Which Offer Is The Right One????

Evaluating job offers can be an anxiety provoking exercise—particularly in a challenging economy.  Many people feel pressured to take the first offer that comes along even if it is not consistent with what they are looking for.  Or, the offer they do not want will expire before they have heard back from their first choice.  If you're in this boat, here are some things to consider:

Take Stock: It is helpful to step back and take stock of your priorities, your career objectives and what is motivating you in your search.   To the extent possible, it is best to get this clarity at the beginning of your search before you get to the offer stage to have as much objectivity as possible.

Below are fifteen factors that typically drive the decisions people make about their careers in general or jobs specifically.  For those that apply to you, please rank them in order of importance (with 1 being the highest). Try to really differentiate when possible.

_____ Job security

_____ Salary

_____ Opportunity for advancement

_____ Culture/environment

_____ Experience

_____ Lifestyle/Stress Factor

_____ Prestige

_____ Content of work

_____ People

_____ Personal happiness

_____ Management opportunity

_____ Skill advancement

_____ Public service

_____ Travel

_____ Geographic location

_____ Other: _____________________________________________________

Once you are clear on the above, below are some additional steps to take as you work through your decision making process.  Continue to drill down on these steps until you find enough clarity to help you find the best solution possible.

Compare Specifics: What are the specifics of each offer (ex: salary, bonus, benefits, title, responsibility, location, etc.) and how do they compare and contrast.   How do they match up to the above?

Compare Experiences: When you think about your interview experiences (ex: the people you met, how you were treated, the environment, the culture, etc.), how do they compare and contrast.  Make sure to include your gut reactions or instincts that surfaced.

Pro/Con List: Take the two comparison experiences and create and further evaluate a pro/con list.

Forced Comparison: Take two data points from the pro/con list and do a forced comparison.  In other words, if you could only have one of either high salary or high responsibility, which would you pick? Proceed until all of your data points have been compared.  Now take your new list of prioritized data points and compare it to each offer to see which comes closest.

Known vs. Unknown: Often it is the unknown which can paralyze a decision making process (ex: will I be successful; will I be happy; will I be the first out if there is a downsizing; etc.).  It can be helpful to list everything that is known as well as unknown about a particular offer.  Then take your list of unknowns as see if you can get some more concrete information by having follow up discussions with your potential future employer or others.

Risk Assessment: There will likely still be unknowns left on your list but hopefully they are now fewer in number.  The remaining unknowns will need to be factored into a risk assessment. What is at risk if you do accept? What is at risk if you don’t accept? Knowing your typical level of risk tolerance will be helpful here.  Once that is all factored in you need to explore what could mitigate the risks of both.  Finally, you will need to assess how willing you are to take the risks at hand.

Best Case Scenario:  Reviewing the best-case scenario can be helpful for with motivation to move forward as well as mitigating some risk.

Worst Case Scenario: Reviewing the worst-case scenario can help you manage the risk as it gives you a plan if things do not work out.  It can also remind you of the tools you have at hand including your own resourcefulness. 

Other Options: Sometimes clients get so focused on having to decide on the options currently on the table that they forget there may be other options.  This can help take some of the pressure off of the decision at hand.  

Want vs. Should: Another delay in decision-making can be the tension between knowing the decision you want to make yet feeling that you should make a different decision based on current priorities (ex: finances; support of family members; job security).  Write down or articulate what your “want” and your “should” are.  Then consider what would you need to make both decisions.  Either way you will likely trade off something so it will be important to go in fully understanding what that will be and how you will manage it.
Little Picture vs. Big Picture: Before you make your final decision, revisit your long-term career vision.  Where do you want/plan to be in the long-term? Consider how whatever decision you are making in the short-term will impact your larger goals.  In particular, if you are making a decision based on current priorities that is out of sync with your overall career goals, you will want to consider putting some time limits on it and develop a plan to get you back on track as soon as possible. 

Don't be afraid to pull the trigger.  Whatever decision you make will ultimately get you to the right place one way or another.