Congratulations! You have attended your interviews; prepared and delivered your presentation: completed psychometric, numeracy, literacy tests and, for a senior role, possibly attended a 3rd party organized assessment centre.
Your recruiter is now advising that you are to be offered the role and you want the job. (or why have you invested so much of your time ….) , but you want to negotiate the best possible terms.
90% of offers of employment from clients to our candidates are accepted so our record here of fit and negotiating solutions is very good.
Our objective here is : get a win for our client but on terms that that make you, our candidate, feel valuable and valued.
Each client does things differently. A “ hands on” manager will often like to call you direct and may want to negotiate directly with you. This sort of hiring manager is the one that will probably have pressed you to reveal your current salary and every detail of your current package as part of the process.
Our job is to facilitate our client’s discussion with you, but to have already diplomatically made clear to them your financial parameters for moving jobs to avoid an impasse, and, of course, to already have qualified with our client that their pay scales can accommodate your aspirations.
Our role is also to diplomatically get across that your current salary is not relevant to what you are willing to move jobs for. What you will move for is the only figure that matters.
The key objective is to ensure that you receive an offer in writing. Even if the offer is not exactly what you want there is then a basis for discussion and negotiation & crucially our client has committed to you.
If we are negotiating for you then we will want your clear parameters as to what terms you want and also want to know on what terms you would not accept an offer.
Our role is to get a win for all parties , as far as we are concerned “everything is discussable even if not always negotiable”
When the verbal terms are agreed you will then receive your written offer and your contract of employment. Some clients will provide us with a copy of your offer terms and your contract of employment and we can send these to your private email account whilst your hard copy offer arrives.
Some clients will scan a signed offer on company headed paper to a PDF document and simply send the offer documentation by email. This is a legally binding offer that obviates the need to send paperwork by post.
We have extensive experience of reviewing contracts of employment and can advise on normal practice and can provide comment of any aspect of the offer terms.
You can expect the offer to be subject to references: there to be a probationary period and bonuses / commissions to be non contractual and also subject to change. Some clients will not want to provide full written details of their commission plan until you have started.
To avoid any suprises, particularly if the variable element of the total compensation is a significant percentage, we will ensure that you know what your reward will be for achieving your objectives. If specific sales targets have been discussed at interviews, whilst it is unlikely that this sort of thing will be included in any employment contract, we will try to facilitate an exchange of emails on key points to make you comfortable.
The majority of contracts will have restrictive covenants of one form or another. We can advise on what is normal. If you are an industry veteran with a plethora of existing contacts going back >20 years, it would not be reasonable for restrictions to apply to these. We will mediate to facilitate an acceptable compromise for all parties.
The more senior a position being offered, the more likely our client is to be willing and able to negotiate bespoke terms.
If there are issues that are truly non negotiable for either party, our role is to quickly identify them and ensure that each party understands what these are and then makes a definitive decision.
