The risk/reward close is a relatively simple strategy to overcoming resistance and opening the door to an alternative way of thinking. This technique can be deployed when a gentle nudge is needed to move the hiring process forward.
As we know, the process of identifying, attracting and landing the right candidate for your client involves a series of many small steps. In most markets, it would be virtually impossible to send your freshly recruited candidate on an interview the same day, followed by an offer and acceptance, with tomorrow set as the start date!
Remember that most small steps along the hiring process-are-simply small steps. Our value as a Search Consultant is in guiding the hiring process and keeping the momentum at all times. Sometimes we must explain that the “risk” is only a nominal investment of time on behalf of the client and/or candidate, yet the “reward” could be exponential. People can tend to over-think things without having full and complete information; they simply don’t know what they don’t know. With this close, the message that is communicated is that the “risk” is merely a blip in time; a lunch they would have otherwise eaten at their desk, or a phone call on their way home from the office, etc. At the end of the day, recruiters are simply brokers of opportunity. The cost to play is rarely more than an investment of time, but without risk, there can be no rewards.
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Risk/Reward Close Candidate ExamplesVideo
In this brief clip, Recruiting Trainer Karen Schmidt explains that what is usually a small risk, can often result in a large reward!
