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Decision Time

If you have followed the preceding stages thoroughly you should have a fairly good ‘gut feeling’ about which opportunity is the best fit for you.

Think back to when you first started considering your options. What were the prime motivators and objectives for looking for a different job? Your thinking may have a changed during the process but at the beginning you were probably at your most objective.

Don’t let a few thousand dollars cloud your judgement. Reflect on the opportunity that best fits your needs holistically and negotiate that offer if you can.

If you are positive on a particular opportunity and the potential employer shares your excitement you will now be faced with a couple more hurdles before you can celebrate.

Both are straight forward but are not without hazards.

Negotiating Remuneration Package

It is unlikely you would have gone for an interview or even applied for a job if the package wasn’t in the right ball park.

A good time to negotiate your remuneration package is at verbal offer stage.  Knowledge of what the industry is paying as a whole is a better comparison to use than using an offer from a company you don't like. 

Good companies have salary structures in place.  Kicking up a stink without first understanding what is in the package as a whole or what salary structures are in place is not a good idea.

You can probably negotiate upto 10% on an initial offer.  If the first offer is less than 90% of what you were expecting then something went wrong in the process.

Once the offer is in writing it becomes more difficult but not impossible to negotiate on salary.  Instead you should be concerning yourself with the conditions of employment.

Recruitment Consultants are invaluable at this stage of proceedings as they can test the boundaries for improving offers based on a wider perspective of the industry and even imfluence the client on making an improved offer.

Do not ask to be sent a formal offer unless you are genuinely interested. Once you have an offer in writing from a company you are going to have to be very transparent if you don’t accept it.

You will be creating a lot of work for yourself if you verbally accept every offer you receive.  You will certainly annoy someone along the way.  If you have more than 3 formal offers you may be in demand but it suggests you have not done enough reflection.     

If you have a number of verbal offers don’t be pressurised by any one of them to make a decision.  Once a verbal offer has been made it is quite acceptable to have a week to think about it.  Having a further week of contemplation on receiving a formal offer is also acceptable.

Your Resignation

This will reflect the relationship you have with your line manager but a formal letter shows consideration and professionalism. You never know when you will rely on previous employers to endorse your career aspirations.

Even if you have had a poor relationship with your manager resist the urge to give a candid account on all the reasons why you have been looking forward to leaving.  A short, bland and considerate letter of resignation is the best as it won’t offend. Thanking people for your time shared together is a nice touch, especially if there have been some negative reasons behind leaving.

If an exit interview is given by someone independent of your manager you can express your reasons for leaving and give some feed back about your experiences with the company.  Make sure you approach it in a formal manner and give criticism in a way that will benefit the employer. The chances are your comments will make it back to your manager one way or another. If you do it in a constructive way your thoughts will be taken on board and your manager may even thank you for it.

If you have had a very good relationship with your manager and the decision to move on has been heart wrenching this can be made more difficult by a counter offer.

The Counter Offer

A counter-offer is an offer from your current employer to challenge the one you have received from your potential employer, in an attempt to convince you to stay, typically in the form of:

• An increase in salary (usually in order to meet or exceed your new offer)
• Additional company benefits and/or incentives
• A promotion or new job title
• A change in role.

If your current employer has neglected to or been unable to give you the career to keep you there in the first place, what has changed?

In the majority of cases the primary motivation is to look after their interests not yours.

Replacing you can be an expensive and time consuming exercise and your employer:

• Does not have the budget to recruit right now.
• Does not have the resources to recruit right now.
• Wants to have you cover the role while they hunt for your replacement.
• Wants you to finish the project you are currently working on.

Your immediate manager may also have other motivators that are not aligned with your interests such as keeping face in the organisation if staff turnover has been high.

The most compelling reason why not to accept a counter offer is the negative impact it will have on how you will be perceived by your employer from then on.

In most cases your loyalty will be in question and this presents a major obstacle to future progression and it may incline your boss to consider applications from people able to replace you actively or otherwise.

Even if you have not deliberately taken this course of action you have leveraged your position in the eyes of the rejected parties and this won’t do your reputation any good either.

If you search the web for information you will see that at best half and at worst 80% of people who accept a counter offer leave within 12 months.

If you get a great job offer, one you are genuinely interested in – don’t look back!