In Part 1 of this series on handling all topics related to compensation, I made the case that too many candidates focus on a compensation maximization strategy instead of a career growth strategy when comparing opportunities. It’s a bad compromise. In fact, a new book, Chasing Stars by Harvard’s Boris Groysberg, suggests it’s the kiss of death.

Faster career growth drives compensation increases. Which is a good thing. Big comp increases, on the other hand, can short-circuit a promising career. For one thing, premium comp packages come attached with increased performance expectations. These are always more difficult to achieve, and when unmet, things can go south quickly for those that are also relatively “overpaid.” This is a pretty easy case for a recruiter to make whenever a candidate starts evaluating a job by emphasizing the comp piece over career growth.

In this series of articles I want to present some ideas on how to navigate through the murky swamp of negotiating compensation. If you master these techniques you’ll be able to eliminate compensation as a hurdle when recruiting and closing candidates.

Back in the mid ‘80s I was losing a lot of great candidates due to comp problems. Either they opted out too soon because the comp range wasn’t high enough, or we couldn’t come to terms during the negotiation. I vowed then to never lose another person due to compensation issues. The key was to present the opening as a career opportunity, not a lateral transfer. This made all the difference in the world. It starts by converting traditional skills-infested job descriptions into performance profiles. This, in combination with a thorough understanding of the growth vs. comp max career strategy, is all you need to make sure you never lose another top candidate because you didn’t have enough money in the budget.

In this article I’ll show you how to handle compensation issues during first contact. For reference purposes, here’s a quick summary of the articles in this series:

Part 1 – Understanding the difference between a “Growth Maximization Strategy” and a “Compensation Maximization” approach to career management

Part 2 – How to handle compensation on first contact

Part 3 – Navigating compensation during the interview

Part 4 – Testing the offer and closing the deal

Here are some of the typical comp issues recruiters need to handle when first talking with a good prospect who’s either not looking, or is already dealing with multiple opportunities:

• How much does it pay?
• Show me the money, or I’m not interested.
• I’m already getting paid a great deal, and I don’t have time to look.

In Part 1 of this article I described how to answer this type of question. It starts by not answering it. Instead, say something like “Before I say something other than our comp for the level is extremely competitive, I’d like to ask you one short question.” Then proceed with, “Think about the best job you’ve recently held, one that gave you a great deal of personal satisfaction. Was the satisfaction due to the work itself, the team, the company, or the compensation you were getting every month?” Then pause and wait for a response.

When asked this trade-off type question, most candidates will come back with something other than compensation as the core driver for personal satisfaction. With this opening, then ask, “On the chance the job I’m handling offers the possibility of maximizing your personal growth and satisfaction, wouldn’t it make sense to talk just 5-10 minutes to check it out? Worst case, we’ll be able to stay connected until something better comes along. Best case, you’ll have a legitimate career opportunity worth considering.” Most people will agree to move forward on this basis.

If the person still resists, you’ll have to be even more persistent. In this case, it could be time to mention the comp vs. growth max comparison described above and in Part 1. Here’s one way to insert this into the conversation. Start this second round by suggesting that your comp plan is really dependent on the level of the person hired into the role, so this could increase significantly if the right person who saw this position as a career move came along. Because of this you’re reluctant to get too specific and you don’t want to close the doors on anyone, too high or too low.

Remember that all you want to do is to get the person to tell you a little about him or herself. Most people will be open to this if you push your point about the 5-10 minute conversation and the chance to network. If not, then just ask the person if he or she has a growth-oriented career plan they’re working towards, or a compensation maximization career focus. This will stop the person in his or her tracks.

Once you mention the growth vs. comp strategy they’ll ask you what this means. Describe it in detail and give some examples of people you know who have taken the high road and those who have fallen into the dark side. Mention the book, Chasing Stars, as part of this. This should be all you now need to do to get them to tell a little bit about themselves.

To help matters, when you first call the person make sure you’re a little vague about the job title and location. Something like, “Would you be open to explore a critical senior-level design position if it represented a significant career move?” should do the trick. Once they say yes, immediately say, “Great. Could you please give me a quick two-minute overview of your background, and then I’ll give you a quick overview of the position. If it makes sense career-wise to pursue this, we’ll schedule some time later to explore this further in more depth.” Then immediately, without pausing, get into a short work-history review.

By mentioning career evaluation at the start of your call, and in your voicemail, it will be easier to shift the conversation to a longer term career perspective if the comp question is brought up. Top people will always judge your opening based on its career value. Unfortunately, money often gets in the way of this type of meaningful conversation. Good recruiters need to steer around these roadblocks and leave compensation in the parking lot as part of the drive moving forward.