That sounds kinda odd to me. If they haven't interviewed you yet, why are they making specific offers? Or is it really more like "We are willing to pay up to X for the right candidate"?
If they are making specific offers to people who haven't interviewed with them, that smacks of desperation to me - maybe there's a good reason why they're having so much trouble hiring that they have to pull these stunts.
If you go to your current employer with a "We are willing to pay up to X for the right candidate" offer, then they have plenty of excuse for ignoring it if that's what they care to do, so it doesn't seem to have much value over just asking for a raise if you want one.
The real bottom line of that point was that interviewing with other companies is kind of a pain, and employees generally won't do it unless they've already decided they want to move on. Other companies usually don't give specific offers before a round of interviews, so by the time your employee has an offer in-hand from another company, it's too late to be making counter-offers. Better to both do your best to watch the market and give raises that match the market, rather than just cost of living, and to cultivate an environment where unhappy employees will be comfortable telling you why they're unhappy before they go looking for another position.
If they are making specific offers to people who haven't interviewed with them, that smacks of desperation to me - maybe there's a good reason why they're having so much trouble hiring that they have to pull these stunts.
If you go to your current employer with a "We are willing to pay up to X for the right candidate" offer, then they have plenty of excuse for ignoring it if that's what they care to do, so it doesn't seem to have much value over just asking for a raise if you want one.
The real bottom line of that point was that interviewing with other companies is kind of a pain, and employees generally won't do it unless they've already decided they want to move on. Other companies usually don't give specific offers before a round of interviews, so by the time your employee has an offer in-hand from another company, it's too late to be making counter-offers. Better to both do your best to watch the market and give raises that match the market, rather than just cost of living, and to cultivate an environment where unhappy employees will be comfortable telling you why they're unhappy before they go looking for another position.