"The last mile" in talent search and selection
In many occasions we think that the biggest problem to solve within a selection process is the identification of professionals in the market with a suitable profile for our company. Nothing could be further from the truth. These days, the identification of talent is absolutely democratized and within the reach of any company that dedicates certain resources to the recruitment phase, but what happens when the problem arises when we are negotiating the incorporation at the end of the process?
In today's talent market, it is increasingly common not to achieve the intended objective, to recruit the desired person, in the last meeting of the process, which usually coincides with the recruitment of the person who decides and in which definitive proposals are made to the desired professional. It is here where we encounter the two great deadly sins of selection: the mis-selling of our business project and/or a poorly prepared compensatory offer. Perhaps up to this point we had done everything perfectly, and we have the right person but... we have not been able to close the process. It is here where the professionals in negotiating the incorporation of talent must act.
It must be taken into account that people, generally, make decisions based on perception, therefore, based on subjective aspects and hardly controllable by an inexperienced interlocution in these incorporation processes. It is of vital importance to know how to transmit to the desired person the reason for that need, which has motivated to go out to the market to look for talent, and the importance of that position within the company. It is useless for the company to have a good name, a good employer branding policy, if it does not know how to make your project attractive at the moment of truth, that is, to sell its value proposition during a selection process closing negotiation. This, let's call it "final defect of form", can make the candidate not see the attractiveness of the position or the improvement that the change would mean in his or her professional career, therefore, the probability that he or she will say "NO" is high, which will mean a high cost, direct and opportunity, for the company.
The other casuistry, which is by no means a substitute for the previous one but usually appears sequentially, appears in the negotiation of the compensation package, both salary (fixed, variable, bonus, etc.) and non-salary (insurance, conciliation, etc.). On many occasions, the company has been able to sell its value proposition but makes a low financial offer or working conditions that are not in line with the candidate's interests or expectations. This causes uncertainty and insecurity to the applicant, who will surely reject the offer because he/she considers that his/her professional profile is being undervalued, that the position is not relevant enough within the company, or simply that he/she does not perceive coherence with the information previously received about the functions or responsibilities to be performed within the company.
Undoubtedly, in both situations, the business value proposition or the proposal of compensatory conditions must be thoroughly worked on before the negotiation. It is important to determine who will be responsible for negotiating with the candidate. Perhaps the company, on many occasions, has to consider that the person who will finally make the decision on a new hire may not be the most suitable person to lead the negotiation (if it is the boss, he/she will have to be convinced of this). And, if objectively we do not have this figure internally, it may be more than interesting to have a senior recruiting advisor who can accompany us in the "last mile" of the process of incorporating talent to our company.
Signed: Antía Barros Fernández
Director of Recruitment, Talent and Audit