Talent Tips

Talent Tip #146: 5 Reasons Candidates Decline Job Offers

June 27, 2022

I know a thing or two about rejection.

I once went on a blind date with a guy who, from the moment the date started, clearly did not want to be there. He had this disapproving look on his face the entire evening, almost like he was a member of the Royal Family or maybe had just gotten a whiff of woefully expired cottage cheese. Alas, this was just his natural reaction to me! His eyes kept darting around the restaurant, presumably in search of something sharp to stick in his eye so that an ambulance could cart him away and spare him another minute of my company. The whole thing amused me, so I decided to prolong the torture by ordering dessert. I wondered if (and sorta hoped) his head would explode. And at the end of the evening when we said goodbye outside the restaurant, I almost suggested getting cocktails just to see him squirm, but I was afraid he would intentionally dart into traffic to end his suffering. Oddly, I never heard from him again.

The most disappointing thing about the date (other than the fact his head did not explode when I ordered crème brûlée) was that I never learned why I was so off-putting to him. God knows there are endless possibilities, but it would have been entertaining to know which ones sent him over the edge!

And this brings me to one of my favorite things about my job. When I witness rejection now, unlike in my past dating life, I can often poke around and figure out why.

And this poking around has become increasingly necessary in recent months because, as the job market has tightened up, we’ve seen an increasing number of candidates decline job offers. And in those cases, we try to get both the candidate’s and the nonprofit’s view of what went wrong.

So, since we’re always comparing hiring to dating anyway, here are the five most common reasons we’ve heard lately about why candidates decline job offers AND the dating analog for each.

Compensation. It won’t surprise you to hear that in this market, compensation is the most common reason candidates give for declining job offers. Some candidates are getting more lucrative offers from other employers and some are getting counteroffers to stay where they are. And sometimes candidates don’t even have other offers in hand, but they believe they can get more elsewhere, so they walk away.
In one recent case, a candidate had found what appeared to be a dream job. He went through a month of interviews and it seemed like all of the stars were aligning perfectly…until he got the offer. It was lower than he expected by a wide enough margin that he declined it. He didn’t have a competing offer in hand, but he believed there were more promising opportunities on the horizon.

Dating analog? Let’s say you’re a single, aspiring guitarist. What you don’t have in income, you make up for in personality, complex guitar solos, and John Mayer good looks. And because of that, you do just fine on the dating scene – unless you’re competing with an equally charming orthopedic surgeon.
Relocation. It goes without saying that the pandemic caused many people to rethink where they live. Relocation, which previously had been driven by the location of job opportunities, is now often driven by personal preference. Not surprisingly, candidates are being very selective about jobs that require relocation.
In one recent case, a candidate declined a job offer that would have been a big step up in terms of job title and responsibilities. But ultimately, she decided it just wasn’t worth packing up and moving 400+ miles.

In another case, a candidate turned down an executive level role because he wasn’t in love with the prospect of relocating 1000 miles away from his family and friends.
In both cases candidates knew they could (and ultimately did!) secure employment that didn’t require relocation.

Dating analog? Imagine you are a successful attorney with a thriving practice in Poughkeepsie. You meet a fantastic mate, but he is GU (geographically undesirable) because he is unable to relocate from his homebase in Nashville. Sure, you can dump him if he’s not willing to move to Poughkeepsie, but you might also want to be open to long-distance dating prospects!
Compatibility concerns. The intangibles matter and in a market where jobs abound, candidates are paying attention to the complete package.
In one case, a candidate turned down a senior level role with an impressive organization because two potential co-workers rubbed him the wrong way during the interview process. He knew those two could make his new job miserable, so he walked away despite liking virtually every other aspect of the job/offer.

In another case, a candidate felt as though she was treated unprofessionally during the process (so much so that she was genuinely surprised when they offered her the job!). As attractive as the offer was, she couldn’t bring herself to accept.
Another candidate detected a turnover problem and decided to keep looking. As he said, “I don’t want to be on the job market again in six months.”

