How to Handle Offers

Offer Time: Don't Do This

One
of the mistakes I see from job seekers is changing their compensation
expectations during the interview process.  It's as if there is salary
inflation causing their worth to go up over a period of weeks.  I
noticed this long before I became a recruiter - I made this mistake
early in my career and it cost me a great opportunity.

The Company's Perspective

When a company interviews a job seeker, they want to make sure that
the individual will accept an offer if they extend one.  For this
reason, hiring managers are very complimentary during the process. 
Many will even discuss things like, "when you're on board, you're going
to be very successful fixing this,"  with "this" being some major
problem. 

This type of language is polite and in the company's best interest. 
They want the job seeker to feel good about joining the company. 
Receiving compliments during an interview does not mean the hiring
manager is going to want to hire you.  All it means is that the hiring
manager is being polite and is trying to insure that you want the job -
in case they decide to hire you.

The Job Seeker's Perspective

Job seekers should feel proud that they are being courted. 
Unfortunately some make the mistake of assuming that they "have the
job" and forget to continue to sell themselves.  Worse, some job
seekers interpret every compliment as an indication that they should
expect a higher salary.  This is the mistake I made and the mistake
I've seen other job seekers make.

Most companies have salary guidelines for each position.  Large
companies will have salary ranges and guidelines for how different
experience levels affect the placement in a range.  Although it's not
completely scientific, there is often a lot of analysis that goes into
setting salaries. 

My Mistake

Now lets look at a real life example - the mistake I made early in
my career.  I was being considered for a position that was in many
respects, absolutely ideal.  It was a significant promotion over my
current role.  It had a great opportunity for advancement.  It was in a
much better location (and had paid relo).  It had a better compensation
level.  Finally, the type of work was closer to what I wanted to do
than my job at the time.  But I didn't get the job - and I was the one
that caused it to fall apart.

When I started the interview process, I was told the compensation
range (I was working with a recruiter and they filled me in).  The
bottom of the range was above my current comp and acceptable to me.  In
the first interview it was clear my experience was less than they
wanted (remember this would have been a big promotion for me).  There
were other skills that made me an attractive candidate, but experience
wasn't one of them. 

Through the interview process, everything went well and I
demonstrated enough potential to get an offer.  Unfortunately, every
time I heard that I would be very successful with them, that I would
have a good chance of getting promoted quickly and that I would be a
key part of the team, I concluded they were getting desperate to hire
me.  All of this made me conclude that they wouldn't offer the bottom
of their range, they would offer something higher.  I started expecting
an offer around the mid-point.

The Offer

When they made the offer, it was below the bottom of the range I had
been told at the beginning - not by a lot, but definitely below the
range.  This was justifiable since I really didn't have the experience
for the job and would have to grow into it.  The problem was that I
didn't think about that until it was too late.  I was so convinced they
would offer a figure well above the bottom of the range that I was
actually shocked by the offer.  My reaction, immature and arrogant, led
to the offer being pulled.

In hindsight, the offer was good, the opportunity was phenomenal and the company wanted me.  And yet, I didn't get the job.

It was an important lesson.  First, no matter what I thought of the
offer, I should have reacted positively.  Second, I should have
recognized that when they complimented me, they were being polite and
when they said I really didn't have as much experience as they wanted,
they were discounting my salary.  I did the opposite of these. 

Bottom Line:  React positively when an offer is
made.  You can assess the value after the call.  This doesn't mean you
don't negotiate the best deal.  Just don't let emotions dictate the
result.