Times and Bad
Posted by adminIn: Recruiting| Teams
19 Oct 2009
In this NYT article, CEO David C. Novak states there are two reasons people leave companies: either they don’t feel appreciated or they don’t get along with their boss. He continues by pointing out in order to retain your employees it is important to first recognize the talent within your company, take an active interest in them, and then find ways to help them succeed and grow in their career.
One would venture to say that it is the intent of most companies out there to retain their employees through good times and bad by finding ways to keep them continuously engaged and challenged. For what is important to an individual right after college is different eight years later, or twenty years into a career. It is often said that an individual will change careers at least three times in their lifetime.
So what prompts an employee to stay at a company of their own accord beyond monetary considerations? Priorities may change as an indiviudal moves through different phases of their personal and professional lives, but in speaking with employees at LifeSize, what emerged was a view in common with Mr. Novak’s charter above.
Namely, they felt it was important to be challenged and have interesting work; to work with a company that has great leadership and smart co-workers; to work on products that are successful and useful in the real world; and to like the people they work with and the environment they work in. Here are some additional thoughts on leveraging the talent within your company to retain the best employees:
Celebrate successes.
Listen to employees and tell them what you appreciate about their contribution.
Recognize their strengths often, acknowledge areas for growth and mentor them.
Help employees grow their career by initiating succession planning early on.
Provide a warm reception within company.
Create mutual and open communication with managers.
Keep them motivated by providing obtainable goals.
Help them stay connected by cross-pollinating teams.
Keep them actively involved in the company by having a say in your growth,
and include often in team decisions.
How are we doing? It was pleasing to hear consistent views on the strength of our company and how our employees felt included in our growth. LifeSize represents many of the qualities employees not only seek in a company, but stay with as well.
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- Tags: Career Growth, Retention, Teams
Feel Like You’re Getting the Run Around?
Posted by adminIn: Recruiting
8 Oct 2009
There is a current sentiment circling around about the length of time a company is taking these days to make a hiring decision and why that is happening. To a candidate is seems like it is taking forever, or at least, longer than seems reasonably appropriate. So how do you channel frustration of not hearing back from company in the timely way you want? And why do some companies never get back to you at all? What factors might be in play in this new hiring landscape?
In trying to offer a balanced and thoughtful discourse on this heated topic I will say from my experience that first off the current hiring “paralysis”, as some have called it, happens during all recessionary times. Companies slow down hiring and tend to take longer for several understandable reasons.
Usually, companies begin to be fiscally conservative, so what appears to be indecision on their part is less about an inability to make a hire than an awareness of how limited budgets and headcounts have changed the emphasis from hiring “ a good enough skill set” to bringing someone on board who is knowledgeable and productive day one. As such they are willing to wait (and wait) now for the right person instead of making a potential bad hire.
This new hiring criterion is difficult for everyone, for a company can lose out on good candidates who have since taken another position, and because passive candidates with the exact skills sets needed are hunkering down and not changing jobs. But it doesn’t take away from the frustration of being on the other side of the desk and not receiving timely feedback. So are there constructive things you could be doing during this lull, particularly if emails to recruiters are not yielding any new news?
Lamentably, you may need to first accept the idea that perhaps you don’t have what a company needs right now and will have to move on. Second, target the best jobs for your skills and apply to those positions only; third, keep in touch via networking sites and send out the occasional hello! And lastly, update your skills, take a class, join a group, and find other creative outlets to channel your energy so as not to lose any self-esteem from the lack of communication (we still like you). Yet, I do question how much a company should explain itself.
So will this current hiring landscape change? Probably not anytime soon, but it does allow both candidate and company time to reevaluate what is meaningful for the next step in their growth by focusing on priorities, building their network, putting processes in place, and expanding their knowledge base. Then both will be ready for when the next ramp up occurs.
LifeSize recruiting staff takes pride in providing timely updates and feedback which I believe sets us apart and illustrates our great culture. But even we cannot control outside influences, just merely offer guidance as best we can. We hope to continue to do that for you.
What do you think motivates decisions?
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- Tags: building skills, Hiring, jobs
Where’s the Love in Job Hunting?
Posted by MercedesIn: Recruiting
1 Oct 2009
Job hunting is a lot like dating. I know, I’ve said it before but it’s really true. When you find a great opportunity that appears to be worth checking out, you have to plan your attack carefully. In dating you want to show interest without going overboard. That’s why you probably ask that interesting someone to lunch first before going on a dinner date. Pursing that great job opportunity is no different.
First you apply for the position online and then you wait endlessly for a response. Unfortunately in today’s job market, it probably feels like you are asking Jennifer Anniston or George Clooney for a date and competing against 30 million other people. It’s tough to get noticed given the large number of applicants per position.
As a corporate recruiter sitting on the opposite side of the table, I have seen all types of new and innovative tactics from candidates to get noticed. Some work and some backfire. The trick is to appear interested, be memorable, but avoid crossing the line to stalker or annoying candidate. Unfortunately you can take it too far and that ultimately only hurts your cause.
