How To Handle Counter Offers

Although it may initially seem like a strategic move, using a potential employer's job offer to try to barter a raise from your current company is not a good way to advance in your career. While tempting, statistics show that this type of bargain will likely end unsuccessfully. There are six major reasons why accepting a counter offer may not be in your best interest:
 

• 1. Employers often make counter offers in a moment of panic. Usually the employer is frantic due to the need to allocate staff for upcoming large projects. After the initial panic and relief passes, you may not only find that your relationship with your employer has changed, but your standing within the company has also been altered. You have now become the employee who is looking for a better opportunity, and you are no longer part of the team.

 

• 2. The unwritten rule within the recruitment industry is that 70 to 80 percent of people who accept counter offers either leave that position or are let go within a year. Even though you gained a raise by taking a counter offer, your company may just be buying time as they look for your replacement, with the thought that it is only a matter of time until you start looking around again. You could very well turn down the new job offer and accept your employer's counter offer only to find yourself losing both jobs in the end.

 

• 3. While more money is always a motivator, there are usually other reasons that drive us to look for new opportunities. Personality clashes, dislike of your boss, boredom with the work, lack of recognition and unreasonable deadlines are all common examples. These factors will not change even after you receive a raise.

 

• 4. Salary increases will not be easy to gain in the future. If the only reason you received your raise in the first place was because you were planning to leave, chances of getting another increase are slim.

 

• 5. In the worst scenario, the company may tell you to take the other company's offer, forcing you to accept the other position whether it is the right place for you or not. In this case, you will have to leave your job even if you were not really planning to do so.

 

• 6. When building a career, it is important not to burn bridges with potential employers. Going through a company's hiring process only to accept a counter offer from your own company ruins your chances of consideration from the other company in the future. If the potential new employer is someone you would like to work with down the road, it is better to be honest with your intentions up front.