You aced the interview and got the offer you wanted. Even the money was right. Then you told your boss you were leaving and the unexpected happened. He made a job counteroffer.

That’s a great situation, right? Everybody wants to feel so valued, and no matter what you do, your pay has just improved. Before you make a decision, though, make sure you consider all the implications.

Your first consideration should be to remember why you were looking for a new job in the first place. If your only reason for looking was for more money, then it might make sense to consider the counteroffer. Staying means you won’t have to worry about what your new colleagues will be like to work with, or wonder if you can learn your new job. These are big advantages if you already like where you work.

A problem with staying under  these conditions is that the people at the top of the company may view you as disloyal. This could limit your chances of future promotions. In some cases, a counteroffer is used to keep an employee until her replacement can be found. If you know of anybody else in the company who has received a counteroffer and stayed, find out what happened to her.

You might also wonder why they didn’t increase your pay earlier if they think you’re worth more. To some people, getting the raise now is all that matters. Others resent the years they worked for less.

When you’re unhappy with issues other than pay, it seems like you wouldn’t even have to think twice about rejecting the job counteroffer.  Maybe you should, though. It depends on why you’re unhappy and whether or not there’s anything you can do to change that.

When you’re unhappy with the overall culture where you work, the biggest problem is that you don’t really know what the new company is like until you work with them. You try to learn what you can, but there’s always the fear that it will be the same or worse. When the counteroffer is substantial, the uncertainty can make it tempting to stay.  This is a key area where your recruiter can make a difference. Recruiters learn a lot about their clients. Be open with your recruiter from the start so he can screen out companies you would be unhappy with. Then a job counteroffer won’t matter. You’re better off leaving. 

When the job counteroffer appears just too good to refuse, understand that accepting it could limit your opportunities in the future. It can appear that you have just been using one company against the other to get what you want. Word gets around in the corporate world.

Counteroffers aren’t necessarily something to be desired. They can harm you more than help you. To avoid this, know why you’re leaving and what could make you stay. Then talk to your current employer about your unhappiness. If nobody listens until you get another offer, a job counteroffer shouldn’t make much difference. They’ve proven they don’t really value you enough. Take the new job.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 11:30 am and is filed under Job Change, Salaries. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.