You thought you were ready to make a leap. But then your boss jumps through
hoops to keep you. Now what?
By Elizabeth Garone
23 November 2015
Your job is going nowhere and your boss leaves a lot to be desired. So, you do
what any smart person would do: you start looking elsewhere and land a great
position through a recruiter.
Relationships matter
Tips for success across the recruitment divide
Recruiters are used to clients changing their minds, said Sam Kamyar, managing
director of recruitment consultancy Empiric. But ensure that you explain the
reasoning behind your decision." And, be sure to thank them for their time.
Good recruiters work with candidates long term. An experienced recruitment
professional... will endeavour to work with their candidates throughout their
entire careers, Kamyar said.
Everyone must be on the same page. Make no promises until you are absolutely
sure you don t want to be labelled as a timewaster.
Take heart, it's not easy to burn bridges if you're professional and honest.
And, stay in touch. When it's eventually time to move on, you'll both be
thankful you did.
Source: Sam Kamyar, managing director of recruitment consultancy Empiric
In the meantime, there s a shakeup at your company, and everything starts to
improve. The bad boss is out, and you suddenly have more responsibility and are
offered more money. So how do you turn down the recruiter and new employer
without burning your bridges?
Honesty is best
Recruiters hate to lose a good candidate, said Rachel Bitte, chief people
officer at San Francisco, US-based recruitment software company Jobvite, in an
email. So your decision might sting a bit, but the best way to handle it is
just to be as honest and straight-forward as possible.
When breaking the bad news, apologise, but emphasise your loyalty, and how when
a company makes positive changes, you want to be there to support that, Bitte
said. Keep your options open, and tell the recruiter you'd like to stay in
touch.
She suggested that you think about who else you know who might be a good fit
for the position that you're turning down, and recommend them to the recruiter.
If the recruiter gets a new lead out of you, they might be more willing to
forgive, she said.
It s never a good idea to complain or bad-mouth a former employer to a
recruiter or a new company.
One issue you should probably not mention is your manager, said Jeffrey Shane,
president of Michigan, US-based reference checking firm Allison & Taylor Inc,
in an email. It s never a good idea to complain or bad-mouth a former employer
to a recruiter or a new company.
Safe bet
Business prospects and opportunities can fluctuate for any given company, he
said. If the recruiter and prospective new employer are reasonable, they should
appreciate that potential new opportunities with a current employer a
corporate culture that the employee is already familiar with and adjusted to
and a raise are likely a safer bet than transitioning to a new organisation,
Shane said.
Shane also suggested sending a thank you card to the recruiter, both to thank
them for their time and effort, and because you just might need their services
on your behalf at some later date.
Avoid the defensive
If you decide to stay in your original role, avoid putting recruiters on the
defensive, said Nisha Ahluwalia, chief marketing officer of Silicon
Valley-based video conferencing company Highfive, in an email. Focus your
response on why you were looking to leave in the first place and why that has
now changed.
Focus your response on why you were looking to leave in the first place and why
that has now changed.
For example, explain how going through the recruiting process helped you
realise you would have been making a change for the wrong reasons, Ahluwalia
said. This demonstrates your desire to address and fix an existing problem
rather than running away from it, and will leave the new company knowing how
you view success: that you d rather solve a problem than set them up for
potential failure.
Burned bridges?
At the end of the day, business is business, and making the right decision for
your future when it comes to your career is more important than worrying about
whether you ve made a recruiter s job a little more difficult.
Some unprofessional recruiters will give you a hard time and, in certain
situations, some bridges will (be) burnt, said Neil Matthams, Singapore s
country manager for UK recruitment consultancy Empiric, in an email. But this
isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's good to know early on if someone will
conduct themselves unprofessionally rather than wasting your time developing a
relationship and counting on them to land you the right job.
Whereas, good recruiters will ask you to walk through the reasons why you re
staying, why you were looking to leave in the first place and ask you to make
sure that the promises you ve been made have been actioned, Matthams said. If
all these points are satisfied, then a good recruiter will wish you all the
best and aim to develop a long-term relationship
If you want to also protect the relationship with the new company, contact the
decision maker directly and explain what happened. The recruiter will
obviously do this anyway, but nothing beats direct correspondence in these
situations, and it allows you to have complete control over the message the new
company receives, Matthams said.