Dating analog? You meet an amazing woman and you two hit it off immediately. It seems like the perfect match…except she has two Maine Coons and a Himalayan and you are deathly allergic to cats. Compatibility across many different facets matters!
Other options. In this market, chances are high that the person you are interviewing is also being courted by other entities. And sometimes, despite your best efforts, those other entities might win out.
For instance, a candidate recently turned down a fantastic litigation job offer in our world to work for a liberty-oriented private sector law firm. Both offers were tempting, but he had to make a choice!
And in another case, a candidate turned down a free-market advocacy job in the nonprofit space for a similar role in a for-profit.

Dating analog? Imagine you go on a few dates with a great gal but when you ask her to go steady she says she’s decided to get serious with someone else. When you ask why, she explains both of you are fantastic, but she could only choose one!
Home is where the heart is. Interestingly, we’ve had a couple of situations lately in which candidates turned down offers and remained at their current jobs without increased pay. In both of these cases, the employer did not know the candidate was looking and there was not a counteroffer on the table! Ultimately, the candidates just decided they had a pretty good gig and decided to stay.
Dating analog? Have you heard The Piña Colada Song? It’s an incredibly Velveeta tune (with all due respect to Rupert Holmes!) about a guy who places a singles ad for a woman who likes fruity beach drinks and he ends up finding the lady he was already dating. You get the idea: sometimes what you want is right in front of you.

Now that you know why candidates are rejecting job offers, your organization might be in a better position to prevent it from happening. And as for my blind date who rejected me, I guess we’ll never know, but at least he paid for dinner and I got some top-notch crème brûlée.

Talent Tip #145: 10 Tips for Recent College Grads on the Job Hunt

May 24, 2022

“My first bit of advice is to stop wearing purple lipstick.”

That’s what the slightly uptight, middle-aged woman across the table told me. I was a naive 22 year-old eager to find a job and this no-nonsense, tweed-wearing consultant said she could help.

Until that very moment, I had no idea that my choice of lip color was going to be an impediment to landing employment. Good to know!

I took her advice to heart, not only as it related to lipstick, but also about acting like the professional I aspired to be.

And because it’s May and colleges across the country are releasing seniors from their captivity, I thought it would be a good time to pay it forward and offer some advice to recent college graduates looking for a job in the liberty movement.

Send Talent Market your resume immediately if not sooner. We are here to help liberty lovers find their dream jobs, so let’s get connected! We will use this information to keep you informed about potential opportunities, but we will not share your resume or information with other nonprofits unless you apply for a specific job! And we have plenty of entry-level jobs so you definitely want to be in our orbit.
Create a resume that illustrates your experience and interest in liberty. Free-market nonprofit managers want to hire people who are just as excited about liberty as they are. And what better way to prove this than to include things like liberty-oriented internships, seminars, fellowships, programs, and networking groups? Did you intern at Cato? Did you attend a FEE seminar? Were you a member of Network of enlightened Women? The hiring manager won’t know unless you tell her! Oh, and keep it to one page! After a decade of work experience, you can graduate to two pages!
Create personalized cover letters for each job you apply for that illustrate you’ve done your homework about the organization. Make sure the cover letter is addressed to a human (a little research on the organization’s website goes a long way) and explain your interest in the organization’s mission. Generic cover letters usually lead to instant rejection in our world, so if you can’t muster the enthusiasm to write a tailored cover letter for a specific opening, you probably aren’t that interested in it and likely should not apply!
Figure out a realistic salary range for the role to which you’re applying. Are you applying for an entry-level job in NYC or Columbus, OH? Because you can live like a king in C-bus on the same salary that will have you living in a cardboard box in the Big Apple. Most applications will ask for a salary range, but if they don’t, you’ll almost certainly get the question during an interview, so be prepared!
Proofread your application before you hit send. You know how your college professors were happy to extend the deadline on that research paper or let you reschedule the exam you missed because you went to SXSW? Well, don’t expect that kind of leniency in the real world. I’ve seen more applications rejected for spelling/grammatical errors than I can count, so make sure you proof it before sending it off on its cyber journey!
Follow-up with the hiring manager (but don’t harass!). If you haven’t heard anything for a week or two after you’ve applied for a job, you might want to follow-up with the hiring manager via a kind email that reiterates your interest in the role and asks if any additional materials are needed. Hopefully, the hiring manager will be kind enough to respond. And if you’re working with Talent Market on an opening, you probably won’t need to check-in with us because we’re big on sending updates to candidates even if we don’t have news! We’ve all been in your shoes and we know how it feels to not know!
Choose quiet, professional locations for phone/Zoom interviews. Coffee shops are an absolute no. The hiring manager won’t want to hear “Java Chip Frappuccino for Kimberly!” in the background as she asks about your project management experience. And if it’s a Zoom, make sure to consider the background. No roommates passing by or marijuana leaf tapestries on the wall.
Prepare for the interview! Review the job description again before the interview. Spend time on the organization’s website and, if possible, review its latest annual report. Know the organization’s mission and the broad scope of its work. Review its recent 990s. Read the bios of the people with whom you’ll be interviewing. Finally, come to the interview with questions. The hiring manager will likely ask you if you have questions for her. Make sure you do! Aren’t sure what to ask? Talent Market offers lots of ideas in this article.
Talk like the professional you aspire to be. If you talk like, um…you’re like, um…ya know…still in college and stuff…the hiring manager will, like, totally notice, right? Correct. And it will be very, very bad for you. So, practice dropping those words from your vocabulary.
Look like the professional you aspire to be. Maybe your most serious job thus far was lifeguarding at Camp Miniwanca, but now you’re ready to trade in that swimsuit and whistle for professional attire. Even if you’re applying for a virtual role, you’ll want enough professional clothes in your wardrobe to visit the office, attend conferences, etc. And remember that the super tight/super short clothes that were fine for college almost certainly won’t be for a job in the free-market nonprofit sector (don’t worry — you can still wear them bar-hopping on the weekends!). Oh, and whatever you do, don’t wear purple lipstick!

