So we arrive at another Friday, another end to a hard-working week. And once again the question presents itself: What is it about Fridays that finally allows “powers that be” to sign off on extending offers? 3 clients this week interviewed candidates prior to Wednesday and knew that day they intended to make the candidates offers. It’s Friday morning and no offers are out the door - although I’m certain all 3 will be extended at some point throughout today. This isn’t unusual although it’s a strategic mistake mistake made every week by many agencies.

I believe we’ve written about this before but let me take a moment and remind all HR Directors and Hiring Managers what happens when you put off extending an offer until a Friday when you could have had the hire made by extending it Thursday afternoon. First off, not all candidates accept offers on the spot. (While some try to request a few days, we hardline and require a 24 hour turnaround for an answer. This is tough to accomplish on a Friday.) You now go into the weekend not knowing if your hire was actually made or not. Wouldn’t it feel great to have it wrapped up and off your plate Monday morning?

The candidate goes into the weekend with 48 straight hours of uninterrupted opportunity to receive really bad advice. You should bet your next paycheck there is going to be a list of requests to amend the offer with so much free time to pick it apart. Between researching ‘trends’ on the internet, or even worse talking with with family members who have probably never worked in advertising or changed jobs more than twice in their lives, do you think your candidate is going to be reassured your offer is perfect in every way and all will go smoothly on Monday? I think not.

Another angle to consider is thinking about resignation and start dates. It’s much easier to resign on a Friday than a Monday, and a nice clean Monday start date 2 weeks later is far more emminent if the acceptance is emailed back Friday morning instead of Monday afternoon.

I know you’re busy - we’re all busy, everyone’s busy, we live hectic lives at both work and home, that’s an established fact. But do yourself a favor and push the paperwork through on Thursday if you’ve known since Tuesday or Wednesday you’re ready to make the offer. Give your candidate something to celebrate all weekend rather than something to find fault with. Idle time, they say.