So how do you rise to the top of the resume stack without crossing the line? Great candidates will leverage multiple angles to show interest in a position. The best place to start is simply submitting your resume to the job. Every recruiting department is different, so it can take from 24 hours to 3 weeks to process new incoming resumes based on the high level of activity. Be nice and give recruiting some time to evaluate your resume before calling to follow up. I’d suggest 1-2 weeks.
That’s not to say you should be complacent. Take advantage of extra time and start to circle your wagons. Search LinkedIn and other social networks to find friends and former colleagues who currently work at the company. Connect with them and ask how they like their job, the corporate culture, etc. Ask your friend to submit your resume to the Hiring Manager or the Recruiter. Employee referrals are always well respected and can help you jump forward in the long line of candidates. Do your research to learn more about the company, their products and their industry so that you are knowledgeable when you get that first call from HR or the Hiring Manager.
After a week or two, place a call into HR or Recruiting to follow up and check the status of your application. Be patient. Remember, it’s like dating and this is the equivalent to calling for a second date. The response rate will most likely tell you if the company is really into you and your resume. If you get mixed signals, realize that it’s probably not the best match and you should keep looking at other options. Don’t fixate, make excuses or kid yourself. Besides, don’t you want to find the company that is overly excited about having you join their team? Don’t settle for second best or make a square peg fit in a round hole. Life is too short to waste time at a company or job that doesn’t love you back.
College Recruiting on the Flip Side
Posted by MandyIn: Recruiting
25 Sep 2009
Earlier this week LifeSize attended the Career EXPO at the University of Texas. We were one of over one hundred other companies actively competing for great students looking for internships and full-time opportunities. Most companies were familiar household names including Microsoft, Oracle, and Rosetta Stone. In fact, our booth just happened to be set up across the aisle from them. Great booth positioning, but strong competition when looking for good talent.
LifeSize is well-known throughout our industry, but that’s not normally the case when my peers ask the all too common question of “who do you work for”. Being a relatively small company, we have to work a bit harder than others to get our name out there and recognized, particularly so when at a college career fair surrounded by public corporations. But in typical LifeSize fashion, we made our appearance known last Monday with a small crew of five recruiters and engineers throughout the day. It takes personality and charisma to prove that we’re an innovative company that offers positions just as attractive as the larger companies.
As a student at UT, I know exactly how it feels to be on the other side of the process. Every company tries to show candidates how and why they are the “best” place to work, but it’s still really intimidating to leave a resume with an employer. It was awesome to finally be the recruiter in this situation. I felt as if I were representing all interns that work hard to prove that they’re not just temporary aids. Placed in this professional setting, it made an obvious impression on students. I noticed the looks on their faces and how their nerves relaxed when they found out I was an intern. They were able to feel more comfortable and less pressured to make the “perfect” impression knowing that we could connect on a familiar level. We spoke conversationally and they tuned in more attentively when I described the hard-working, yet laid-back environment LifeSize embodies. Representing LifeSize as an intern at the Career EXPO showed just how this company values all of their employees.
Any company can say that their interns make a legitimate contribution to the work done, but we went a step further and actually proved it. In my opinion, the internship program at LifeSize doesn’t really feel like an internship at all. It’s more like working for yourself, or at least as if you were working a full-time position. I work hard on the assignments I’m given, but I’m not micro-managed. I’m able to take on a great deal of responsibility, but if I were to run across any questions or problems, my supervisors are completely supportive and happy to help.
It was incredible to be able to represent LifeSize and experience first hand what it’s like to be on both sides of the recruiting process. It made me feel valuable and important to the company, even if I am only an intern, which makes it easy for me to spread the word about LifeSize and why people should want to work here.
This week we are pleased to welcome a guest writer to our blog. Mandy is our HR Intern at LifeSize and is pursuing her Bachelors in Business Administration thru the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. Her contributions to our HR team are invaluable, especially as we focus on growing our internship program and college recruiting efforts.
Staying the Course
Posted by MercedesIn: Recruiting
4 Sep 2009
This week our HR team hosted a small focus group of LifeSize employees to discuss our corporate culture and values over a bite of lunch. We randomly selected a group of employees from all departments and made sure to include folks with different lengths of tenure at LifeSize. While we have only been in business for six years, it’s amazing how many of our early people are still with us and I must admit how pleasantly surprised I was by the constructive and positive comments about the company. Employees beamed when they spoke about how our culture is supportive, open and empowering.
That’s not to say that we aren’t human. But I was extremely pleased to hear how we still have maintained our enthusiasm for building innovative, easy to use products. More importantly, as an HR person I was delighted to find that each of us at LifeSize understands how our role contributes to the greater good and success of the company.
It’s rare to find an organization that can hold onto its soul while it bends and changes thru growth. I believe we have been fortunate because we bring people into the LifeSize family who share common values.
Have you been part of a company that managed to stay a special place over time? What do you think was the secret to success?
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- Tags: Corporate values, culture
About Us
The Recruiting Department at LifeSize Communications started this blog to share information with our talent community. It's a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about working at LifeSize.
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