In Part 1 of this series on navigating 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 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. In Part 3, I described four techniques on how to position your job as a career move, while ensuring that compensation is relegated to a lower order need. In this final article in the series, I’ll discuss how to negotiate compensation and extend the offer.

2008 is the year of races, including the all-important race for the Presidency of the United States. As the presidential hopefuls gear up for their longest job interview ever, we shouldn't forget that the race for top quality talent in our own organizations has already begun, and candidates are bolting out of the gate at a tremendous clip. Unlike the presidential race, where now nine hopeful candidates are vying for one top job, the talent race is upside down with hundreds of thousands of candidates and even more open positions. As one pundit put it last year, "The talent wars are definitely over and the candidates have won!" Just like the bloated real estate market, we've got a glut of jobs and a shortage of talent (except perhaps in Michigan), and more recruiters than ever pitching their opportunities to an ever shrinking talent pool. Even if the economy dips into the dreaded recession, we'll still have jobs for talented people. It's a buyers market even for average talent, and recruiters are going to have to step up their game if they expect to attract top people. And just for the record... it's always a buyers market for top talent regardless of the position, industry, or economic circumstances.

If you want to attract top people online, your ads need to be outrageous, compelling and found. To prove it we're launching our first annual outrageous ad writing contest. To win a fully-paid scholarship to Recruiter Boot Camp Online (a $1200 value!) you need to follow these guidelines on how to write and post ads that really pull in top people. We'll also award a second scholarship if you can get better results doing it a different way, but I personally wouldn't waste my time. With that said, here's the template we've used to write ads to successfully attract great candidates from entry-level to executive.

I'm in Australia this week working with a number of different recruiting organizations. In Australia the talent supply is far short of demand, so getting assignments is relatively easy, while finding and closing strong candidates takes exceptional sourcing and recruiting skills. Candidates always have multiple offers and counter-offers are standard. To meet this challenge head on, the recruiting teams I'm working with wanted to figure out how to double their monthly production within six months.

Excerpted from the 3rd edition of Hire With Your Head (John Wiley and Sons, Inc. June, 2007)

After you've made an offer, but before accepting it, your candidate is probably shopping it around hoping to get something better. As soon as a candidate accepts your offer, the person gets buyer's remorse, wondering whether she made the right decision or left something on the table. Even if the person doesn't have a better offer on the table, lack of conviction when resigning sets the stage for a counteroffer. Effective recruiting becomes the difference maker when you want to ensure that more offers get accepted and stay closed.

Sometimes you just don't have enough money in the budget to attract a top person. The following compensation negotiation techniques will allow you stretch your budget 10% to 15% without paying extra. But be careful using them. They're for professionals only. Without practice, you might wind up paying more or losing a good person for dumb reasons.

Sometimes candidates say no. Sometimes they say it when you first call. This isn't so bad. When they say it when you're just about to make an offer, or have already made the offer, it is really bad. But don't lose total hope; there are still some things you can do to try to recover from this fateful event. The Science of Recruiting is, after-all, built on sound principles to guide the recruiter through the landmines and pitfalls of hiring top people.

Now we're down to one or two final candidates, and the offer process is about to begin in earnest. If you've uncovered the candidate's key concerns as described in earlier articles in this Science of Recruiting series you know what you have to do to move the process to closure.