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.

In Part 2, ideas were presented on how to have the candidate enter into a career-oriented discussion to determine if your opening is worthy of consideration. Too many recruiters rush the process, assuming their candidates are just comparing different lateral moves. In this case money and convenience will always win out.

In Part 3 of this series I’ll describe some techniques on how to position your job as a career move, while ensuring that compensation is relegated to a lower order need.

For quick reference here are 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

If the job itself offers the candidate a true career opportunity, compensation premiums and bidding wars are unnecessary. Unfortunately, too many recruiters drop the ball here, and mishandle the basic compensation questions and issues. In this segment of the four-part article series, I want to summarize some techniques you can use during the interview and assessment process to better align your job with the candidate’s career needs.

We cover these in depth in our recruiter training courses, but these summaries will provide you with a good idea on how to handle these important issues.

Technique 1: Offer the candidate a 30% increase. As you start the interview process just tell the candidate he or she shouldn’t take any job unless it offers a 30% increase. Then tell the person this 30 percent should not all be money. Most of it should be career stretch, meaning the person will be handling a bigger job with more learning and more impact. Another part of the 30% should be career growth. This means the person is put into a company and situation that will enable the person to continue growing at a rapid rate. Collectively, job stretch and job growth should represent at least 20-25% of the total increase. The rest can be compensation. Then suggest to the candidate that she should evaluate your opportunity with this 30% multi-component approach as a guide. Reinforce this by saying that whenever compensation becomes the bigger part of the package, the person will wind up slowing her career, rather than growing it.

Technique 2: Create an opportunity gap and get the candidate to sell you. As you interview the candidate look for areas in your job opening that fill in gaps in the candidate’s background. This could be industry, job scope or impact related, to name a few. For example, management stretch can be demonstrated if the candidate has managed a team of five people and the open position has eight direct reports. In this case mention that part of the career growth in the job will involve managing and developing a bigger team. Suggest that the person will really have to demonstrate strong management skills to compete against those with more experience. Then ask the candidate to describe some major accomplishment related to management. Don’t be surprised if the person works hard to convince you she’s qualified. Of course, if there are no gaps between your opening and the candidate’s background, the job is legitimately not big enough. If the gaps are too big, the candidate is too light. Regardless, using these well-defined gaps is invaluable in positioning your job as a true career move.

Technique 3: Don’t wait until the end to negotiation an offer. By then it’s too late. Instead, use each forward step in the assessment process to gain some concession. An example best describes this important technique. Rather than just set the candidate up for an interview with a hiring manager, first ask the person is he’s interested, assuming the hiring manager is agreeable. Mention that this is not guaranteed, since while you like the person a great deal, it’s possible the hiring manager might not find the person’s background perfect for “reason A” or “reason B.” You have to develop these as you assess the candidate, and most of the time they’ll relate to the “gap” created using technique 2, above. You’ll want to gain a concession, like compensation, from the candidate as the price of going forward. In this case, saying to the candidate, “Since you’re a little light on the management side, the hiring manager will be more open to meet you on the understanding that the compensation would be at the lower end of our range.” This method is a great way to get the candidate to understand the growth vs. compensation trade-off at each step in the process. By the time you finish the assessment process and are ready to make an offer, the candidate will have agreed to the package before it’s ever formalized.

Technique 4: Put compensation in the parking lot to test interest. Before the final round of interviewing, and certainly before serious negotiation begins, ask the candidate this question: “Without any consideration to comp, is this a job you want? Then wait for an answer. If the comp is the primary reason the person is taking the job, I would be very concerned about making the offer. If the person takes your position without it offering the best career and growth opportunity among the candidate’s options, the person will most likely underperform. Other than for sales, comp is rarely the primary motivator for job success. That’s why this question and the answer are very important. If the candidate sincerely wants the job, then say you’ll do the best you can to max the comp package, but recognize ultimately that this is a career move, and part of a growth maximization approach to career management (see Part 1 of this series.)

These steps are vitally important. You can’t wait until the end of the interviewing process and then begin negotiating an offer with your finalist. By this time the candidate knows he or she is the one selected, and is in a stronger negotiating position. Of course, you’ll still hit some negotiating potholes as you move toward the finish line, but with these interim steps in place first, they’ll be easier to deal with later. In the final part of this article series, I’ll describe how to convert your top finalist into a great hire, without paying unnecessary comp premiums.