Pot Sitting/Will The Candidate Accept The Offer?

Recruiter Life: Absolutely, No Pot Sitting!

Well, here I go, close to ninety days into my toughest search assignment of the year and one of the four candidates I submitted is about to receive the "pot of gold", the "golden ticket", the "big salami", the offer.

Oh, I have been down this path hundreds of times and it seems like it never gets any easier. The anticipation of closing the deal is all consuming. The client asks if I would like her to make the offer or would I prefer she forward it to me and I will make the offer. As usual, because I always try to stay in control of the process, say, "fire it over and I will make the offer this evening". Immediately, I pound out an e-mail to the candidate informing him that he will be receiving a verbal offer tonight. I also let him know that before a written offer is passed along, a verbal acceptance must come first.

As promised, I call the candidate promptly at the agreed upon time, 8:00 p.m. We exchange pleasantries then I proclaim with passion and pride, that the client would like to make an offer. Better yet, I believe it is precisely where he wanted to be in regard to his career path and total compensation package. Of course, I am anticipating the candidate will react to this tremendous news with great joy. To my surprise, the response is tepid at best, however, positive and optimistic. The candidate proceeds to thank me and the client for a most generous offer and informs us that he will be back in touch by Friday (did I mention it's Tuesday?). Wow, I really don't feel as good as I thought I would and now reality sets in. The wait is on, The powerful urgency of "pot sitting" has begun.

Will he accept the offer or not?

The sun rises and the next day begins. The first thought that jumps into my head is, you guessed it, will he accept the offer or not? The day kicks off as pretty routine. My game plan today is to recruit, do some business development and do a whole lot of "pot sitting". A couple of days go by and we have had no communication with the candidate. What makes matters even worse, I have not heard from him since the offer was made. The impatience and anticipation is excruciating. The ability to concentrate on the job at hand is difficult because I cannot stop thinking about the offer and if it will be accepted or declined.

As usual, I am juggling several different searches at once and regardless of the outcome of this particular search, the others are equally important and hold a high urgency on this week's priority list. Obviously, the busier one is, the less time they have to think about a deal going through or not. The most successful recruiters have learned that is it important to keep your emotions on an even keel. Not too high and not too low and I am very good at tricking my mind into other thought processes. Our firm's particular favorite is business development. We thrive on sharing our company's information for the first time with perspective new clients. It is an exciting and rewarding challenge to introduce ourselves for the first time and be successful in communicating our company's mission. The deeper I dive into those conversations, the less time will be spent "pot sitting". Another technique I encourage is when I find myself spending too much time thinking about the deal, I get some fresh air and go for a walk. Stepping out of the office stimulates my mind in other areas other than work or the deal.

Experience and wisdom has taught me, it's impossible to control the uncontrollable. The offer was made and I followed all the correct steps leading up to the offer. Now it's important I sit back in order to give the candidate enough space to make up his or her mind.

Good luck and may your interview to placement ratio be the best it's ever been!

No Pot Sitting Allowed.