ASASO™ Step 9 of 10: Contract – The Signature Is Not the Finish Line

The Signature Is Not the Finish Line

We have come a long way. The role has been analysed, we have advertised and actively searched for candidates, carried out screening, used relevant digital tools, conducted interviews, allowed candidates to demonstrate what they can do through assessment centres, and verified key information through the background check. If the process has been carried out well, we should now be left with the candidate we want to hire. At this point, it is easy to think that the difficult part is over and that all that remains is to send an employment contract.

This is the ninth article in our series on ASASO™, TEAM NORSO's comprehensive methodology for recruitment and selection. Throughout the series, we follow the entire recruitment process, from the initial analysis of the need until the new employee is ready to join and become part of the organisation. In step 9, we move from selection to agreement. What we have discussed, investigated and agreed throughout the process must now be translated into an actual employment relationship.

Naturally, this includes an employment agreement that is legally sound and understandable, but the contract phase is about far more than the document itself. Salary and conditions must be clarified, notice periods and any existing commitments must be understood, the proposed start date must be workable, and the candidate needs to know what happens next.

Perhaps the most important thing to understand, however, is what a signed contract is not. It is not a guarantee that the recruitment has succeeded. The candidate may still begin to have doubts, receive a counteroffer, discover something that has not previously been discussed, or simply conclude that changing jobs no longer feels right. From a legal perspective, an employment agreement creates obligations between the parties. From a recruitment perspective, however, we clearly do not want to begin an employment relationship with someone who no longer wants to be there. The signature matters, but it is not the finish line. TEAM NORSO

Contract Work Starts Long Before the Contract Is Written

If the first proper discussion about salary, notice period and key employment conditions takes place after the candidate has received the job offer, we have usually started too late. Already during screening, step 4 of ASASO™, we should begin to understand the candidate's situation. We can ask about current salary level and expectations, notice period and other circumstances that may become relevant if the candidate progresses towards an offer.

This might include bonus arrangements, contractual commitments, non-compete or customer clauses, agreements linked to education or training, or other factors that could make the transition from one employer to another more complicated than we initially assume.

That does not mean current salary should automatically be used as a selection criterion. A candidate who currently earns more than the employer originally intended to offer may still be highly relevant. Perhaps the candidate wants less travel, more flexibility, a shorter commute, more interesting responsibilities, greater influence or better development opportunities. For some people, the ability to work from home on certain days may be worth more than an additional NOK 50,000 in annual salary.

Candidates are motivated by different things, which means we need to understand more than the figure on their latest payslip.

The same applies to notice periods and other commitments. If a candidate has a six-month notice period, the employer should not discover this after planning for the person to start in six weeks. If the candidate will lose a substantial bonus by leaving one month before it is paid, that is also useful information to have before we reach the final contract stage. We do not need to solve every one of these questions during screening, but we should know they exist. This allows us to reduce uncertainty throughout the process and prevents step 9 from becoming filled with problems that could have been identified much earlier. TEAM NORSO

There Should Be Very Few Surprises at This Stage

A good contract phase should almost be a little uneventful. The most important issues should already have been discussed, and both parties should have a reasonably accurate understanding of what they are about to agree to. This does not mean every detail needs to have been fully negotiated weeks in advance, but the candidate should not discover fundamental new conditions when the employment agreement arrives.

Imagine a candidate who has been given the impression throughout the process that the role offers considerable flexibility and the opportunity to work from home, only to be told during the contract discussion that the organisation expects office attendance five days a week. Or consider a candidate who has understood the position to be a leadership role with people management responsibilities, but discovers when reviewing the contract and job description that those responsibilities are not actually included. The same problem can arise around travel requirements, working hours, bonus arrangements, place of work or other conditions that have a real impact on everyday working life.

In these cases, the main problem is not necessarily the contract. The problem often lies earlier in the process. The information given to the candidate and the expectations created by the organisation have not been precise enough. One of the purposes of ASASO™ is to reduce uncertainty step by step. The candidate should gradually learn more about the organisation and the role, while the organisation learns more about the candidate.

By the time we reach step 9, those two pictures should be close enough that the contract primarily formalises what both parties already believe they have agreed.

