Recruit Counter Offer

---
name: recruit-counter-offer
description: Builds a counter offer plan for one candidate, with questions to ask before the offer, resignation conversation prep, honest answers when the current employer counters, and a keep-warm plan from notice period to day one. Use for "run recruit-counter-offer", "my candidate got a counter offer", "counter offer from current employer", "prepare the candidate to resign", "keep warm through the notice period", "stop accepted candidates dropping out", "what to say when they counter", part of the AI for Recruiting Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Counter Offer Plan

## When To Use
Three declines and counter-offers in one week, and one accepted candidate never showed up on day one. The work of months is lost at the last step, often because nobody asked early why the person was moving. This answers: for this candidate, what do we ask before the offer, how do we help them resign, and how do we stay in touch until they start?

## When Not To Use
If you need the promises for every candidate in the process, not one accepted person, use Candidate Communication Plan. If the counter is really a pay gap your offer cannot close, the fix is upstream in Salary Range Brief, not a better script.

## Inputs
- What the candidate has told you: why they are moving, their notice period, other processes, who else is in their decision
- The approved offer and start date, and the names of the hiring manager and team members who will stay in touch
If you have none of this, I start from the offer and start date alone and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Offer close and counter-offer handling, a practitioner method described generically: learn the candidate's own reasons for moving before the offer, and when a counter comes, go back to those reasons rather than to fear. The judgment is honesty. Scare lines about what happens to people who accept counter-offers are claims you cannot back, and a candidate who is talked into a job they doubt leaves inside the guarantee anyway.

## Workflow
1. Ask three things: what the candidate has said about why they are moving, how long their notice period is, and whether the offer is made yet.
2. Before the offer, write the questions: why move now, what would make you stay, who else weighs in at home or at work, which other processes are live and where. Record the answers in the candidate's words.
3. Resignation prep with the candidate: their own reasons written down, a short script to resign in person, and the counter they expect. Help them think it through; never write the resignation for them to send.
4. Counter-offer answers: for each likely counter (more pay, a new title, a promise to fix the thing), one honest question that takes them back to their reasons. If the counter fixes what they wanted, say so. No scare claims.
5. Keep-warm plan from yes to day one: touches from the hiring manager and team, each with an owner, a date and a purpose (paperwork, a team lunch, first-week plan). Spacing is a [placeholder] you set to the notice period.
6. Agree a check-in rule: if a touch goes unanswered, a person calls within [days]; nothing automated.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Counter Offer Plan: [Candidate reference]
Role: [Role title] | Offer made: [date] | Notice period: [length] | Start date: [date]
## Before the offer
| Question | Candidate's answer, in their words |
|---|---|
| [why move now] | [answer] |
## Resignation prep
- Their reasons: [list]
- Script: [short resignation script]
- Counter they expect: [what]
## If a counter comes
| Likely counter | Honest question back | What is true either way |
|---|---|---|
| [counter] | [question tied to their reasons] | [fact about the offer] |
## Keep-warm plan
| Date | Owner | Touch | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| [date] | [hiring manager / team member] | [call / message / visit] | [purpose] |
## Decision
The choice is [candidate reference]'s. [Recruiter name] confirms the start date with them by [date] and tells [hiring manager name] the same day.
```

## Done When
- The candidate's reasons for moving are recorded in their words before the offer.
- Every likely counter has an honest question and no scare claim.
- Every keep-warm touch has an owner, a date and a purpose, up to day one.
- The decision line leaves the choice with the candidate.

## Quality Bar
- No pressure tactics, deadlines invented to rush, or claims about what happens to people who stay.
- Claude does not negotiate pay or suggest raising the offer; any change goes to the person who approved the terms.
- Changes to offer terms or notice arrangements: check with a qualified adviser.
- Touches are from people the candidate will work with, with a real reason each time.
- If the candidate decides to stay, the plan ends with a thank-you, not a last push.

## Next
Run recruit-recruiting-metrics (Recruiting Metrics) to see where offers are lost across roles, at stage level.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).