Offers without deadline

I recently had a conversation on twitter with some recruiting gurus (@animal, @MaureenSharib, and @MeghanMBiro) about offer deadlines.

After several efforts to quantify my thoughts in less than 140 characters, I gave up and decided a blog post was in order.

This is far from a comprehensive list, but here are the top reasons I believe offers must have a REASONABLE expiration date.

Candidates can react to an offer 3 ways: Accept, Decline, or counter-offer.

Giving a candidate unlimited time does not increase the likelihood of acceptance. Forcing the candidate decide in a reasonable time period is unlikely to cost you. Candidates who are unable to say yes on the merits of your offer, are unlikely to say yes with a competitive offer in hand.

But unlimited time DOES increase the likelihood of both less desirable outcomes, decline and counter-offer. Candidates may decline to accept a competitive offer that only materialized after your decision date would have expired, or to counter on the basis of a competitive offer, igniting a bidding war, an overpaid candidate, and in many cases, an employee who cannot justify his or her cost, and is set up to fail.

Finally, while you wait for your first choice to make an open ended decision, you are likely to lose a qualified candidate who would have been your second choice.

Obviously, you aren't making offers to unqualified candidates. But what if two qualified candidates reach the finish line at once? While your top candidate is making a decision, your second place candidate is both feeling unloved by your company, and pursuing other opportunities. If your top choice declines after a lengthy decision period, you have likely lost a viable second choice, and start the search from scratch.

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Disclaimer time: One day notice is not a REASONABLE deadline. You can keep a backup candidate warm via reference checks or an expectation of a longer decision process for 7-14 days.