Interview Tips:
Beware of the Counter-Offer

Your whole Career Is At Stake…

Yes, your Executive recruiter will potentially lose a fee if you turn down this job, and it will probably occur to you that your Recruiter’s only objective for telling you the following horror stories is to salvage a fee, however, please remember, most good Recruiters will always warn you of the ramifications of a counter-offer before it ever happens. Just maybe your dmDickason Recruiter knows something that you do not. We have watched and researched counter-offer results for decades and the end result is almost always the same.

Statistics show that roughly 80% of all job candidates that accept a counter offer from their current employer will be fired, laid-off, or will voluntarily resign for un-kept promises within 6 months from accepting the counter-offer.

Don’t make this mistake. If your objective today is to wake up your current employer and alert him or her that you are serious about leaving, do not do it in this manner. You are essentially blackmailing or threatening, and the results are not pretty.

Instead, act like the professional that you are and have a professional business conversation about your reasons for considering leaving before you waste a lot of people time and energy and your good reputation. With unemployment lower than it has been in decades, chances are that your employer will “sweeten the pot” in an attempt to lure you to stay. Good employees are very hard to find today. But, what is his or her real motivation for keeping you.

If you have accepted an offer from a new employer, and upon giving your two-weeks notice to your present employer, a counter-offer is made, you should consider the following:

10 good reasons for NOT accepting a counter-offer…

  1. What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?

  2. Where is the money for the counter-offer coming from? Is it your next raise early? All companies have strict wage and salary guidelines which must be followed.

  3. Your company will immediately start looking for a new person at a cheaper price. Consider the fact that your present employer could merely be “buying time” with this raise until he or she can locate your replacement. Suppose you were given an annual raise of $3,000 as a counter-offer. When your current employer finds your replacement (in say 60 days) the actual cost to them is only $500!

  4. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From now on, your loyalty will always be in question.

  5. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal and who was not.

  6. When an economic slow-down occurs, you could be the first to go. You indicated your intention to do so once before, so, it is only natural that your position be eliminated in a slack period.

  7. The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the future; even if you accept a counter-offer.

  8. Once the word gets out, the relationship you now enjoy with your co-workers will never be the same. You will lose the personal satisfaction of peer-group acceptance.

  9. Accepting a counter-offer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride; knowing that you were bought.

  10. Statistics show that if you accept a counter-offer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months of being let go within one year is extremely high. Statistics compiled by the National Employment Association confirm that over 80% of those people who elected to accept a counter-offer and stayed with their current employer, are no longer with their company six months later.

Carefully review all the reasons you wanted to make a change in the first place. Does the counter-offer really off-set all of these reasons?

If you intend to seriously consider a counter-offer, be sure to ask your present employer to confirm all the details of the counter-offer in writing.

We strongly encourage you to carefully think about all these facts before making a final decision. It is your career, your livelihood. You must make the right decision for you and your professional growth.

For more information on preparing for your interview, please click on one of the helpful links below:

Resume Writing Tips Interview Preparation Interview Do’s & Don’ts
Selling your experience Interview Follow-Up Resigning your current position

 

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