Close the counteroffer in your first conversation.
You close a counteroffer in your first conversation, for every reason your candidate wants to move. Check they’re not after a pay rise and that their boss knows what’s bothering them. Then make them the counteroffer yourself: what will they do if their boss solves their problem, or offers them €500 more? Ask again after every interview, and stay close until their first working day.
Gauthier Denis · 25 October 2026 · 10 min read
On Friday, your candidate signed their contract. On Monday, they resigned. On Tuesday evening, they call: “My boss doesn’t want to lose me. A ten per cent rise, and finally that team leader title.” They sound relieved, and a bit guilty.
By then, you’re too late. Their emotions are running high, their boss has a problem and your placement is wobbling. A counteroffer, their boss’s bid to keep them, isn’t won when it lands, but in your first conversation, while your candidate still says freely what they think.
Let’s not be naive about it: it feels strange to bring up their resignation at a first meeting. And sometimes a boss genuinely means their counteroffer. But the question that says it all remains: why is it possible now, and not before? A boss who really values them doesn’t wait until they resign. According to Robert Walters, a third of those who accept a counteroffer still leave within the year.
That’s why we go a good deal further than a few questions at offer stage. We discuss the counteroffer at length in our first conversation, present the candidate with the counteroffer their boss is going to make and ask again after every interview.
Two kinds of counteroffer
A counteroffer that targets their problems. Suddenly anything is possible: a step up, another team, more working from home, that title. That counteroffer is the hardest to see through, and it’s often promises that never materialise. Your candidate can only tell whether it’s a false promise if they know beforehand whether their problem can be solved there.
A financial counteroffer. A pay rise, a bonus, a better car. It works: in the Robert Walters survey, 86% say a pay rise would be the deciding factor in staying. But it’s a poisoned chalice. It papers over their problems without solving them. After a few months, the extra pay no longer outweighs what bothered them, and then moving is harder: their salary is above the market, and the companies they applied to know them as the candidate who pulled out.
And then there are their emotions. Their boss plays on their ego (“We still had such big plans for you”) or their guilt (“You’re leaving us in the lurch, now of all times”). Think of it like a relationship: whoever wants to break up usually has a good reason. The other person promises to change, they give it another go and in the end they’re unhappy together or split up anyway. In the long run, the reason to leave wins out over the emotion of the moment.
Why an employer does it
Not out of appreciation, but to solve a problem: their own. An open position costs money, and replacing someone costs even more: a job ad, an agency, interviews, onboarding. In a tight market, that takes months. A pay rise is cheaper.
A counteroffer looks like a sign of being valued, because it comes out of the blue. In reality, it’s a cheap short-term fix. The boss isn’t solving your candidate’s problem: they’re buying time to find a solution to their own.
What a counteroffer costs your candidate
Their frustrations stay. A promise solves nothing, and nor does a pay rise. After a few months, everything is back to how it was before they resigned.
Their boss trusts them less. The boss now knows this employee wanted to leave, and won’t forget it. It counts at the next promotion or round of cost-cutting.
They throw away their chances. The companies that offered them a job won’t be in a hurry to see them again. Anyone who starts looking again a year later begins on the back foot.
They price themselves out of the market. Anyone earning above the market thanks to a pay rise finds it harder to land a next job that pays that salary.
The method: how to close the counteroffer
Seven steps, from your first conversation to their first working day. You take the first four in your first conversation.
01Check they’re not after a pay rise
Ask why they want to move, and listen for whether pay is the main reason. Anyone who mainly wants to earn more should talk to their boss first, not to you. Otherwise they’ll use your offer to ask for a pay rise, and you lose your time and your credibility with your client.
02Ask what their boss already knows
“Does your boss know this is bothering you? What did they do about it? Are you 100% sure it can’t be solved internally?” If they’re not sure, send them to their boss first, within the week. In the meantime, you’re already looking at which companies suit them. If they then know it can’t work there, you can move fast.
03Make them the counteroffer yourself
Take every reason they gave you, and make them the counteroffer their boss will make: “Say your boss tells you after you resign that you’re getting the team leader role after all. What do you do?” Then the money: “And what if they offer you €500 more a month?” Finish with: “What would they have to offer to make you think twice?” If they’re already wavering now, better to know today than after they’ve resigned.
04Explain what a counteroffer is
“I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t talk this through with you.” Explain the two kinds of counteroffer, why their boss will make one and what it will cost them. Then ask again. You only move on with three yeses: they’re not after a pay rise, their problem can’t be solved internally and even with a pay rise they’ll change employer.
05Ask again after every interview
After every interview with your client: “Have you let it sink in? If you resign tomorrow, your boss will probably come back with a counteroffer. What will you do then?” The more often you ask, the better you can see whether they’re susceptible to it. You make the offer by phone, not by email: an offer on paper easily ends up on their boss’s desk.