Talent Tip #144: The F Word

April 19, 2022

I love the F word.

I use it frequently, in fact. I say it in front of my clients and candidates…in front of mature audiences and young professionals….even kids. Heck, I say it in front of my mother-in-law. I’m shameless about it.

No matter when or where I use it, it never fails to raise eyebrows.

I don’t think people are offended by it; they just don’t think about it that often. But they should. Because it’s absolutely critical to everything we do here in the free-market universe.

And that’s why you’ll hear me blurting out “FUNDRAISING” every day and twice on Sunday.

Fundraising has been and likely will always be Talent Market’s greatest talent need. On any given day, about a third of our searches are development-focused. And as I write this, it’s even higher: of Talent Market’s 50+ current searches, more than 20 are in development.

And that’s why I want everyone to embrace the F word as much as I do.

Specifically, I want young professionals who haven’t yet decided on a career to strongly consider fundraising.

It’s one of the most diverse fields in the liberty movement. Development roles can focus on relationship building with major donors or foundations, writing, research, management, strategy, data analysis, events, campaigns, estate planning, direct mail, corporate relations, or all of the above! There are an F-load of options!
If you love free-market ideas, fundraising will give you a chance to be engaged with these ideas. A good fundraiser needs to understand free-market principles and be able to talk about them, write about them, and connect with people who share our appreciation of these principles.
If you’re good at fundraising, you’ll have plenty of job opportunities to consider throughout your career. See our openings list for proof.

I also want free-market nonprofits to consider a few key items related to fundraising talent, especially in this market.

If you are hiring and see a candidate you like, you need to act very quickly. If you don’t snatch up that talented development officer, one of the other bazillion organizations hiring will.
Think about unconventional candidates. Do you really need someone with 5 years of experience fundraising for freedom? Or would you consider an individual with transferable skills who is eager to join the liberty movement?
Treat candidates well during the hiring process. We recently had a candidate drop out of the running for a development opening because she wasn’t pleased with how the organization treated her and she knew she had myriad other options to consider. Sure enough, another nonprofit hired her within days.
Treat your existing development staff well. It’s much easier to keep them than to hire.
Consider a development track for your organization’s internship program. If your free-market organization hosts interns, be sure that some of them are assigned to your fundraising team and make sure all of them are exposed to fundraising and learn about its importance in our world. If we don’t develop the next generation of fundraisers, who will?

Finally, I want everyone reading this to do a few things for me.

