I can not reject an opportunity to ruin my career!

Recently I headhunted a very professional, experienced and perfectly qualified candidate from one of the key companies in one heavily-competitive business sphere in Latvia. I placed her to a similar position (sales manager) into her competitor’s company (my Client).

She got all she wanted and even more. Great advancement opportunities, challenging tasks, a position in a top-class international company and on top of that she also got a significant salary raise. So she signed the contract a few weeks ago, supposed to start within 2 months from signing the agreement.

Everybody is happy.

2 days ago… My Client receives an e-mail from her. The core is “I am staying at my current company. They made an offer I could not reject.”

Give me a break! “An offer I can’t reject”.

Most of the successful headhunters I know usually prep. a candidate, they warn about counter-offers, draw them pictures, make them feel what is it usually all about. They make candidates understand the reality behind a counter-offer, they teach candidates how to handle counter-offers and explain them “why you should usually turn them down”.

I usually do the same thing, I spend time to prepare candidates. I help them understand what actions are in their best interests. Should I even bother telling you that I skipped this part this time? I mean she certainly seemed to be a bright candidate; a candidate you could call a smart one and I just thought: “well, she knows it all anyway.”

WRONG! “I am staying at my current company. They made an offer I could not reject.”

Why did they make such an offer? I’ll tell you why. The market is VERY competitive in this particular business. There are very few sales professionals in this market segment. It takes a whole lot of effort to train newcomers. Loosing one of the best employees to a competitor…Would it be fair to say “it’s devastating”?

So her Employer did what he should do. He offered her a very high salary (big raise on top of my Clients offer which initially was a big raise as well). So they offered her money in order to prevent her from joining my Client. I believe the Candidate greatly diminished her chances of further career opportunities. You know… “word of mouth”.

“She changed her mind 3 weeks after signing the contract.” These news spread pretty fast.

Winners & losers?

Client? Well, I guess I can find them another placable candidate. They know it.

Candidate’s current company? Hmm.. Well they still have their sales manager working. Though something tells me that they are starting their search for a replacement.

Candidate? Imagine her employer sacks her. I don’t think she has any chances to join a major company in her sphere of business anymore. She has a curse on herself.

I believe I am not too harsh making statements in this particular case. It is as bad as it can be – for her.

She is really a good professional in what she does at work. How long will they allow her continue doing it?

Sad.

Short term gains & long term trouble…

I believe many headhunters have similar stories. It would be interesting to read some.