Even the NFL is not Immune to the Human Factors that Impact Counteroffers

Super Bowl LII was supposed to be Josh McDaniels’ last game as the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. At that point he had made a verbal commitment to go to Indianapolis to be their new head coach. The Colts even went as far as tweeting out an announcement about their new head coach. Then: A last-minute announcement from McDaniels that he would not be heading to the Midwest, after all.

This massive hire didn’t come to pass for a few reasons. Just before heading to Indianapolis for a press conference announcing the job change, he met with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as well as Robert and Jonathon Kraft for what he thought was an exit interview. It turned out to be a meeting about how to keep McDaniels on as offensive coordinator. The Patriots sweetened the pot by giving McDaniels more decision-making authority over the roster, more money, and, in what seems to have put the deal over the edge, a long-term contract that would allow his children to stay at their schools for several more years. This left the Colts with some egg on their face for jumping the gun with their announcement, sure—but more importantly it left them without a head coach.

There’s a valuable lesson to be learned here about one of the major challenges to making a key hire: Counteroffers. The Colts had the man they wanted but lost him because they made a couple of big mistakes in their hiring process. The first big mess up was all about the timing of their offer. Because the Patriots were playing in the Super Bowl, they couldn’t officially hire him until after the long post season had ended. Giving a new hire too much time to think about an offer is bad enough but announcing the offer on top of that gave him the leverage he needed to get a substantial counteroffer from his current employer. There are so many factors that go into whether a candidate will accept a counteroffer it’s hard to pin down exactly which ones got McDaniels to stay. Did he even want to leave in the first place? Did it boil down to something as simple as monetary compensation? Was it simply the promise of a stable environment for his kids that kept him in New England?

The reality is, when it comes to combatting counteroffers, any of these circumstances might have been the nail in the deal’s coffin. There are tremendous human factors that can lead someone to stay put rather than take that big risk with a new job, and while they’re easy to dismiss, these human factors make all the difference.

Here’s how you can get to the heart of the many reasons your top candidates may choose to take a counteroffer—and what you can do to set them up to resist those counters as they come.

1. Ask the Right Questions

Due diligence is really important to making sure your candidate is fully reviewed. The most important weapon in your arsenal here is knowing what questions you need to ask. This goes beyond simply asking whether or not the candidate can handle the weather in the city they will relocate to. You have to dig deep. You need to ask the questions that will shine a light on potential factors that would lead them to take a counteroffer. By weeding out candidates who have that extra excuse to stay at their current job, you are getting closer to finding your perfect match. You need to make sure that you are asking about not just the candidate, but also their families. Is their spouse active in their community? Do their kids play sports for their schools? The answers to questions like these are important when you are trying to find a true sounding on your candidate’s enthusiasm for the new position and whether or not they would be open to a counteroffer.

2. Set Your Offer in Stone Before the Offer Letter

The most critical step you can take once you’ve found your candidate is to make sure your offer is set in stone before you send your offer letter. Too often, employers view the offer letter as a big event—but it should only be an accounting of what you’ve already agreed upon in your conversations thus far. You want to make sure that they are absolutely 100% going to take this position. Your candidate shouldn’t be surprised by anything in the offer because you’ve already thoroughly talked about it. And the 48-hour deadline you give them should be no big deal because their mind has already been made up—no matter how persuasive any counteroffer is.

3. Educate Your Candidates on the Dangers of Counteroffers

The true danger of taking a counteroffer is that the hand has been tipped and now their former company knows that they were halfway out the door. Once your candidate tenders their resignation, they are showing their former employer their cards. The company knows they are losing a valuable asset and will probably try to figure out what it will take to get them to stay.  Make sure you candidate knows that while accepting a counteroffer may make sense in the short term, this rarely works out in the long haul. Chances are once a company knows you wanted to make a move, that candidate will be replaced as soon as their old employer can hire a search firm to do so. This is why every HR department or internal recruiting team should educate their recent hires on how to handle counteroffers, so they don’t waste time recruiting the perfect candidate only to lose them to a counteroffer. Talk to your candidates about the likelihood of being replaced in the near future, and make an offer to help them with their resignation letter—whatever you do, make it clear that you absolutely want this person on your team and you’ll support them in any way you can to make that happen.

The Bottom Line: Landing Top Talent is About More than the Job You are Offering

When it comes to sealing a hiring deal, it’s not just about the money that you are offering, it’s about the person you are hiring and the human factors that go into that. This is where a new hire is won or lost. You need to be looking at your hires as more than numbers in your budget or names on a resume. If you find yourself consistently losing top candidates, it may mean you need to take a step back and remind yourself that you are hiring somebody who is probably motivated by more than money and it’s your job to figure out what those motivations are.   

—Tony O’Neill, President

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