Closing Placements

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Hi Dem,

Is it unprofessional/ legal to tell a candidate that they will not be receiving an offer based on the reference check?

Our candidate went on 3 interviews and the client then asked her for references. She gave our client three names. The client said she checked them and wanted to make an offer. I told the candidate that they wanted to make an offer. The client and I start discussing start date, etc. In the meantime, the candidate sent over a fourth reference to the client separately. This reference apparently did not give the candidate a raving review. Therefore, they will not be moving forward with an offer based on a bad reference. What do we do now?
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Hi Dem,

My client is conducting final interviews next Friday. He has invited two of my candidates to dinner the night before at his house. My candidates are not the only ones who were invited. Some other candidates will be there as well as some people from his company.

Because we work with very senior candidates, the “dinner” scenario is not unusual, but usually it’s a one- on-one. I’ve never heard of this “group” approach and I am concerned my candidates could be embarrassed or sabotaged by their competition. What do you think?

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Hey Dem,

I read everything you send out because although I am a senior recruiter, I still find myself learning. I have a question pertaining to candidate control and I am looking for a "Demitri-ism". I am having a large number of candidates simply disappear and it is happening at each phase of the process. Part of it I can blame on not establishing the ground rules up front. I am certain the candidate is declining the opportunity, or they would be calling me. I need to control my candidates better to provide appropriate feedback to my clients. What soon-to-be-famous Demitri-ism would you use to reduce the number of disappearing candidates?
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Hi Dem,

I have a candidate who has been working at the same company for 21 years, I just got him a 20% increase with a client who wants to hire him.

What can I do to handle the fear of change issue?
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Hi Dem,

Regarding your Webinar about individuals not being Onboarded properly, I was able to use the advice you provided the same day and it was really helpful. Is there any other advice you would offer about educating clients about onboarding people properly that was not in your Webinar?

I think I was able to save a huge "counter offer" based on your advice.
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Hi Dem,

I presented a very strong candidate for a Director of Business Development position. The CEO likes her very much and the process continues. However, the CEO has two more candidates that did not come through an agency. And their salary level is lower than my candidate (by about R40 000.00). In a conversation I had yesterday with the client, he indicated that although she is probably the best candidate, he has to take into consideration the higher salary and I assume my fee and I end up competing against candidates that in the short run may look more attractive to the CEO. How do I fight it and how do I convince the client my candidate is the one he should hire?
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Hey Dem,

What is your best response to a client who likes your candidate, wants to make an offer to her, but states that the offer has to be equal to, or less than, the salary of the person she will be working with? Which, by the way, my candidate will not accept.
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Hey Dem,

I had 3 candidates who went in for an interview and 2 were selected for a 2nd interview. The day before the interview, one of the shortlisted candidates got an offer from another company [he was making R480 000.00, they offered him R700 000.00 and my job maximum was R650 000.00], and he accepted the other job. Now my client calls 6 hours before the 2nd interview and cancels the other candidate, saying that they just wanted to bring him in for comparison and weren't really interested in him - they really wanted my other guy who had just accepted the other offer. Can we tell the client it is not correct to cancel the interview?
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Hi Dem,

I have a candidate that I have been working with for the past 3 months. We are finally at the point where my client is ready to make an offer. They made an offer for a position of HR Director.

Originally they called the position an HR Executive. About half way through the interview process they changed the title of the position and I immediately informed my candidate. She had no problem with it at that point in time. The job function has not changed at all. The only thing that is different is that she will not be sitting on the Executive Team. The salary is actually higher than what we originally talked about but she is leaning towards declining the offer because of the change in title.

I am at a loss and not sure what to do. I closed her literally two days ago and she told me that she would be accepting the offer. I presented the offer and she is now leaning towards declining. Is there anything that I can do to get this closed? It is over a R120K Fee. What should I do?

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Hi Dem,

Hope you are well! Love the new site by the way! My question is this. My client is torn between two of my candidates. He’s definitely going to take one of them, and has asked me to decide which one he should take. While I’m flattered at the trust he’s showing me, I’m not sure how comfortable I am making this decision for him. And how can I do that to the other candidate? What would you do in this situation?
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Hi Dem,

How would you handle this situation? My candidate went for 4 interviews and everything was going smoothly. But then the client came through with an offer that was about 15% below what she is currently earning. The candidate wants the job but actually laughed out loud when she heard the offer. She won’t move for less money. It’s a good career move, but how do I get the candidate to accept the offer?
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Is it unprofessional/legal to tell a candidate that they will not be receiving an offer based on the reference check?

Our candidate went on 3 interviews and the client then asked her for references. She gave our client three names. The client said she checked them and wanted to make an offer. I told the candidate that they wanted to make an offer. The client and I start discussing start date, etc. In the meantime, the candidate sent over a fourth reference to the client separately. This reference apparently did not give the candidate a raving review. Therefore, they will not be moving forward with an offer based on a bad reference. What do we do now?

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