Counter offers are rising - and slow processes are losing candidates

More employers are retaining people at resignation stage than at any point in the last three years. For hiring businesses, that changes the maths on process speed.\n\n**What we are seeing**\n\nSearches that run beyond four weeks from first interview to offer lose their first choice candidate roughly a third of the time. In almost every case the loss is to a counter offer, not to a competitor.\n\n**What to do about it**\n\n1. Compress to two stages wherever the role allows.\n2. Benchmark the salary before you advertise, not after the candidate negotiates.\n3. Deal with the counter offer conversation early - ask the candidate at first interview what their employer will do when they resign.