We can never guarantee that no new questions will emerge. Even a thorough process will occasionally produce surprises. The difference is whether the surprise concerns something we could hardly have anticipated, or whether we simply failed to ask an obvious question earlier. TEAM NORSO

Present the Offer Verbally First

As a general rule, we recommend presenting the job offer verbally before sending the final contract, preferably in a face-to-face meeting when practical. This creates a very different dialogue from simply emailing a document and waiting for a reaction. Salary, start date, workplace, flexibility, working hours, pension, bonus and other key conditions can be discussed together, while the candidate has the opportunity to ask questions directly.

This conversation should normally be led by the hiring manager, meaning the person who will ultimately be responsible for the new employee. HR or an external recruitment adviser can certainly support the process, but the manager should own both the offer and the relationship. This is also an important transition in the relationship between the candidate and the organisation. Until this point, much of the process has focused on assessing whether the candidate is right for the role.

Now the manager also needs to demonstrate that the organisation genuinely wants the candidate and has a well-considered plan for how the employment relationship will begin.

When the contract is subsequently sent, the aim should be for it to be largely ready for signature. The candidate must of course have sufficient time to read it thoroughly and ask questions, but the major discussions should already have been resolved. If the employment agreement is being sent backwards and forwards through numerous versions because salary, workplace, remote work, role content and start date were never properly discussed, that usually tells us that more work should have been done before the document was drafted. TEAM NORSO

Start With an Offer You Can Stand Behind

Salary negotiations can easily become a game in which the employer starts as low as possible because the candidate will probably negotiate anyway. That may appear financially sensible in the moment, but it can be a poor way to begin an employment relationship.

If the candidate accepts the low offer and later discovers that comparable employees earn significantly more, or realises that the employer deliberately started low simply because it could, the organisation may have created a problem far more expensive than the amount it originally saved.

The employer should therefore begin with a genuine and defensible offer that it can explain. This does not mean the candidate should receive everything they ask for, or that negotiation will never be necessary. The employer must consider its finances, internal salary structures, the candidate's competence and the value they bring, the wider market and a range of other factors. But the initial offer should be at a level the organisation can stand behind even if the candidate accepts immediately.

If the candidate wants to negotiate further, the employer must assess what is actually at stake. How large is the gap? How important is this candidate? Are there other ways of meeting their expectations? And how great is the risk that the candidate will choose another employer if we cannot reach agreement? There is no single rule that answers these questions. What matters is that the organisation has considered them before sitting across the table from the candidate. TEAM NORSO

Salary Is Only One Part of the Agreement

It is easy for the contract phase to become a discussion about annual salary. For many candidates, other factors are just as important. Flexibility and the opportunity to work from home have become highly significant in many roles, while other candidates place greater emphasis on working hours, travel requirements, bonuses, pension, insurance, company car arrangements, holiday, professional development or the ability to influence their own working day. Some care greatly about job title and responsibility. Others care less about the title and more about who they will work with and whether the role will allow them to develop.

Imagine a candidate who currently earns NOK 980,000 and receives an offer of NOK 920,000 for a new role. Viewed purely in salary terms, the offer is worse. Through the process, however, we have learned that the candidate currently spends almost an hour and a half commuting each way several days a week, travels extensively and has little opportunity to work from home. The new role involves a much shorter commute, significantly less travel, two home-office days when operationally feasible, and a professional area of responsibility the candidate has wanted for a long time.

The candidate is interested, but the difference in salary remains difficult.

Through the discussion, it becomes clear that the candidate does not necessarily need to maintain the full current salary, but is also unwilling to accept as large a reduction as the original offer involves. The parties agree on NOK 950,000, retain the flexible working arrangement and agree on a specific salary review after twelve months, once both have seen how the role develops in practice.

The point is not that this will always be the right solution. The point is that potential solutions only become visible when we understand what the candidate actually values, rather than reducing the entire discussion to one number. TEAM NORSO

The Employment Agreement Should Be Clear Without Describing Every Working Day

The employment agreement must comply with applicable legislation and clearly describe the key terms of the employment relationship. At the same time, it is rarely sensible to try to include every detail of the role in the contract itself. Roles evolve, organisations change, technology changes the way we work and areas of responsibility shift. An employment agreement that attempts to describe every task the candidate will perform over the next ten years can quickly become both impractical and outdated.

It is often better to keep the employment agreement relatively high-level and place more detailed descriptions in the job description, employee handbook, bonus agreements or other relevant documents. That does not mean the employment agreement should be vague. It must be precise enough for the candidate to understand what has been agreed, while still giving the organisation reasonable flexibility to develop the role over time.

What matters is that the documents and the reality are consistent. You cannot recruit a candidate into one role, describe something different in the employment agreement and later rely on a broad contractual wording to change the job completely. If the content of the role, responsibilities or other material conditions change substantially, this needs to be discussed with the employee, and a new or amended agreement may be required.

Flexibility is necessary in an employment relationship, but flexibility must not become another word for unclear expectations. TEAM NORSO

Do Not Simply Find the Old Contract and Change the Name

Many organisations naturally use standard employment agreement templates, and that is both sensible and efficient. The problem arises when the standard template is treated as though it automatically fits every role and is still correct simply because it has been used before. Legislation can change, organisational practices can change, and a contract written for a salesperson three years ago may not be suitable for a new department manager.

An employment agreement should therefore always be reviewed against the specific role and the current circumstances before it is sent. That applies both to legal provisions and practical conditions. Throughout the recruitment process, the candidate has developed an understanding of what they are joining. If the employment agreement does not match that understanding, the difference needs to be either explained or corrected before signature.

Sending out an old contract without properly reviewing it is not merely poor administration. It can damage the trust that has been built throughout the entire recruitment process. TEAM NORSO

What Happens When the Candidate Resigns?

Once the contract is signed, the candidate will in many cases return to their current employer and resign. This is a moment we should prepare for carefully. Counteroffers are not uncommon, and if they have not appeared earlier, suddenly there may be more money available, greater responsibility, a new job title or flexibility that previously seemed impossible. A manager who may have taken the candidate for granted for several years can suddenly become very clear about just how important that person is to the organisation.

A relevant question to ask before this happens is: “What do you think your employer will do when you resign?” We can then follow up with: “What will you do if they offer you NOK 100,000 more to stay?” The purpose is not to pressure the candidate into a particular answer. The purpose is to understand how the candidate views the situation before they find themselves in the middle of it.

This connects directly to the motivation we have been trying to understand throughout the process. Why did the candidate begin considering another job? Was it salary, lack of development opportunities, poor leadership, too much travel, limited flexibility or a role they had outgrown? If the reason was a lack of development opportunities, that problem does not necessarily disappear because the current employer puts another NOK 100,000 on the table.

At the same time, we should not pretend that money does not matter. A significant counteroffer can absolutely influence the decision, and the candidate may choose to stay. Some will later discover that the underlying reasons they originally wanted to leave are still there, but ultimately that is the candidate's decision to make. TEAM NORSO

A Signed Contract Can Still End Without the Candidate Starting

Imagine an experienced specialist who was not actively looking for a new job. We approached the candidate through active search, and the person gradually became interested because the new role offered greater professional responsibility and stronger development opportunities. Following a thorough process, both parties agree, the contract is signed and the start date is set for three months later. The candidate then resigns from their current employer, which responds with an additional NOK 120,000 in salary and a new job title.

The candidate begins to have doubts. Throughout the process, the new employer has spent a great deal of time assessing whether the candidate is right for them, but considerably less time understanding why they are right for the candidate. When the counteroffer appears, they therefore feel that their only real option is to match the salary.

Had they understood earlier that the candidate's primary reason for wanting to leave was that they had been professionally stagnant for several years and had stopped believing repeated promises of greater responsibility, the conversation could have been very different. They could have asked whether the circumstances that triggered the job change had actually been resolved, or whether the candidate was primarily reacting to a substantial financial counteroffer.

That still does not mean the candidate should be persuaded to join. If, after reconsidering, the candidate genuinely wants to remain with the current employer, that is important information. From the new employer's perspective, there is also little attraction in forcing the beginning of an employment relationship with someone who, even before their first day, would rather be somewhere else. A signature has significant legal importance, but it does not create motivation by itself. TEAM NORSO

The Contract Does Not End the Relationship

One of the stranger things that happens in some recruitment processes is that contact between the candidate and the organisation is at its most intensive right up until the contract is signed, and then almost completely stops. The candidate may have had phone calls, meetings, interviews, assessment centres, reference checks and numerous other touchpoints over several weeks. Then the signature arrives, everyone congratulates each other, and the candidate hears almost nothing for three months.

This is a poor time to become silent. The candidate is now in the middle of a transition. They need to leave one employer, deal with reactions from managers and colleagues, perhaps handle a counteroffer and at the same time begin imagining a new working life somewhere else. If the candidate has also been speaking with other organisations, new offers may still emerge.

Someone who has personally applied for several positions may still be involved in multiple parallel recruitment processes, while a candidate we found through active search may not originally have been considering a move at all. At the same time, our own contact may have opened the candidate's eyes to the fact that there are more alternatives outside their current employer than they previously realised.

The contract should therefore include, or be followed by, a clear explanation of what happens next. The candidate should know who will contact them, what will happen before their start date and how the organisation intends to support the transition. The activities that follow signature largely belong in the next step of ASASO™, but already during the contract phase the candidate needs to understand that the process continues. TEAM NORSO

The Risk Is Different for Every Candidate

Just as in the rest of ASASO™, we should also think in terms of risk at this stage. How likely is the candidate to withdraw? How long is it until the start date? Is the candidate involved in several parallel recruitment processes? Were they recruited through active search, or did they apply themselves? Are there complicated agreements with the current employer? Does the candidate need to relocate with their family? Is the candidate international and accustomed to different contracting processes, different legislation or a faster pace between offer and signature?

International candidates may, for example, face very different practical issues relating to housing, work permits, family and relocation, while expectations around how an offer is presented and how quickly the process should move may also differ. Candidates who have been actively headhunted may, on the other hand, have a lower risk of suddenly moving into another recruitment process because they were not originally active in the market.

At the same time, we may have encouraged them to start considering alternatives and thereby opened up a market they had not previously explored.

The point is not to predict every possible event. We cannot. The point is to identify the uncertainty we can actually see and try to reduce it before it becomes a problem. TEAM NORSO

Good Work in the First Eight Steps Makes Step 9 Easier

The contract phase also works as a form of quality control for the rest of the recruitment process. If the job analysis was good, both the organisation and the candidate understand what the role is intended to involve. If the screening was thorough, we already know important information about salary, notice period and motivation. If the interview was well conducted, the candidate has received a realistic picture of the role and the organisation. If the assessment centre and background check have been carried out properly, the organisation has a sound basis for its decision.

Step 9 then becomes easier. Not because the contract is unimportant, but because much of the uncertainty has already been dealt with.

If the earlier work has been weak, however, the problems often become visible now. The candidate expects a completely different salary from what the organisation is able to offer. The employer believes the candidate can start next month, while the notice period is six months. The candidate believed working from home was an established option, while the manager regarded it as a rare exception. Or the candidate believed the role included people management responsibilities that the organisation never intended to provide.

At that point, we are using step 9 to repair work that should have been done earlier. TEAM NORSO

A Contract Is a Formalisation, Not a Guarantee

An employment agreement is necessary. It should be legally sound, clear and understandable, and it should reflect what the parties have actually agreed. But it is not a 100 per cent guarantee of a successful hire. A document can regulate rights and obligations, but it cannot by itself create motivation, trust or a good transition between the current and the new employer.

The best contract phase therefore begins long before the contract is sent. It is built on a process in which the organisation and the candidate have gradually got to know each other, aligned expectations and reduced uncertainty. By the time the contract finally arrives, there should ideally be very few major questions left.

And once it has been signed, neither party should believe that the recruitment process is finished. TEAM NORSO

Next Step: Preboarding and Onboarding

Once the contract is signed, the period between the hiring decision and the actual first day begins. This period may last only a few days, but it can also last three, six or even more months. During this time, the candidate needs to conclude their relationship with the current employer while their connection to the new organisation is being built. It is a period in which motivation can be strengthened, but also one in which doubt, counteroffers and poor communication can undo much of the work already completed.

In the tenth and final article in this ASASO™ series, we therefore move on to preboarding and onboarding. We will look at what the organisation should do from the moment the contract is signed, how it can maintain contact with the candidate before the first day, how the initial period should be planned, and why onboarding should not be reduced to an access card, a laptop, a round of introductions and a few documents to read.

A strong recruitment process is not finished when the candidate signs the contract. Nor is it finished on the first day at work. The next step is about ensuring that the person we have invested so much time in finding and selecting is given the best possible conditions to succeed once the job actually begins.