Is the Candidate Worth More?

If you offer an applicant a job, and it turns out that this person wants the job but also wants more money than you're offering, you've got some hard decisions to make.

How much does the candidate want? The first thing to do when this situation arises is find out exactly how much the candidate wants. Always be sure to ask for this. It may turn out that your offer wasn't too far from what the candidate wanted, and you may decide that the extra little bit is not a problem.

What if your offer is way off? The process gets a little trickier if the candidate wants a lot more money than you can or want to pay. There are different approaches to take, depending on what you want to do.

If there's no way you can pay the amount requested. If the candidate's demands are simply out of the question, but you feel that you want to try to hire this candidate anyway, consider making a counteroffer with the candidate. There may be some ways to entice the candidate to work for you without paying the big bucks.

What if you're not sure you want to pay more? If the possibility exists for paying the candidate more, but you're on the fence about it, use these questions to help you decide if the candidate is worth the extra money:

• Does the candidate possess skills that you cannot find anywhere else? If this candidate has skills that far exceed what any other applicants had, and they are skills that you desperately need, paying extra or negotiating may be the best course of action.
• Is the candidate currently employed elsewhere? Employed people are not as willing to take a job for less than they want as unemployed people. If you really want this person, you may have to pay. If, however, the person is making a lot less (or is unemployed), he or she may just be trying to inflate the salary as much as possible but would be willing to take less.
• Do you see potential growth in the position you're hiring for? If you see the position growing from its present duties into something that will require additional skill and responsibility, you may be getting a deal by agreeing to pay more. Once the applicant starts to take on those additional responsibilities, you'll be getting your money's worth. In fact, you may even be getting away less expensively than you would had you tried to hire someone for the position after the growth took place.
• Were there other applicants who could adequately fulfill the position? If there were some "close seconds" in your applicant pool, you have a lot more room to maneuver. You may be able to get one of those applicants to take the job for the money you're offering.
• Do you get the sense that the applicant will be a long-term employee? While there's no sure way to predict, if you get the sense that the applicant will be a long-term asset, paying a little more up front may be the best thing to do. If, however, the applicant seems to think of the job as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, think twice about meeting the applicant's demands.
• Do you need to hire someone right away? If you need someone right away, the applicant may have you over a barrel. The process of negotiating may eat up a lot of time. Decide how long you're willing to let the position remain unfilled in choosing your course of action.
• Do you have other employees whose salaries will be diminished by offering a candidate more? If you have an employee who has worked for you in a position for two years and makes $12 per hour, and you hire someone new in a similar position for $12 per hour, you'll create problems for yourself with the senior employee whose years of service and additional experience will not be rewarded with pay that's higher than a newcomer's. This problem is sometimes caused by inflation and is known as pay compression. Don't assume that your employees won't talk about pay among themselves — it's illegal for you to forbid them from disclosing how much they make.

Once you've answered some of these questions, you should be in a better position to decide if you'll pay more, if you'll try to negotiate, or if you'll refuse to meet the applicant's demands. Remember, whenever you negotiate anything, the person who's willing to walk away from the deal is in the stronger position.