Choose Your Negotiations Wisely

Many years ago, I hired a very successful and well-known recruiter to work for our company. This recruiter was a “superstar” sort of recruiter, who generated millions of dollars in fees wherever he went. Prior to hiring this recruiter, I had spent a few weeks getting to know him over several dinners and trips to his hometown. I got to know his significant other, spent time in his home, and he in mine. By the time I was ready to make him an offer, I was very happy about hiring him and his future with our recruiting firm. In response to my offer, he very politely told me that he would love to come to work for me–and that his attorney would “be in touch” shortly. A few days later, I received a telephone call from an attorney in a major law firm, who had marked up the offer letter I had sent over to the recruiter. He had made so many notes that the document, which was formerly two pages long, now was around seven or eight pages long. In addition, he had attached a “suggested employment contract” that was more than 45 pages long. “Who are you?” I asked the attorney during our first phone call. I was a little astonished by the intensity with which he was negotiating some relatively small things. For example, the recruiter wanted to ensure that his desk was positioned within 20 feet of “cold filtered spring water,” which would need to be in ready supply for him to drink during his workday. “I actually do this for Fortune 500 CEOs all the time,” he said. “This is my specialty, negotiating these sorts of things.” I spent at least a week exchanging frequent phone calls with the attorney and had an in-house attorney from our company [Read more]