Encourage young professionals to consider development as a career path. Many recent graduates are thinking about a career in policy because it’s the most obvious path (I was one of those!). But they probably have no idea that there are far more openings in development, nor do they understand just how many different types of opportunities are available within the fundraising realm. If we don’t open their eyes to this, who will?
Hug a fundraiser today. Do you know someone in fundraising? Go hug them, give them a buzz, shoot them a text, or drop them a line right now and thank them for what they do to advance liberty.
Finally, let’s all say the F word with a little more frequency. It’s a word worthy of repeating. Fundraisers keep the lights on in the nonprofit world. Let’s face it, without fundraisers, we’re all…..doomed. 😉 What did you think I was going to say?

Talent Tip #143: Courting in a Candidate’s Market: 5 Ways to Stay Competitive

March 22, 2022

Many moons ago I was dating a gentleman we’ll call “Bob”. Things were getting pretty serious when, as fate would have it, I ran into my ex-boyfriend. We’ll call the ex “Josh”. Josh and I made small talk and caught up on life. Just as we were about to part ways, he hinted at maybe going out again sometime. I gently let him know I was dating someone else. I remember walking away feeling kinda bad for the guy. That ship had sailed, ya know?

Roughly 24 hours later, Josh appeared with a diamond ring and a marriage proposal.

Boy, that escalated quickly.

Incredibly long and sordid story short…I said yes.

Had Josh not moved with such alacrity, I might still be Claire Kittle. Or Claire Throatwobblermangrove. Who knows?

Our story illustrates the importance of recognizing the competition and adapting your behavior to achieve your ends. And it’s spectacularly analogous to hiring in the current candidate’s market.

With that, let me share 5 tips for free-market nonprofits hiring now.

Move efficiently in the hiring process! If you identify a candidate you like, best to put a ring on it before another organization does. Case in point, we are currently working on 19 (!!) fundraising roles. Therefore, every organization in search of development staff should be moving as expeditiously as possible to mitigate the risk of losing candidates to another vacancy! One of our clients took this message to heart and just filled their fundraising role in 32 days (less than half the average time it takes for clients to make a hire). The organization got the candidate they wanted because they made hiring a priority.
Offer virtual work options. Many candidates want to work virtually in this (post?) pandemic world. They have enjoyed the two-year commute hiatus, the concept of optional showers, and the flexibility that comes with working virtually. And because the demand for talent is so high, candidates are quite happy to ignore job openings that don’t allow for virtual work and instead focus their attention on the openings that do. In fact, roughly 70% of our current searches allow for virtual work in some form. So, if your nonprofit isn’t offering virtual work, you’re putting the organization at a strong competitive disadvantage. Of course, not all work can or should be done virtually. And if your organization needs someone in the office, then so be it! Just be aware that finding someone might be especially difficult right now.
Remember it’s a courtship. Hiring is always a two-way street, and in a candidate’s market, nonprofits should be especially focused on courting the best candidates. Unfortunately, we’ve heard some stories lately about organizations that treated candidates more like criminal suspects than in-demand potential employees. One candidate said, “The interview felt like an interrogation. I wasn’t given an opportunity to speak and it felt very one-sided.” Another candidate withdrew from the interview process after talking to what he described as a “prickly” hiring manager. And another candidate described the process as more akin to a “Rorschach test than a substantive interview”. She, too, withdrew from consideration. In all of these cases, the candidates were interviewing elsewhere and didn’t think twice about walking away from an organization that didn’t treat them well.
Broaden your candidate pool by thinking outside the box. In this market, it might pay to think creatively about the experience and background you’re requiring for candidates. A great illustration of this is a client of ours who was recently hiring for a mid-level development staffer. They ended up interviewing and hiring a more experienced candidate who was willing to do the work on a part-time basis. Sure enough, he did so well and was able to contribute in so many areas that the organization brought him on full-time in a senior level development role after only a few months. It was a win-win!
Treat your current employees well. One of the best ways to ensure you have the talent you need in this market is to keep the talent you have! That means paying your employees well, treating them with respect, giving them a reasonable amount of flexibility, keeping them challenged, and creating a healthy, high-functioning work environment.

