I would say that before you consider all offers, you should be aware of your circumstances. Are you integral to your current company? Do you have an open relationship about your career with your current employer? Do you like your current job? Are the benefits something you think about regularly (4 weeks leave time, work from home, fully covered health insurance)?, having researched pay for your level of experience, where are you? (knowing this is critical). If you're on the low end, ask your employer why. If you do get offered a new position, is "total compensation" better (salary - taxes, medical, dental, leave time, additional benefits)? If offered a bonus, remember you have to pay taxes on it.
I tend to agree with the rule "don't entertain counter offers", but if you think you may get one, discuss it directly. A lot of employers will be very honest about your total comp and why they level you there. It's often about their own costs, their own "grid" of salaries, and because they have a "system", they can't really pay you more unless you're promoted to management. It could be about you and if that's the case, they probably view you as expendable and you should almost certainly move on.
Whatever you do, try to minimize the emotions and focus on all of the tangible aspects.
I've been on my current job for around 9 months. I do great work and everyone really likes me and I have a fantastic team that works around me. However a recruiter for a local company recently reached out to me and out of curiosity and a need for interview practice I went and interviewed with their team. They've got a great team and they're a little better put together with office space, hardware, etc. than my current employer.
Long story short they liked me and send me an offer of $80k base salary, 4 weeks of vacation, fully paid health insurance and a company funded health savings account to cover the copays, 401k with a similar match to my current company. However I'm fresh out of school and I'm not sure how to compare this to my current job.
My current job pays $65k base salary with $10k in bonuses paid out quarterly. I've had a really easy time hitting the criteria for these bonuses so I count them as part of my salary. 401k, 2 weeks of vacation, and a relatively affordable health plan ($90/month).
So on paper I will only make $5k more. I know vacation should be factored in but in all honesty I barely use vacation on my current job. Also I'll be getting $90 more a month as well as saving on the copays for Dr. Visits which should be factored in.
So my question is: Is this offer worth taking? Does it make sense? Or should I stick with my current company and hope that my loyalty will be rewarded? Should I take the offer to my current company and negotiate for better salary? Just looking for input and ideas.
If you're going to go, go. If you're going to play employers to get more compensation, play prospective employers.
If you take a counter-offer from your current employer, they'll just put you on the shit list. First to go in any sort of rough terrain. First to get thrown under the bus if they need a body. And most importantly: you'll have set a new normal for salary discussions. That is, they'll feel they can simply say 'no' to every request until you're ready to leave again and then just match the offer.
They get to continue paying you X for however many months you give them; however many months it takes to find a job worth leaving for. Then they coast in and match someone else's 1.2X offer, having enjoyed months and months of paying your old salary and playing all that stress and frustration and work of getting another offer against you.
And you can be certain they'll be playing every social/moral game to make you think you shouldn't get it along the way [1].
Further, you'll have damaged the nascent relationship with the would-be hiring company. They invested nontrivial time and energy vetting and planning for you and will be miffed to find they were a pawn in a raise-play. Sure, it's a valid business decision to change your mind and turn down an offer. But those individuals will remember and give you less preference in the future [2]. Taking a counter offer from your current employer just isn't seen the same way as taking a competing offer from a third firm.
By all means, use a counter-offer to negotiate for more from would-be new employers [3]. But don't take the counter offer and stay put. Unless you really love searching for jobs and can dispassionately go through the "I'm going to quit." stage and that doesn't negatively impact your co-workers [4].
[1] "it's not a good time right now". "the economy has everyone really tightening down". "no-one's getting a raise this year". "i had to really push to get you guys a bonus, there's nothing left for salary". etc.
[2] They'll also see you as one of those "threatening to quit to get the best possible raise" people. Which is a negative for any manager who'd rather not go through that drama.
[3] Keep in mind that asking for a bid against a counter-offer can blow up if you have no intention of taking the counter. If you push for them to bid and they decline, accepting that job marks you as a certain type of negotiator, which isn't helpful for you. So if you really want to take this route, be prepared for the case where you need to actually accept the counter-offer, but continue your job search anyway.
[4] Remember that in any group-work situations, your co-workers will catch nontrivial shit when you move into the negotiating/quitting stage and they have to adjust and plan around your possibly not being there next month. Which they'll be forced to do, because management will ensure they can most-effectively bargain against you.
I would say never accept a counter offer.
If you decided to leave there must be other things that bother you besides money.
Those reasons aren't going to change.
So if you accept more money you would be happier for about 6 months and then reality will settle in... and would still be unhappy and planning to leave anyway.
Even if you are happy with your current job and the only reason to leave is to have a pay increase, when you receive a counter offer with more money you shouldn't stay either. Because a raise by means of counter offer, means that salary at your current employer aren't fair and are based just on negotiation skills alone.
It really depends. If your company/boss is just lazy to give you a raise (upto his limits imposed by HR mafia), you like your job and boss/team a lot but decide to move primarily because of money, a counter offer may not be a bad idea especially if the boss values you.
However, if you are just not happy with the job/boss/company/team whatever and decide to move, then counter offer may not be a good idea. Also, in certain cases, if the company/boss needs you only for a short critical time period (e.g. accountant during fiscal year end is critical), then counter offer might be tricky since they could always get rid of you later if you are not valuable overall.
