How to Professionally Decline an IT Recruiting job Offer
As an IT recruiter on the job market, you will likely be offered more than one opportunity. Subsequently, there will come a time when you need to choose the IT recruiting opportunity is right for you. After accepting, the question arises how to professionally decline the job offers from the other IT staffing companies.
However, before making that decision, take a look at all of the factors – not just compensation. What is your opportunity for growth within the IT recruiting firm? Could you see yourself working in their IT staffing office? Did you get a good sense of whether you would enjoy reporting to your boss? What about your peers and other IT recruiters Boston? Also consider which IT recruiting position will better suit your work-life balance needs at the time.
Once you have decided which job offer to accept, you then have to contact the other IT recruiting agencies and professionally decline their offers. Always leave a good impression and put your best foot forward. Subsequently, make sure to call the hiring manager personally. Don’t leave it to chance that they received an email notification instead.
When you decline the IT recruiting job offer, make sure to thank the hiring manager for the time they spent interviewing you and informing you more about the position. Their time is just as important as yours so make sure you express your gratitude. Next explain your reasoning for declining the offer. Remember to keep the reason as legitimate as possible. Do not make the hiring manager feel bad as in the future you may need to interact with them. Finally, leave on good terms. Tell them that you enjoyed your conversation(s) and would like to keep in touch. You never know what the future holds.
Counter-offers in the IT Recruiting Industry
It’s counterintuitive, but counter-offers are almost always counterproductive for your career.
Sure, it’s an ego boost, but a backhanded one, when you think about it, no? If you were so valuable to the technical recruiting company all along, how come you had to quit to get your IT staffing company to realize it?
The simple answer is that most IT recruiting companies don’t have to be proactive in this labor market. They can coast because the demand for talent isn’t that hot and there are lots of unemployed IT professionals out there. There’s no need to spend extra money unless the company is forced to do it. That must be the case because they’ve made you a counter-offer. It looks like you’re in the driver’s seat now.
But you’re not. You just think you are.
If you take a counter-offer, and then kick back, it’s likely that you’ll be kicked out.
The reason that most IT recruiting firms make counter-offers is so that they – rather than you – are in control of the timetable for transition. When someone resigns, the general rule is a two week notice period (a month or longer for those in IT staffing management roles.) That means the IT recruiting agency has to scramble to find a replacement for the role you’ve been filling. Chances are that it’s going to take longer than that to find a candidate who’s going to be a good fit.
That’s why they’ll give you more to stay around. While you’re basking in the satisfaction of receiving more money and/or a better title, your boss may well be reviewing resumes and taking his or her time to interview replacements. When they find that particular candidate, you’ll be history. It’s a nasty surprise for the unaware.
You might think that being eliminated would be the worst thing that can happen if you take a counter-offer, but you’d be wrong. The worst thing is that you stay, and are – from now on – untrustworthy…disloyal…or an extortionist. It depends on the way your boss views your actions.
The end result is, no matter how you behave in the future, you’ll always be regarded with suspicion. You’ve already shown that you’re ready to leave, so management will be waiting for you to do it again. You’ll be at the bottom of the list for promotions and good assignments. Training? Why would a company invest in someone whose longevity is questionable?
You’ll also be subject to some of the office blacklisting. No matter how discreetly the counter-offer situation is handled, there’s always the possibility that news will leak out. Don’t be surprised if you’re increasingly cut off from the other IT recruiters in the office.
Therefore, before you grab a counter-offer, it’s important to think about what’s being offered and what actually brought you to the point of leaving in the first place. A counter-offer is almost always about money. However, the reasons people leave are almost never about money alone.
The reasons people leave are money and something else. Where’s the something else in the counter-offer?
What if the new job doesn’t work out? What if it’s no better than the job you’re leaving? Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.
It’s just as likely to be a good change as a bad change. At first, it may be hard to tell which was the safe alternative and which was the sorry one. Over time, you’ll get some perspective. And, even if it’s not for the better, for the first months, at least it’s different.
You’ll have the opportunity to look back at your old situation and decide whether it was really as hard as you thought while you were there. Your former employer gets the same opportunity, assuming that you handled your exit gracefully.
A respectful refusal to a counter-offer can leave the door open for an eventual return. All parties can benefit from a hiatus. I’ve heard from lots of folks who’ve left employers and then come back. These days, it’s very acceptable to leave and return later with a higher profile.
The skills and experiences you gain with another company can make you more valuable than if you had stayed. Plus, you have a better negotiating position, knowing what the culture and environment of your former company were. You may be able to bargain for better working conditions or a more favorable reporting structure in addition to the compensation and title you want.
But first you have to handle your exit properly. It’s a delicate process to extract yourself with your reputation and relationships intact when a counter-offer is on the table. And regardless of whether you intend to return, you do want to preserve the company’s respect for you.
Don’t get caught up in a discussion of where you’re going and what makes this opportunity so much better than your current job. Politely refuse to discuss it by saying that you want to focus on an orderly transition. Keep saying it, if you have to, until you make your point.
How To Impress An IT Recruiter Through The Phone
Competition in the IT staffing industry keeps growing based on the need for skilled IT professionals. Subsequently more and more IT recruiting firms are hiring additional technical recruiters. With so many IT recruiters out there, it’s imperative that high-tech professionals utilize their services. At no cost to the prospective candidate, IT recruiters Boston can do all of the leg-work that most IT job hunters can’t.
With the improving economic market conditions, more and more jobs are starting to open up. Because most IT managers don’t have time to sort through resumes and screen every candidate, the need for IT recruiters MA has subsequently increased as well.
So what does this mean for the job seeker? You must impress the technical recruiter over the phone. This can be a little more difficult as you will not be able to notice any changes in their face or how they react to specific explanations about your experience.
You need to pay attention to the sounds coming from the IT recruiter. Listen to their pauses as well as the variances in their voice. This will help you understand a bit more about what the hiring manager may be thinking.
When speaking with technical recruiters over the phone, make sure to be courteous of them taking notes. You do not want to speak too quickly and not allow them to jot down all your information. In addition, many people tend to speak a little faster when talking over the phone. This may give the IT headhunter the impression that you were nervous. Therefore, talk a bit slower and clear – you want to portray yourself as calm and confident over the phone.
Interviews over the phone are much more difficult then in-person interviews. There are many other factors that negatively impact your interview, such as background noise and/or bad reception. Therefore, remember to prepare ahead of time like you would for an in-person interview.