Dealing With a Counter Offer

Have you ever been tempted by a counter offer? When jobs are plentiful and good candidates are scarce, companies often try to entice people to stay by either matching or upping an offer a departing employee has received. It's definitely tempting to stay put. You're in familiar surroundings, you're a known commodity in the organization, you're finally being rewarded for your hard work...or are you?

My Advice

I counsel my candidates - and my friends and relatives - to never accept a counter offer. No matter how tempting it might be. The reason? Statistics show that most people end up leaving their organization anyway...and often times, not on their own terms.

Once your employer knows that you've been looking - even if the other organization came after you - your loyalty will become an underlying question for your remaining tenure. If cutbacks are in the wind, guess who's often the first to be let go?

Questions To Think About

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you think your company won't hold your "lapse" against you. The questions that always come up for me are:

1. Why are you suddenly worth so much more in your current job? Why has your company been undervaluing your services?

2. Why is the title you want suddenly available?

3. Why are the responsibilities you've been asking for suddenly part of your job description?

4. Why are you willing to discount the reasons you were looking in the first place?

5. Why are those internal equity issues suddenly not a factor?

6. After you get this huge increase, what happens next year when you're maxed out in your salary grade?

Companies should treat their existing employees better. Those of us who recruit for a living know that. If you're good, you should not have to threaten to leave in order to be recognized with a compensation package, title, etc. that you have deserved all along.

Your company, if they are willing to match or better your offer, has been taking advantage of you.