Counter Offer: The Perils of Accepting One

Accepting a counter offer is often one of the biggest mistakes that you can make during your career.

To be clear, a counter offer is when you try to resign from your current employer and they try to keep you by offering you (typically) more money, a better job, more benefits, more vacation, etc.

In other words, they try to bribe you to stay.

The question you need to ask yourself is if you were worth more money, deserved a better job, deserved more benefits or deserved more vacation, why did you need to resign before you employer realized you deserved it?

Hmmmm...

To accept a counter offer says several things:

It says that you weren't really looking for a job. You were simply looking for a raise because that's basically what a counter offer is.

Accepting a counter offer says that you can be bought. If you accept one, you have shown that you can be bought. It's just a matter of how much it's going to cost your employer.

Accepting a counter offer tells your current employer that you were looking for a new job so chances are if you were looking before, you will look again once a better job opportunity surfaces elsewhere.

Accepting a counter offer shows that you are not a loyal person. It shows your current employer that you will renege on a deal in exchange for more money. Not exactly a trait employers are looking for in their employees?

Studies have shown that people who accept a counter offer:

When a recruiter has to go to their client and let them know that the new employee they hired has changed their mind and that their search for a new employee has to start over again, you have pretty much guaranteed this recruiter will not work with you again.

Especially if the recruiter loses this client as a result of you accepting a counter offer. Think about it: if the employer turned down a few other good candidates to offer you the job, they will be really angry about being spurned by you.

If you accept a counter offer, I wouldn't expect to hear from the recruiter OR the company you turned down, ever again!

Before you accept a counter offer, take a step back and think things through completely.

Look at the job offer letter you have received and ensure it contains everything you were told it would contain.

While considering the job offer letter and its contents, remind yourself why you decided to look for a new job (and accept it) in the first place.

How does accepting a counter offer change the reasons you decided to look for a new job?

Again, if you were worth the extra perks your current employer is offering you in the form of a counter offer, why did they wait until you told them you were leaving to offer it to you?

It doesn't really make sense when you think about it, does it?

Accepting a counter offer might look good in the short term, but it probably won't be long before you find yourself again looking for a new job if you choose to accept it.

Be Decisive

The new job that seemed so good a few days ago suddenly doesn't seem so good.

Perhaps you start getting nervous about switching jobs and wondering if making a change at this point is actually such a good idea afterall.

This is natural.

Having said that, sometimes in life you can be hampered by too much analysis. Paralysis by analysis, as they say.

In other words, you start thinking so much about the decision to accept a new job, you become confused and feel like you can't make a decision that makes sense.

This is the time where you need to go back to your list of reasons why you decided to look for a new job and why you decided to accept the new job in the first place.

Chances are you will quickly remember why this new position will be the next step in your career and why it makes sense for you to follow through with it.

Now is not the time to be waffling. You certainly don't want to indicate to your new employer that you are having second thoughts so don't expect to go back to them at this point to "sell" you on the job!

They've already made an investment in you even though you haven't yet accepted the job in writing.

They have most likely turned out other suitable candidates for the position and they certainly don't want to think that they are hiring someone who isn't sure about taking the job!

Be decisive.

While changing jobs is a big decision for sure, turning down a job that up until a few days earlier seemed like the perfect opportunity is also a big decision because not only would you be burning your bridges with your new employer if you decide to turn down the offer, you will also find yourself back in the same position you were in before you started looking for a new job in the first place.

Is that what you want?

Probably not!

Quitting a job to move to another company is a reality of life. In your career, you might end up working for five or more companies and unless you are getting fired or laid off, the decision to leave it going to be yours to make.

The days of working for only one company during your career are not completely over, but they are very rare indeed.

Chances are very good that if you have clearly thought about your reasons for leaving your current employer and if you have throughly evaluated your new potential employer and your new job, you are making the right decision.

Now you just need to make the decision a reality and that means resigning from your current position and preparing to move to your new one.