These few, simple words were intended to signal the beginning of a wonderful new career for the lucky job candidate, who had bested six other strong contenders for the top position.

So why did she turn it down?

The reasons, of course, could be endless: She was never serious about taking the job. She used to be serious but lost interest as the interviewing process dragged on and on. The salary was great, but the total compensation and benefits package wasn’t. The company turned a deaf ear to her relocation needs. Her current stock options were too significant to leave behind.

Here are more: Her husband couldn’t see re-starting his law practice in a new city. Company headquarters were too far across the country from her aging parents. The other company she was secretly interviewing made a better offer. She accepted a counter-offer from her current employer. No one took her seriously when she said the position level needed to be Vice President.

Or, at the end of the day, something just didn’t feel right.

In fact, there are more reasons why candidates turn down jobs than you can shake a stick at. But isn’t it fair to assume that something’s amiss when the employer – and perhaps its search firm – expects an offer to stick, and it doesn’t? Business people by and large detest surprises, and the spurned employment offer is a big one.

Rarely do employers and prospective employees meet for the first time, fall in love and get married before the day is out.

More likely, a dating ritual ensues ("Let’s get to know each other"), leading to courtship ("Let’s get serious") and ultimately to proposal ("Let’s get hitched"). Sometimes, of course, the key question is not, "Do I want to marry Sally," but rather, "Does Sally want to marry me?"

When it comes to changing jobs, various issues may cloud the positive feelings that a candidate has about the new opportunity. For example, a secure, reasonably well-paying job may need to be abandoned for the chance of greater reward in an unfamiliar environment. The family may need to be uprooted and the house put up for sale. A new school district may need to be found that has a strong college-placement record.

Nothing can be more dangerous to the search process than leaving these kinds of concerns unaddressed, since they generally will become magnified over time.

Professional search consultants divide such concerns into objections and conditions.

The American Heritage Dictionary calls an objection "an adverse contention" – as in, "I don’t think I’d want to move to Cleveland." The good news about objections is that, once surfaced, they often can be overcome. ("Did you know that Cleveland has some of the finest suburbs in the country, six professional sports teams, a world-class symphony orchestra, super museums and boating on Lake Erie?")

A condition, as its name implies, describes a state of being – e.g., a son about to enter senior year of high school as captain of the football team, or a spouse who was just elected to public office. Since conditions can’t be changed, the question is whether they can be accommodated.

The job candidate with the football-playing son might be persuaded to accept temporary living quarters in a new city, while the remainder of the family stays put until the young man graduates from high school. In many cases, however, conditions cannot be accommodated and are early warning signs that the candidate may be unable to accept an offer.

Prospective employees, eager to put their best foot forward during the early stages of courtship, rarely disclose all the obstacles that may stand in the way of marriage. Sometimes, they may not even think of them, or they may tend to dismiss them ("I can talk my spouse into moving anywhere").

Skilled search consultants know how to surface these issues so that they can be dealt with – or the candidate eliminated from further consideration.

Other issues will arise as the mating dance proceeds. The job initially is an abstraction – nothing more than a description provided over the telephone. Like the proverbial onion, layer upon layer is peeled back as preliminary discussions lead to interviews, on-site visits, neighborhood tours, etc.

At each step, the candidate is forming impressions that help create a bond between him or her and the new employer or, conversely, raise new issues. Over and over again, the professional recruiter asks, "Based on what you know right now, is there anything standing between you and the job?"

  Eventually it seems time to propose marriage.

Many employers assume, therefore, that the next step is an offer letter and that the role of any outside search consultant is over. That assumption is wrong on both counts because offers, once made, are difficult to change. And offers turned down should not have been made at all.

The outside search consultant can provide important risk insurance in two ways. First, based on knowledge of the marketplace in general and the candidate’s needs in particular, the recruiter can counsel the company on designing an offer that will stick – in terms of title, responsibilities, compensation package, etc. Second, the recruiter can test the offer with the candidate and identify any issues that need to be resolved before it is officially extended. In effect, the consultant serves as a third-party facilitator, helping both sides avoid the risk of losing face – or blowing up the offer – through direct negotiation.

  In the U.S. and other countries enjoying statistical full employment, employers are begging for people. The resulting seller’s market has resulted in rude surprises for unwary companies. More and more candidates, for instance, are turning down one job offer in order to accept another, and there are increasing numbers of no-shows on the date employment is to begin.

Today, more than ever, time kills all deals – so don’t allow important job offers to become bogged down in bureaucracy. Recently, a Big Five accounting firm took a month to offer a six-figure senior vice presidency to a promising candidate, but he was long gone – to a company that offered him a job within eight days. As The Wall Street Journal observed, "In the Race to Fill Job Vacancies, Speed Demons Win."

As soon as you believe a candidate will accept your job offer, extend it quickly and send two copies of the formal offer letter, along with any employment agreement. At the bottom of the letter, include an acceptance statement for the candidate to sign and return. (For example: "I, [Name], have read, understood and accepted the above offer of employment; agree to report to work on [Date]; and affirm that I have no contractual provisions with my current/most recent employer that would restrict or prohibit my acceptance of the offer.") If another job offer lurks in the background, or unresolved issues remain, the acceptance statement is likely to smoke them out.

Finally, expect your search consultant to advise your anticipated new employee on the wisdom and techniques of resisting a counter-offer from his or her current employer. Once past that hurdle, you can breathe a sigh of relief: The person is likely to report to work.