By Sarah Clark
Sarah.clark@careertrainingreview.com
Career Training Review Columnist
It's not uncommon to receive a counteroffer when you tell your employer you're considering another job offer. But do you win in the end by staying with your old boss?
Some say accepting a counteroffer is a losing business proposition. R. Gaines Baty wrote in CareerJournal.com that an offer of more money, management responsibility, or other perks may be attractive, but you need to consider the potential fallout from jilting a prospective employer.
Respect the Recruitment Process
First, the hiring company has likely dedicated a significant amount of resources to recruiting you. If you've already accepted an offer and have a start date, then you can assume that the hiring company has probably already made announcements of your arrival and have told other potential applicants that the position is filled. By reneging on the offer, you breach the trust between you and the team that hired you and put them back to square one in their recruitment efforts.
The lesson here is that if you want to entertain a counteroffer by your employer, make sure you do so before you accept an offer of employment from another business.
Make Sure Management's Counteroffer Address Your Concerns
Another issue to consider in accepting a counter offer is how will it change the dynamic of your relationship between you and business' management and the rest of the employees? More importantly, will the counteroffer remedy the situation that led to your considering employment elsewhere?
Obviously if all you wanted was a pay increase, and your current employer's counteroffer met your requirements, your choice is pretty straightforward. But what if you didn't like your boss' management style or the work you were expected to do? Unless the counteroffer involves a change of reporting structure or job responsibilities, you should probably not accept it.
Also, a counteroffer can also serve to guilt employees into staying with an employer longer than they would like. If you plan on leaving in less than a year, you may want to consider not accepting the counteroffer.
Finally, be sure to get the counteroffer in writing--it's a business contract, after all--and give yourself a full twenty-four hours to think it over before announcing a decision.
Sources:
CareerJournal.com
About the Author
Sarah Clark is a freelance writer based in Virginia.
Posted on: November 1, 2005
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