A candidate tells you they have another offer on the table. Your first instinct might be panic or suspicion. Neither is useful. Competing offers are common, often genuine, and entirely manageable if you handle them correctly.
First: Assess Whether It's Real
Not every mention of a competing offer is truthful. Some candidates use the possibility of another offer as leverage without one actually existing. You don't need to call their bluff aggressively, but you can ask questions that make the conversation more concrete: "Can you tell me a bit about the other opportunity — what's drawing you to it?" and "What's the timeline you're working with?"
A genuine competing offer produces specific, consistent answers. A candidate who can describe the company, the role, and the timeline clearly is almost certainly telling the truth. A candidate who is vague and inconsistent may be applying pressure without a real competing offer. Your response should be calibrated accordingly.
Understand What They're Actually Weighing
A competing offer is rarely only about salary. Candidates evaluate total compensation, growth trajectory, team quality, work environment, flexibility, stability, and the nature of the work itself. Before you decide how to respond, understand which of these factors is driving their consideration of the other offer.
Ask directly: "What's most important to you as you're making this decision?" The answer tells you where to focus. If it's compensation and you have room to move, move. If it's growth opportunity and you have a genuine story to tell, tell it. If it's something you genuinely can't match — location, equity structure, culture — it's better to know that now than to make an offer that results in a quick departure anyway.
How to Respond Strategically
If the candidate is strong and you want to move: accelerate your process. Competing offers create urgency that can justify compressing timelines. A candidate waiting on a final interview round will often accept an offer that arrives before the other one if the opportunity is genuinely appealing.
If the compensation gap is meaningful: understand your room before the conversation, not during it. Going back to leadership for approval mid-negotiation signals weakness and slows everything down. Know in advance what you can offer and make a clean, confident proposal.
If you genuinely can't match: make your case on the dimensions where you're stronger and let the candidate make an informed decision. Candidates who choose you over a higher-paying offer because of growth, team, or mission tend to be more engaged and stay longer than those who were bought.
What Not to Do
Don't pressure candidates into making a decision before they're ready — it produces resentment and sometimes an acceptance followed by a quick departure. Don't make promises about future compensation or promotion that aren't backed by a real commitment. Don't treat the competing offer as a negotiating tactic to dismiss — even if it occasionally is, treating it as genuine shows respect.
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