P.S. If you ever want to hear the full engagement story, ply me with alcohol next time you see me. The full-length version is high drama and involves kiteboarding, broken bones, multiple proposals, a ring exchange (for less bling, if you can believe that), road trips, and lots of soul-searching. Hey, at least hiring isn’t that complicated!

Talent Tip #142: 10 Questions to Ask on Your Next Date/Job Interview

January 19, 2022

My father once gave me some fantastic dating advice:

“On the first date, ask him what drugs he is taking, legal and illegal.”

Subtly isn’t my dad’s forte, and now you know I came by it honestly. But you can understand what pops was getting at. Before you get serious about someone, pop open the hood and poke around.

And so it goes with job hunting. So many of the things we really want to know, whether we’re seeking a personal or professional long-term relationship, often come from direct (and maybe mildly uncomfortable) questions that we tend to avoid.

[Read more…]

Talent Tip #141: Five Gifts to Give a Hiring Manager

December 14, 2021

It’s that time of year again! I can’t wait to drink egg nog, watch Christmas Vacation for the 7641st time, and erect the Festivus pole/prepare for the airing of grievances.

Speaking of grievances, have you ever gotten a really terrible holiday gift?

Many moons ago, a boyfriend of mine got me a stunning, likely expensive, gold bracelet. The design was lovely and it really was beautiful…except for the fact it was gold. What’s wrong with gold, you ask? Well, nothing if you’re a leprechaun. But I’m not and I hate gold.

I had been dating this guy for a long time…how had he not noticed that every single piece of jewelry I owned was silver?

While it was a sweet gesture, he clearly didn’t put much thought into it.

And that brings me to the notion of the “gifts” that candidates give hiring managers throughout the hiring process. Sometimes these gifts look more like a White Elephant exchange than a real attempt at getting a job.

If you really want the job, here are five gifts the hiring manager actually wants:

EVERYTHING that is requested in the application instructions – Easy enough, right? If the application instructions ask for a cover letter, resume, and writing sample, be sure to include all three items.
If they ask for a cover letter that addresses two specific questions, make sure to address those two questions!
And if they ask you to share your desired salary range, don’t say “I’d prefer to share that later in the process” because the hiring manager may decide that he prefers to give you a lump of coal instead of an interview!
A mention in your resume of EVERYTHING you’ve done that correlates to the key job requirements – You wouldn’t believe how often candidates tell me, “I didn’t put this in my resume, but I have extensive experience doing X”…and X just happens to be one of the key requirements for the job! Unfortunately, hiring managers are NOT Santa Claus: meaning they do NOT know when you’ve been naughty or nice, nor do they know you’ve overseen a company-wide database upgrade or a multi-year strategic planning process for a $5M organization. So, you must tell them!
And if you don’t include this important information in your resume, you run the risk of being declined for not meeting the requirements! This season, give the hiring manager the gift of knowing you ARE qualified!
Evidence of your philosophical alignment and passion for the organization’s mission – Are you as excited about the job as a kid on Christmas morn? Great! Say that in your cover letter!
Clients routinely decline candidates who don’t take the time to articulate their philosophical interest in the organization’s mission. Sending a generic cover letter to a hiring manager is like sending a fruitcake to anyone with tastebuds: it won’t be well received!
A regular review of your spam folder – Clients often come to us saying, “I emailed John to schedule an interview, but never heard back.” All too often, that important email was sitting in John’s spam folder, sad and lonely, just like your neighbor’s half-deflated inflatable snowman who is doubled over like he drank too much eggnog.
And by the time John thinks to check his spam folder, the job has long since been offered to someone else.
If you are searching for a job, be sure to check your spam folder regularly!
Flexibility on scheduling – Have you ever spent the holidays traveling from one family member’s house to the next, and then to the in-laws’ house, and then to Cousin Eddie’s? It’s exhausting!
And this is exactly how the hiring manager feels! He is trying to arrange interviews with multiple candidates over multiple days and perhaps even with multiple staff members.
Don’t be a Grinch and be difficult about finding times that work for you.
Instead, be sweet and flexible with your schedule, like Cindy-Lou Who!
(See what I did there?)

Following these five tips might just land you a job, and if you’re really lucky, a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club! Happy holidays!