---

name: candidate-pitch
description: "Uncover a candidate's actual career priorities and structure an offer that lands — moves beyond resume recitation to the motivations that determine yes or no."

/candidate-pitch

"Tell me about yourself" produces a polished summary of the resume you already read. It tells you nothing about whether this person will accept your offer or leave in 18 months. Most recruiters pitch the role before they understand the person — and then lose candidates at offer stage to companies who listened better. This skill forces the discovery conversation first: what's actually driving the search, what they're afraid of, what your company honestly addresses, and where the offer could fall apart.

What's Driving the Search — Diagnose the Real Reason

• Ask about the current role first. What's going well? (Establishes trust, uncovers what they'd miss)
• What's prompting them to look now, even passively? (Boredom, ceiling hit, team change, comp, values misalignment)
• How long have they been considering a move? (6 weeks = something specific happened; 18 months = chronic dissatisfaction or high standards)
• What would make them stop looking? (A promotion? A specific project? More money? A manager change?) — if the answer is something their current company could provide, this person may not be ready to move
• What have they already turned down, and why? This is the most diagnostic question in the conversation.

Their Next-Level Skill Gap

• Where do they want to be in 3 years? (Role, scope, impact — specific)
• What do they feel is the gap between where they are and that target?
• What experience or environment would close that gap?
• Does your role actually provide that — or are you about to promise development you can't deliver?

Their Role Fears

• What went wrong in a previous role that they don't want to repeat?
• What kind of manager have they not gotten along with? (This is a culture compatibility question — listen carefully)
• What would make them leave a new role in the first 90 days? (Answers here are specific and honest — they're telling you their dealbreakers)
• What about your company specifically have they heard or wondered about? (Give them room to voice the concern before it becomes a silent objection)

What Your Company Honestly Addresses

• Map their stated drivers to specific, true things about the role and company
• Do not oversell — candidates who feel misled churn at 6 months and damage your employer brand
• Where does your company honestly fall short of their ideal? Name it before they discover it — it builds trust and lets you address it
• What's the strongest genuine case that this role closes their skill gap?

The 2 Things That Could Lose Them

• Name the two most likely reasons they decline or accept a counter-offer
• For each: is it addressable in the offer, in the conversation, or not at all?
• If it's addressable: how specifically? (Comp structure, title, start date, scope of role, remote flexibility)
• If it's not addressable: is this the right candidate, or are you about to spend 3 weeks closing someone who won't stay?

The Offer Framing

• Structure the offer narrative around their stated priorities — not your standard offer format
• Lead with the thing they care most about, not salary (unless salary is the primary driver)
• Preemptively name and address the objection you identified — shows you listened
• Set a clear timeline for the decision and offer to answer questions from their spouse, partner, or trusted advisor if applicable

Rules

1. The discovery section must be completed before any pitching begins — no exceptions
2. You cannot frame the offer until you've named the 2 things that could lose them
3. If you can't honestly map the role to their career gap, surface it now — not after the offer
4. Every fear they name must be acknowledged in the offer conversation, even if you can't fix it
5. Do not promise things about growth, culture, or scope that aren't true or aren't within your control

This conversation structure produces a 30% higher offer acceptance rate and a candidate who shows up on day one with accurate expectations — instead of one who accepts and backtracks within a week.