How Can Employers Stay One Step Ahead of Counteroffer Culture?
How Can Employers Stay One Step Ahead of Counteroffer Culture?
In today’s market, the recruitment process doesn’t always end when your preferred candidate accepts your offer. With competition for top talent fiercer than ever, we’re seeing counteroffers coming up with increasing frequency. So how can employers protect themselves from this increasingly common turn of events?
Spotting the Red Flags During Interviews
If you want to avoid losing candidates to counteroffers, you need to ask the right questions early on.
- Dig into the why behind their move
Don’t just ask why they’re looking; you should dig a little deeper. Candidates who are disengaged due to culture misfit or long-term frustrations are less likely to be swayed by a last-minute carrot.
Ask: “What would need to change at your current job for you to consider staying?”
If the answer is “more money,” they’re vulnerable to a counteroffer. If the answer is “everything,” you’re probably safe.
- Understand their motivations
Is it career development? Work-life balance? A shorter commute? These are less likely to be addressed convincingly in a panic promotion or hasty raise. Use this information to position your role in a way that resonates beyond salary.
What to Do When You Make the Offer
- Stay close after the offer is accepted
Keep in regular contact, involve them in onboarding conversations, and make them feel part of the team before they start.
- Pre-empt the counteroffer conversation
It might feel awkward, but addressing the risk directly shows emotional intelligence and realism. Try:
“We know you’re a valuable asset to your current employer, and they may try to persuade you to stay. Have you thought about how you’d handle that?”
This not only brings the issue to the surface, it asks them to reflect on their decision.
Long-term Considerations
- Sell the opportunity, not just the role
A counteroffer might match salary, but it can’t recreate the opportunity you’re offering: new challenges, a different team culture, clear progression, or a better work/life blend. Don’t just talk about the job, paint a picture of their potential future with the company.
- Get your offer right the first time
A strong, competitive offer backed by clarity on benefits, growth, and value makes it harder for a counteroffer to impress.
Counteroffers are frustrating. They’re also a sign that you’re identifying genuinely valuable people and that you’re in a highly competitive market.
Sometimes, even if you do everything right, you’ll lose out. That’s not failure, that’s recruitment in 2025.
But with the right approach during the interview process and a proactive mindset at the offer stage, you’ll mitigate the possibility of your new employee leaving before they’ve started.
Dovetail Recruitment are an independent Recruitment Agency in Bournemouth. Follow us to keep up to date with The South’s Job Market Report, Recruitment in Hampshire & Dorset + HR news, as well as our latest jobs, career tips + everything else related to your working world.
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