06Prepare their resignation
First they sign with your client, and only then do they resign, on a day you agree together. They tell their boss themselves first, briefly, and then hand in their resignation letter, with their boss signing a copy for receipt. They don’t have to say where they’re going, and if they want to leave sooner, they ask for a shorter notice period. Beforehand, go over the financial counteroffer one more time, and how their boss will play on their feelings. That evening, you call them.
07Stay close until their first working day
During their notice, you call them every two weeks, and your client too. Ask your client to invite them along, to a team lunch or a site visit: someone who feels wanted rarely turns back. On their first working day, you send them a quick message, and then you call your client: how did their first day go? If they stop picking up along the way, read Ghosting and chasing.
What to say when they hesitate
“I don’t want to have that conversation with my boss.”
“Why not?” Listen carefully: someone who won’t have that conversation is sometimes mainly looking for an offer to put in front of their boss. If so, you stop there. If it’s fear, say: “Without that conversation, you’ll never know when you resign whether a promise is real.”
“I’ve asked loads of times, with no result.”
“Then you know they can’t fix it. But on the day you resign, your boss has a problem, and that’s when the promises come. How will you react then?” If they say they won’t go for it, tell them what you’ve often seen: “Three months later, someone like that calls me to start looking again, and by then the companies from last time already have a picture of them, and not a good one.”
“I haven’t asked yet, but they won’t do it anyway.”
“And what if they do? When someone resigns, a lot suddenly becomes possible. Have the conversation now, and you’ll know where you stand.” Agree when they’ll do it, and keep that deadline short. Call them afterwards: “How did it go? And what if it suddenly becomes possible when you resign?” If they say “Then they’re too late”, you can move on.
“My boss is offering me ten per cent more.”
“We talked about this. You wanted to leave because you couldn’t grow and your boss doesn’t listen. Does that ten per cent change any of that?” They gave the answer themselves, in your first conversation. Remind them of it, without pressure.
An example
Say Sarah is a project manager at an engineering consultancy and wants to leave. She’s been doing the same projects for two years, and her boss never lets her have a say. “Does he know?” “I mentioned it once in my appraisal.” She isn’t really sure it can’t be fixed internally. You agree that she’ll talk to him about it that week.
On Friday, she calls: “Maybe next year, he said.” Now she’s sure. You make her the counteroffer yourself: “And what if, when you resign, he gives you your own project after all, and €500 more?” “Then he’s too late.”
She signs with a contractor, taking on more responsibility. Two days later, she resigns, with a letter her boss signs for receipt. That evening, you call her, as agreed: her boss is offering eight per cent more and her own project after all. She laughs: “You warned me.” During her notice, you call her every two weeks, and the contractor invites her to the opening of a site. Three months later, she starts.
Checklist
- You know why your candidate wants to move, and a pay rise isn’t the main reason.
- Their boss knows about their problems, or they’ll raise them within the week.
- You made them the counteroffer yourself, for every reason, including €500 more.
- They know what a counteroffer is, why it comes and what it costs them.
- You have three yeses: they’re not after a pay rise, their boss can’t fix it and even with a pay rise they’ll move.
- After every interview, you ask again, and you make the offer by phone.
- They sign before they resign, and you call them that same day.
- Until their first working day, you stay in touch, with them and with your client.
Frequently asked questions
Why discuss the counteroffer as early as your first conversation?
Because that’s when your candidate still says freely what they think. After an offer and a resignation conversation, their emotions get a say too. And if someone would stay for €500 more, you’d rather find out before you put them forward to a client.
Is a counteroffer ever a good choice?
Sometimes, yes: if their boss really solves their problem, rather than just promising to. But then that was possible without resigning too. That’s why you send them to their boss first. If the boss then sorts it out, they stay without a counteroffer, and you’re left with a trusted contact.
How often do candidates accept a counteroffer?
In the Robert Walters survey, 13% of professionals say they have accepted a counteroffer at some point. Around a third of them still left within the year.
Can your candidate resign verbally?
They can say it, but they give notice in writing, stating the start date and the length: with a letter they hand over, a copy of which their boss signs for receipt, by registered letter or through a bailiff. That signature doesn’t mean their boss agrees. If the boss refuses to sign, the letter goes by registered post.
How long notice lasts and how to agree a different end date together is covered in Non-compete clause and notice.
What if they’ve already signed and stay anyway?
Let your client know straight away, and put forward your next candidate. How the signed contract is terminated is for your candidate and your client to sort out together. Threats help no one.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Robert Walters Belgium, You resigned and your employer makes a counter-offer. Now what?, June 2023, with figures from the Robert Walters salary survey.
- Unizo, Dismissal, notice and termination (in Dutch): how an employee resigns.