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I met with a very junior account candidate the other day and was inspired to blog about my conversation with her. This is a good lesson for candidates at any level and in any function but most relevant to those who do not have a ton of real work experience and are just starting out. Again this candidate was a very junior account person with one year of experience yet she was given the unique opportunity at her level to truly own projects and to interface with the client. I told her that she is actually in a unique position at her agency in terms of project ownership as her level is often more administrative/pure support in many agency environments and structures. I actually even said “the grass is always greener” to get my point across. I was shocked as she was calling the clients “her client” and also expressed frustration that the Account Supervisor on her team was more strategic while she handled the day to day—this is exactly how these levels should function!

This candidate had somehow gotten too big for her britches. It is normal to have frustrations in the job and to feel disgruntled from time to time. However, it is very important to keep the big picture in mind, to take a step back every now and then and think about whether or not things are that bad. It is wonderful to be eager to grow in one’s career but it is also important to remain humble, to not become impatient, and to look at the positives in your situation rather than possessing an attitude that something is owed to you. Surely there are some awful work situations where candidates have every right to want more for themselves but this particular candidate was clearly in a great spot for her level. My advice to her was to have some healthy and open internal conversations with her supervisor. I advised her to position the conversation as “I am eager to grow here and would love to discuss the next steps in my career” rather than “I feel like I deserve a higher title due to all of my responsibilities.” Perhaps she should be more thankful for the amount of responsibility that she has been given and realize that this will help her to position herself in a slightly more senior light once she decides to explore new roles.

Hopefully it will all work out for her but I decided to hold off on presenting her anywhere until her internal situation is resolved and she can think more clearly and with less frustration when exploring new opportunities.

The moment a candidate receives an offer is like music to the ears and such a cause for celebration! While a joyful moment, it can also be stressful and candidates often react in a more frantic and disorganized manner than they should. It is part of my job as a recruiter to reign candidates in and keep them focused and organized during offer negotiations. However, it doesn’t always go as planned and frankly the offer can be seriously jeopardized if not handled correctly and with care by candidates.

Once candidates receive an offer and review the terms—it is essential that they take a deep breath, sit back, and write a list of consolidated questions regarding the offer and perhaps even the role/agency (if they did not have the opportunity to ask certain questions during the interview stage). Once this list if vetted and thoroughly reviewed, it is presented to the client who will in turn respond in a consolidated manner as well. Issues arise when there is a surplus of backs and forths—candidates appear annoying, doubtful, and frankly not buttoned up. A lot of hiring managers/HR people like to move quite quickly so backs and forths are a total nightmare and cause for concern. The worst case scenario is a withdrawn offer, which I have seen happen a couple of times, because candidates are literally asking very ignorant and even petty questions during offer stage—is there a coffee machine on every floor? What’s the policy on working from home? These types of questions are a NO NO and a complete waste of time.

The bottom line is that the offer stage is a very fragile and critical part of the hiring process. Candidates need to act professionally and organized so the process can be as streamlined and clear as possible. Candidates have any right to gather more information at this stage, but it must be done in a thoughtful and concise manner. This is definitely a skill honed over time, but candidates should at least heed this advice before they make major mistakes once an offer is made. A good recruiter will help to manage this part of the process but even a good recruiter can have a difficult time dealing with a frantic and question slap happy candidate.

This is a very important reminder to all candidates—do not lie about your salary. It is natural and realistic to seek an increase in salary when seeking and considering other opportunities. Unless there is some special circumstance, both recruiters and clients are aware that candidates desire salary increases in order to accept a new role in their careers. A lateral move is often entertained if the candidate is extremely overpaid or perhaps has been out of work for an extended period of time. However, candidates often lie about their salaries (either their bases or total packages) and this always results in unfavorable situations during the offer stage—either the client withdraws the offer or the candidate ends up looking suspect even if we (as recruiters) do our best to smooth things over in the face of a lie.

We always ask candidates to disclose honest and detailed information regarding their base salaries and total compensation packages (if there is some type of base plus bonus or commission). Clients take this information into account when they review candidates information. Clients will often decide to pass on a candidate, for example, if the salary is too high. It would be a waste of time to entertain a candidate who is out of budget. That being said, this salary information is most important during offer stage as the compensation offer is based upon the candidates’ current and targeted salary.

*** This advice is even more important as most clients ask for paystubs at offer stage to confirm salary. If candidates are lying about salary, it is going to be uncovered and the offer will completely fall apart due to this lie. It really isn’t worth it. Our goals are aligned—we want to get you the increase you want and likely deserve, but we can only do so if a truthful conversation about salary occurs from the start.

So bottom line to all candidates—lying about salary will get you nowhere and only end up in a shattered offer and a group of very disappointed and disheartened people. It is also a very small industry so having the reputation of a liar is not a good thing and can spread through the grapevine quickly. The moral of the story is to tell the truth and good things will come!