Posted: May 20, 2026Your preferred candidate has accepted. The contract is signed. You breathe out — and move on to the next thing on your desk.
For many hiring managers in construction and engineering, this is where active management of the hire stops. It is also, increasingly, where things go wrong.
The gap between offer acceptance and day one — which in construction can be anywhere from four weeks to six months — is one of the most undermanaged stages in the entire hiring process. Counter-offers happen here. Cold feet happens here. Competing offers arrive here. And by the time you find out, it is often too late to do anything about it.
At Sonas Technical, we see this play out regularly. Here is what the best-run construction companies do differently in that window — and what it costs when nothing is done at all.
Why the offer-to-start gap is getting riskier
Notice periods at senior level in Irish construction now routinely run to three months, and often longer. That is a significant window during which your new hire is still sitting in their current role, being managed by their current employer, and potentially being made a counter-offer.
The market has tightened. Good candidates at QS, Project Manager, and Contracts Manager level are not sitting idle — they are receiving approaches throughout their notice period. If your onboarding experience during that window is radio silence, you are handing the initiative to whoever is competing with you for that person.
Sonas perspective: We have seen candidates drop out after signing at every seniority level — including director-level hires with six-month notice periods. The longer the gap, the more deliberate your engagement during it needs to be.
What the best firms actually do
1. They make contact within the first week after signing
A short call or email from the hiring manager — not just HR — within the first week after acceptance makes a meaningful difference. It does not need to be long. It signals that the person is already thought of as part of the team, not just a name on a contract.
The message does not need to be elaborate: what project they will be starting on, who they will be working with, something to look forward to. It is basic, and most companies do not do it.
Sonas perspective: The hiring manager making that call carries far more weight than an automated onboarding email from HR. Personal contact at this stage costs ten minutes and is one of the highest-value things a hiring manager can do.
2. They share something concrete before day one
Sending the candidate something meaningful before they start — a project brief, an org chart, an introduction to the team — serves two purposes. It keeps them engaged and it reinforces that the role is real, active, and well-run.
Companies that do this well treat pre-start communication as the first chapter of onboarding, not a formality. The candidate arrives on day one having already read around the project, already knowing a few names, already feeling some ownership.
Sonas perspective: Avoid sending generic company literature at this stage. Something specific to the role or project — even a single page — is far more effective than a staff handbook the candidate will not read until their third week.
3. They invite the candidate in before the start date
An informal visit — a site walk, a team lunch, a coffee with their future line manager — during the notice period significantly reduces the likelihood of drop-off. It turns an abstract future into something tangible.
This is particularly effective for candidates coming from a long-tenure role who may have some anxiety about the change. Meeting the team before day one removes a layer of uncertainty that can quietly build during a long notice period.
Sonas perspective: Keep it low-key. This is not a second interview — it is a welcome. The goal is for the candidate to leave feeling good about the decision they have made, not assessed further.
4. They handle the counter-offer conversation early
Counter-offers are most dangerous when a candidate has not been asked to think through what they would do. The best hiring managers raise it directly — not in a pressuring way, but in an honest one: “If your current employer comes back to you with a better offer, I’d encourage you to call me before making any decision.”
That single sentence, said at the right moment, keeps the door open and often stops a counter-offer from being accepted in silence.
Sonas perspective: We coach candidates to think this through before they resign, and we would encourage hiring managers to have the same conversation openly. Counter-offers are less effective when they have been anticipated and discussed.
5. They keep the recruiter in the loop
A good recruitment partner does not disappear after the offer is signed. They stay in contact with the candidate throughout the notice period, flag any signals early, and can often resolve concerns before they become decisions.
The best construction firms treat this as a collaborative stage — sharing any concerns they have about the candidate’s engagement and expecting the recruiter to do the same. Transparency on both sides is what allows problems to be caught early enough to do something about.
Sonas perspective: We contact every placed candidate at least twice during their notice period as standard — not to check in for the sake of it, but because we know this is when issues surface. If something is shifting, we would rather know on week two than on the Friday before their start date.
What it costs when drop-off happens
The direct cost is straightforward: you are back to the beginning of a process that may have taken eight to twelve weeks to get to offer stage. In a tight market, your second-choice candidate has likely moved on. You restart the search with less time, more pressure, and potentially a gap on a live project.
The indirect cost is harder to measure but significant. The team that was expecting a new colleague has to absorb the work. The hiring manager who invested time in the process has to re-invest it. And in some cases, the story of why someone accepted and then pulled out gets back into the market faster than you would like.
None of this is inevitable. Most drop-off between offer and start is preventable with a modest amount of deliberate contact.
A note on the candidate’s perspective
It is worth remembering what the candidate is experiencing during a long notice period. They have made a significant decision, potentially after months of consideration. They are now serving out their time in a role they have already mentally left, managing questions from colleagues, and carrying some degree of anxiety about the change ahead.
The companies that understand this — and respond to it with genuine warmth and communication — consistently see better retention through this stage. It is not complicated. It is just attention.
Working with Sonas Technical on your next hire
Managing the offer-to-start window is something we do as a matter of course for every placement. If you are hiring in construction or engineering and want a recruitment partner that stays involved through to day one — and beyond — get in touch with the Sonas Technical team.