Counteroffers: how not to lose your chosen candidate at the last minute

You’ve spent weeks on the search, the team is sold and your chosen candidate has said yes. On Monday they hand in their notice and, out of nowhere, there’s a pay rise on the table and talk of a move to a new project. By Thursday you get a very polite message saying that, after all, they’re staying.

If you hire for tech, digital or leadership roles, there’s a good chance this has happened to you. In those roles, losing someone is expensive for the company they’re leaving, so it fights to keep them. You can’t stop a counteroffer from being made, but you can do a lot to make sure it doesn’t work.

Why they work (and it isn’t just money)

When a counteroffer wins, it’s rarely down to the number alone. Staying is comfortable. It spares the person a new boss, a new team and the uncertainty of not knowing how things will turn out. Then there’s the guilt of leaving colleagues halfway through a project, which the current employer tends to bring up quite skilfully. And there’s late recognition. Hearing “we really value you” after months of silence is flattering, even when it comes too late.

If salary is the only argument in your offer, any company can match it in an afternoon. What’s much harder to match is the real reason the person started listening to offers in the first place.

It starts in the first interview

Prevention begins long before the offer. In early conversations we want to understand properly why someone is willing to move, and we tend to ask fairly direct questions:

• What would have to change in your current role for you not to want to leave?
• Have you raised it with your manager? What did they say?
• If your company offered you more money tomorrow, would anything change?

The answers tell you a lot. If the motivation is almost entirely financial, the risk is high. If there are deeper reasons, such as seeing no way to progress, not caring about the product or not connecting with the person they report to, a counteroffer has a much harder job. Money doesn’t fix any of that.

There’s another sign we watch for: someone who has never raised their frustrations internally. If the first time they say it is in their resignation, they’ll very likely be offered exactly what they’d been waiting for.

Bring it up before it happens

One of the things that works best for us is talking about counteroffers openly, without drama, usually before the final offer goes out. Something as simple as “It’s quite likely your company will try to keep you. What would you do if they offered a rise?” And then: “If that happens, would the reasons you started looking still be there?”

Nobody is put off by this. If anything, people appreciate the chance to think it through calmly rather than in the heat of the moment. Once they’ve considered that scenario, the counteroffer stops being an emotional jolt and becomes a decision they’ve already made.

An offer that’s more than a number

Think about what makes your role different and make sure the candidate sees it clearly. What they’ll build, which decisions will be theirs and how you’ll judge whether they’re doing well. That they’ve met the people they’ll actually work with, not just whoever interviewed them. A concrete path for the next year or two, rather than vague promises. And the conditions (work model, flexibility, training, benefits) set out with no small print.

On salary, be competitive from the start. An offer pitched at the bare minimum leaves the current employer all the room in the world to beat it without trying.

The notice period is the danger zone

Between the yes and day one there are weeks in which the person is still at their company, under pressure to stay and hearing very little from you. It’s the riskiest stretch, and the one most companies neglect.

Start by getting the contract and paperwork out quickly, with no back and forth. Then find a reason for them to meet the team, a coffee or an informal video call. It helps a great deal if their future manager writes to welcome them and tell them what they’ll be working on first. As the start date gets closer, share the practical stuff: hours, tools, who they’ll see on day one.

The idea is simply to make the new job feel real before it actually begins.

If they call you with doubts anyway

Sometimes it happens regardless. First of all, don’t get into a bidding war. If you raise the offer just to win, the relationship starts on a purely financial footing, and that rarely ends well. Go back to the reasons instead. Ask what has genuinely changed in their situation, beyond the number.

And if they decide to stay, respect it and part on good terms. We’ve seen candidates who turned an offer down come back on the market months later. If they remember being treated well, the door stays open.

Always keep a plan B

One piece of practical advice we repeat in every search: don’t fully close things with your second finalist until your chosen candidate has actually started. A friendly message saying the process is still open for a few more days is enough. If all goes well, you won’t need it. If not, you won’t be starting again from scratch.

Doing this groundwork with every finalist takes time, and it’s a part of the process we look after closely at Mimmic Talent. If you’d like to go through it together on your next hire, we’re happy to talk.