Yesterday’s article shared how relocation has become something of a nightmare for many recruiters. Countless recruiters are having fall-offs very late in the placement due to relocation issues that they thought were already addressed. In fact, several recruiters and clients are swearing off relocation altogether. Today, in part 2, we’ll discuss more ways to handle common relocation objections.
The telephone interview went well and your candidate is preparing for their face-to-face interview. Now is the time that most objections not previously rearing their ugly head come up out of nowhere.
If you have not given them information about the area, do it now! If you have not talked with the spouse, do it now! If you have not set the appropriate relocation expectations with your candidate, do it now! If you have a relocation professional helping, get them involved to help with these steps. Remain in as much control of the process as possible.
If your candidate will have to sell a home, find out what the market is like in their area. Don’t let them rely on the neighbor-down-the-street scenario; the real estate market is changing so fast that appraisals are being thrown out after two months. There are free tools on the Internet to help in determining your candidates housing situation simply from an address. Do it yourself and deliver the information to them if you are concerned about them getting this done on their own. This gives you one more reason to contact them and keeps you in control of process flow.
Giving your candidate homework like talking to a real estate agent about selling their house without you can backfire. They may procrastinate or just not do it at all and tell you they have. It is better to find out that they cannot sell now then when you are sitting on an offer and you have just wasted your time and your client’s money.
Look for common relocation objections that can and very often will cause a deal to fall apart. Selling their home, finding a new one in a “good” neighborhood, schools for the children, and leaving family or friends.
The Employee Relocation Council recently released a survey showing that 41% of relocating employees are reluctant to relocate due to family resistance to the relocation. Dig deeper and find out if there are special family circumstances such as a high school football star who needs a special program, home-schooled children, a stay-at-home mother. These types of objections do not always hinder a relocation, but if the perception is that they cannot live in the new area in the same way they are accustomed to, they will get in the way. This can cause extended offer acceptance periods, and even worse, a kill the deal.
If your client has not determined the exact relocation benefits for the position, start addressing what the candidate may need to help them with. Find out what your candidate will need and start formatting amounts for the negotiation. Get a quick quote on the move. Find out the costs of temporary living, get trend information on what should be covered for that particular level of hire.
If you are requesting $30,000, show line-by-line what it will be covering and how much each line item will cost. This way you have the data, you aren’t scrambling for it, and can justify your request when your client is ready to write the offer.
Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:
