By the time an offer is declined, the real cause usually happened two or three weeks earlier. A slow interview loop, a hiring manager who went quiet after the second round, a scorecard that shifted mid-process without anyone telling the candidate why — these are the actual drivers. The offer letter is just where the decision becomes visible.
In our data, candidates who wait more than five business days between interview rounds are roughly twice as likely to be actively engaging with a second process by the time an offer lands. Momentum is not a soft factor. It is the single biggest predictor we track.
Eleven percent of our placements face a counter-offer from the candidate's current employer. We prepare for this before the offer is even extended, not after the counter arrives — walking the candidate through why they started looking in the first place, because a counter-offer almost never fixes the underlying reason someone opened themselves up to a new role.
Candidates who accept a counter-offer leave within twelve months at a markedly higher rate than the broader market. We tell clients this plainly, and we tell candidates the same thing, because a placement that boomerangs back to the old employer six months later serves nobody.
Speed of decision, clarity of the comp structure (especially equity, where ambiguity kills more offers than the number itself), and — the most underrated factor — whether the candidate has met the actual team they'd be working with, not just the hiring manager.
Send the brief and a partner in your sector comes back with a written plan within one business day.