Pollock & Associates

12/10/2026

A counteroffer can arrive within a day of the resignation letter, and it can look better than anything that was offered a month earlier.

That is worth thinking about. If the extra money, a new title or more flexibility was available the moment someone resigned, why was it not available at the last salary review, when the conversation was calm and the request was polite? Nobody is saying the company does not mean it, but it is a fair question to ask yourself before you answer.

Sometimes accepting a counteroffer is the right decision. If the only reason you started looking was pay and the new number fixes it, staying makes sense. But if the reason was your manager, a lack of progression or a feeling that nobody noticed your work, a bigger salary does not change any of that, and the same problem will be there on Monday. Before you respond, write down why you started looking, and then check whether the counteroffer deals with that reason.

If you are an employer reading this, the conversation that costs the least is the one you have before someone resigns.

Have you ever been counteroffered? Did it fix what made you start looking?

24/09/2026

Today is Heritage Day. A day to celebrate everything that makes this country what it is: many languages, many backgrounds, many ways of seeing the world, living side by side.

There is something in that worth carrying into how we build teams.
A workforce drawn from one narrow background tends to think in one narrow way. Bring together people with different histories, different experiences and different instincts, and you get something stronger. Better ideas. Fewer blind spots. A business that understands more of the people it serves, because it looks a little more like them.

South Africa's diversity is not a box to tick. It is, quite practically, one of the country's real advantages, if businesses choose to build with it rather than around it.

To everyone celebrating today, in all the ways this day is celebrated: enjoy it. And to the businesses building teams that reflect this country in full, you are onto something.

18/09/2026

A counteroffer can keep someone from leaving. But does it give them a reason to stay?

When a valued employee resigns, matching their salary can feel like the obvious solution.

But if the reason they started looking was lack of growth, recognition, challenge or trust, more money may only delay the inevitable.

In his latest article, Mike Po***ck-Vogelpath, Managing Executive of Po***ck & Associates, looks at why counteroffers so often treat the symptom rather than the reason someone wanted to leave in the first place.

The better retention strategy starts much earlier.

Pay attention before the resignation lands on your desk.

Read Mike's full article for a closer look at the counteroffer trap, and what businesses can do instead: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/counteroffer-trap-why-matching-salary-rarely-works-zppmf

By Mike Po***ck-Vogelpath , Chief Executive Officer A valued employee walks into your office and resigns. They have another offer.

16/09/2026

The best candidate you want to hire will spend about five minutes deciding whether you are worth a reply. Most of that happens before you ever speak to them.

When a strong, employed professional is approached about a role, their first move is not to answer. It is to look you up. Your company page. A quick search. What current and former staff say. Who works there. It takes a few minutes, and it happens before any real conversation.

What they find in those minutes decides whether they engage or quietly move on. A page that is active and human, with real people and recent signs of life, invites a reply. A page that is empty, stale or says nothing tells them everything, and not in your favour.

Here is the uncomfortable part. You are being assessed by exactly the people you most want, and you are not in the room when it happens. Your employer brand is doing the talking, whether you have tended to it or not.

Be honest with yourself: what does your company look like in a five-minute search? Because your next great hire is looking right now.

10/09/2026

You cannot build a talent pipeline in the weeks before a deadline.
With the Employment Equity reporting window opening, the focus will naturally turn to targets, reporting and compliance.

But there is another question businesses need to be asking:
Where is the talent you will need to meet those targets?

At senior and specialist levels, the right candidates are already in demand. Building a workforce that genuinely reflects your transformation objectives takes time, relationships and deliberate hiring decisions long before a reporting deadline arrives.

In her latest article, Caz Po***ck, CEO of Po***ck & Associates, looks at why Employment Equity is not simply a reporting exercise. It is a workforce planning and talent pipeline challenge.

The organisations that will be ready are not waiting for the deadline. They are building the pipeline now.

Read Caz's full article for the recruitment perspective on Employment Equity: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/employment-equity-pipeline-you-cannot-backfill-january-vjy4f

By Caz Po***ck , Chief Executive Officer From the first of this month, the Employment Equity reporting window is open, and this year is different from the ones before it. For the first time, designated employers are not simply filing a baseline.

02/09/2026

With so many people looking for work right now, job scams are everywhere. And they are getting harder to spot. So here is a short, honest guide to protect yourself.

Looking for work is hard enough without someone trying to take advantage of you while you do it. Stay careful, and trust your instincts.

Please share this with anyone you know who is job hunting right now. It might save someone their money or their identity.

28/08/2026

The strongest candidates are often the least likely to see your job advert.

They are already employed, performing well and being looked after. They are not necessarily checking job boards or actively looking for their next move, which means the traditional “post and wait” approach can leave some of the best talent completely out of the process.

In her latest article, Caz Po***ck, Chief Executive Officer at Po***ck & Associates, looks at why this matters most when hiring for senior and scarce-skills roles, and why reaching passive candidates requires a different approach.

For critical roles, the right person may never apply. You have to know where to find them.

Read Caz’s full article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-best-person-job-isnt-reading-your-ad-pollock-associates-oyade

27/08/2026

Your best candidate will probably never apply for your vacancy.

Not because they are not interested. Because they do not know it exists, and they are not looking.

The strongest people in most fields are already employed, doing good work, not scrolling job boards on a Sunday night. Your advert, however well written, never reaches them. It reaches the people who are actively searching, which is a real but much smaller pool, and not always where the best fit sits.

This is the quiet flaw in “post the role and wait.” You are fishing in the part of the market that came to you, and hoping the person you actually need happens to be in it.
The people you most want usually have to be found and approached, not waited for.

That is a different way of hiring, and for scarce skills it is often the only one that works.

Be honest: when did you last fill an important role from the applicants to your advert alone?

25/08/2026

It is easy to talk about recruitment in numbers. Roles filled. Time to hire. Placements made.

But behind every one of those is a person who took a chance.

Someone who decided they were ready for more. Someone who sat in an interview a little nervous, hoping this was the one. Someone on the other side of the table betting that this new person would help carry the business forward.

When it works, it is not really a transaction at all. A career takes a step it needed. A team gets stronger. A business does something it could not do the week before.

We spend our days in the detail of hiring. But the reason it matters is simple. Getting the right person into the right place changes things, for them and for the people they join.

So tell us: was there a single job that changed the direction of your career? We'd love to hear the story.

14/08/2026

A higher salary is not the same as a better opportunity. It is easy to forget that when the number goes up.

Before you say yes to a move for the money, it is worth asking what else comes with it.

A few honest questions to run the offer through:

Will I actually grow here, or just earn more doing the same thing?
Do I respect the people I would report to and work alongside?
Is this a business going somewhere, or one I would be joining at the wrong time?
Am I moving toward something, or just away from what I have?

Sometimes the money and the opportunity point the same way, and that is a straightforward yes. But a raise attached to the wrong role has a way of feeling a lot smaller six months in.

The best career moves usually make sense even before you get to the salary.

Candidates: have you ever taken a role for the money and regretted it, or turned one down and been glad you did? I'd love to hear which.