Stressed female professional at a job interview
In the last few days, I have heard from not one, not two, but three former clients that a job in the offer stage was put on hold. These job seekers are in different industries, in different roles, and different levels – finance intern, legal copywriter, B2C digital marketing manager. The uncertainty in the market is affecting a wide swath of employers and disrupting hiring for a wide range of jobs.
When a job offer disappears or seemed imminent but then is put on hold, take these five steps:
1 - Confirm why the position is on hold
When hiring is suddenly put on hold, it could be that the market downturn from the coronavirus pandemic has prompted senior leadership to pause all hiring. Or the timing could be coincidental, and the job offer disappeared for some other reason. Other possible reasons could include that the company was acquired or restructured its staff or pivoted their strategy – all moves which impact your role. (I will assume for this post that a job offer was indeed coming. However, make sure you didn’t misread an employer’s interest and assume they are actually more interested in you than they are.)
Your hiring contact may or may not offer an explanation, but you should ask for as much information as you can, so you know what you’re dealing with. Ask if the process has slowed or stopped – that’s a crucial difference. Ask when hiring will resume – confirm timing to decide on your specific role and to restart all hiring in general. Ask who the best person is to check in with – continue networking with all connections you have made to date but there should be one person who is shepherding your process specifically. Ask what you can do to help – this gives you a window into what is impacting the company right now. Your contact may not know any of these answers, so be polite and collaborative when you ask. However, do ask outright because you should not assume anything at this point.
2 - Reposition yourself for the current hiring reality
Collecting as much information as you can, not only ensures you don’t assume something incorrectly, but also enables you to tailor your approach to what is actually happening. You went far into the hiring process, so the company clearly likes you. But until the final hiring decision is made you still need to promote yourself as the best candidate. Promotion is most effective when you can position yourself to an individual prospect’s individual needs. As things change, you may need to reposition yourself to the current hiring reality.
If the hiring process is stalled because of an overall downturn, then you may not need to do any repositioning, but rather stay in touch to stay front-of-mind. If the role has changed (for example, your hiring contact says that hiring is paused because the initiative you were supposed to work on is paused), then focus your follow up on other skills, expertise and experience that you have. If the company overall has changed (for example, new leadership has come in), then keep in mind that your hiring contact may be anxious about their own staying power and you may be better served being a supportive listener and a trusted ally. In the meantime, try to learn what you can about the company changes so you can reposition your background for that new reality.
3 - Give the employer space
Even while you continue to self-promote, you do want to give your hiring contact space. If your point person is the recruiter, they have other searches going on. If your point person is someone in the department where you’ll work (e.g., marketing, finance, etc.) your contact has their day-to-day job and other people to manage. You can stay in touch but still respect their space by keeping your follow-up mostly about them and not your search – think 2:1, where the emphasis is connecting about something that doesn’t mention you.
This means that if you ping your contact weekly, you target two messages about something else for every one message about your search. Send an interesting article related to their business. Send a helpful idea based on something you discussed before. (If you need more ideas for follow-up that won’t annoy the recipient, see How To Follow Up Without Pestering).
4 - Start doing the job and make yourself indispensable
One way to follow up is to give your contact output that would be similar to what they would get if they worked with you. For example, the finance intern could offer a valuation on a specific company, with a model to show their thinking process and final recommendations. The copywriter could produce something on spec. The digital marketer could offer marketing recommendations for existing products.
Yes, this means working for free, and if it doesn’t get the offer back on track, there is a risk that you put in a lot of effort and the employer benefits, but you don’t. The work you put in, while customized to one employer, should translate to others. Doing the work will keep your skills sharp. Finally, jumping in and doing the work is the strongest signal you can send to an employer that you are genuine about wanting to work with them.
5 - Find another job and force the hiring decision
On the flip side, you can put the time you thought you’d be in your new job back into finding another job and then leverage that other offer into resuscitating this dormant one. Keep in mind that the other job could be a temporary role or a project, but it’s something tangible to remind the other employer that you are ready, willing and able to move on. The competing offer would remind the other employer that they could lose you.
You don’t have to tell the initial prospect that the new prospect is temporary. You don’t have to give them any details at all, except to say that you have another offer to work on [INSERT something general about the other job] but your first choice is still them. If the possibility of losing you doesn’t force the hiring decision, at the very least, it could make the initial employer move faster or give you more candid information about where things stand.
Use the pause to jumpstart other leads
You may not be able to resuscitate a job offer so you should use the slowdown with one hiring process to jumpstart other leads just in case. Follow these five tips to keep a job search going when hiring slows down. Try your hand at freelancing to stay active – yes, there is freelancing in a market downturn. If your entire industry is at a standstill (think travel in this market), focus some of your efforts on marketing yourself to a new industry.
It’s disappointing to be close to a job offer only to have it disappear. The fact that you got close, however, means you’re doing something right. You hit a snag, but you are clearly marketable. Keep up your job search, and the right job will come – it still might be this prospect that comes around!
