Tips to Avoid Losing Prospective Employees to Counter Offers

While there are plenty of opportunities in the heavy highway, heavy civil, and commercial construction industries, landing top talent isn’t always easy. This is especially true if the prospective employee’s expertise is specialized, and if they add tremendous value to their current firm. 

 

As an employer, you seek to have the very best associated with your firm. 

 

To get started, you need to put your best foot forward when giving an offer. Top talent deserves top offers, many times over what the going market will bear. 

 

Then, you need to ask yourself, how prepared are you to deal with counteroffers? Do you have a strategy in place to deal with it when it happens? What is your approach when it comes to talking to candidates in this scenario?

 

To help answer these questions, we’ve prepared this guide to ensure that your company continually lands the best in class candidates. 

 

Expect counteroffers

 

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

 

Sure, positivity is proactive because it can motivate improved hiring rates. However, there’s no disputing that some truths about the hiring process will always prevail. 

 

Civil and commercial construction counteroffers are commonplace these days. Every company wants to lead the market with the very best on its team. 

 

As such, most organizations will strive to ensure that they don’t lose their top talent simply because they cannot facilitate an employee’s continued stay.

 

To avoid counteroffers; it’s best to be direct during the interview process. For starters, get insights into prospective civil and commercial construction employees’ mindsets by asking them questions like:

 

• What is motivating you to make a move?
• Tell us about your past history and why you left previous positions and companies.
• Do you believe your current employer will give you a counteroffer to hold on to you? How are you likely going to respond once that happens?
• Other than us, are you currently interviewing with other companies? At which stage of the hiring process are you with those companies?

 

These questions can help you discern why prospective employees you encounter are interested in your open positions. 

 

The key motivators are usually the need for better career opportunities, a desire for more responsibilities, improved compensation, a better work-life balance, or a need to relocate geographically.

 

With a good understanding of why they’re looking for a new job, you are better prepared at handling counteroffers if and when they happen. 

 

This kind of insight lets you emphasize deliberately the pieces of the job that meet their needs. 

 

Given that you already know what they want to achieve, you can confidently remind prospective civil and commercial construction employees about their primary motivations for leaving their current employer. 

 

Let them know that over 75% of those who accept counteroffers are let go from their current firm within six months. They will always be that employee that may leave down the road if approached with another “great” opportunity. There will always be a trust issue between them and their leadership.

 

Be prepared to sweeten the deal with a signing bonus, a little more salary, or maybe an interim performance and salary review mid-year, say at six months, then again at their year anniversary.

 

With your company ready to help steer their path towards greatness, you’ll find it easier to keep them on board with their decision to accept your offer.