Recruiters who give negotiation satisfaction

Originally posted on the Kahvay blog in January 2017

You know when you lose your best candidate over, what seems to you, an insignificant salary differential? Had you ever considered the positive and negative psychological effects of ‘negotiation satisfaction’?

Let’s imagine there are two prospective employees, both having applied for and now being offered the same job at £49,000. The applicant who expected a salary of £50,000 may be dissatisfied with this offer, while the applicant who expected a salary of £48,000 could be quite pleased. Which one is more likely to accept the offer?

Well, of course, it depends on a lot more than just salary but as a simple example to highlight that skilled recruiters manage expectations appropriately. Good recruiters know when to stop selling and start negotiating, managing expectations ‘prior’ to and during salary negotiations to create negotiation satisfaction which increases their offer to placement ratios.