There is no "one size fits all" or binary answer to this. It really depends on the individual case. I have seen both (staying vs going) happen to me/family and in either case, it has been good and/or bad.
If you love working at the current place, you have a great relationship with your boss/team and your only issue is money, then a good counter-offer may not be a bad idea. In fact, many times it is the only way to get a raise unfortunately. Consider the alternative. You might be making ok money but you don't like your team/boss/company at all, then do not take the counter offer even if they offer you more. You never know how it will turn out later on.
Though if you truly know that you are valuable to your company and they are going to pay you what you're worth when you make the ask, no need to even get another offer. If it's such a good market you should have no problem finding another gig.
I'm in SoCal doing Ruby, Rails, JavaScript stuff and I was underpaid for the first 1.5 years at a new gig. Since I was confident I could get another gig paying 20-40% more with ease, I didn't bother getting an offer first, when I made the decision, I just went in the next day and took care of business.
Told my manager I have an offer on the table for FIFTY PERCENT more than what I was currently earning (no such offer existed), they matched it (including other perks), and then I was paid 1.5x more. Been here for another year since then, no problems.
YMMV, make the best decision based on your situation. This risk may not be worth it, but it sounds like you're in good standing with your company and provide them good value.
Accepting the counter offer may not be a great strategy, but listening to it is. When changing jobs the last time, my old employer offered a salary bump to keep me. When I told this to my new employer, they immediately offered to match the salary. I ended up making more money than I would have otherwise.
I say take it, it will likely be a great experience. Regarding salary: If you feel it is a bit low see if they can increase a bit (especially if this is the first number they're approached you with) Worse comes to worse, they say they cannot give you more, and you still take it.
On wage negotiations: the big corp offer and your current wage as per negotiations are unrelated. You can use the offer as a datapoint as you estimate your own worth but you cannot use it as a rationale to ask for a wage increase. You can always ask for more.
I'm not sure what the situation with the big corp offer is but if you want to move I would use the initial offer as merely as an anchor point and ask for more (as much money that the decision to move does not feel wrong). Negotiate, point out your value.
I don't know where your salary would rise faster. Be aware that some big corps keep people tenaciously on the wage level they are at.
As per future career prospects - signaling that you are smart and get things done is always a good bet. This means that you should have a brief description of what you've achieved at your current project at the end of it. This means if you can't describe your experience as "achieved x at y which delivered value z" it's time to try to change your current assignment. If this red flag condition is not met then careerwise you could be doing worse.
A well known reputable name in a CV creates a sense of positive familiarity, no doubt about it.
It sounds to me you need to figure out what you want to do, formulate a plan how to achieve it, and observe at yearly intervals have your goals changed and is your plan working. Figuring out ones career is an empirical and personal thing - the most important thing you can do about it is to be proactive and have a plan (that probably needs adjustments at intervals).
Very good advice, thanks for adding it, as I totally agree with all of it.
If you are friendly with any managers, it's good to find out the company's policy on competing offers. (I had a friend who was a manager in a different department, so I could find out company and HR policy on this kind of thing). Competing -offers is definitely something you only want to do if you are seriously about switching companies.
Different side story:
My last job I was working out of a satellite office that was closed down as the company slimmed down to be bought out. We have around 50 people in the office. There was a 2nd and 3rd line manager that were cut when it all went down, so we were able to talk a bit more openly with them about it after the fact.
These managers were newer to the company and stunned at how low the salaries were for most of the individual contributors. They were doing the best they could to get salaries up-to-snuff, but when they were only given 3% (of the salaries of all their employees) to use to give raises, it was really hard to get people properly compensated.
Most lower-tier managers really do care for their employees, they just tend to be limited by corporate direction and what HR tells them they can and can't do.
If you ask for a higher pay based on an offer from another company, you're already screwing yourself over.
Your current job MAY accept your pay increase but if they do, there's already a break in trust. And you're setting yourself up for being replaced. You may as well take that new offer right now.
Better option is to negotiate based on skills, experience, responsibilities, and other factors.
I try not to ask for raises without some evidence of my worth/other-options. The easiest way to do that is follow the path you're already on and just line up another job. Get a firm offer, tell the new firm you need to a few weeks to think about it. Take the offer to your current employer and be blunt: This is what I'm worth and I'm leaving unless you feel the same way. Allow them to think about it and make a counter-offer. If they say "we can't afford...blah blah blah..." then walk away and into your new life.
You don't owe them anything...but it's courteous to give them the opportunity to counter-offer.
Don't mention other offers - it looks like you are selling your loyalty, rather than asking to be paid what you are worth. Just present your data on being underpaid and ask for a raise.
If your dream job comes through, just tell them it's your dream job and move on.
Talk to your current employer before seeking, if that's an option. You shouldn't have to seek another job to get a raise/promotion/change from your current employer. In my opinion, seeking or accepting a counter-offer is unprofessional.
Companies should be proactive about keeping their employees engaged, challenged, and relatively happy.
Whatever you do, keep the connections you've made--don't burn bridges. The new opportunity may not be all it's cracked up to be, and it will be nice to have some people to call when you're on the hunt again.
Almost always go for the higher offer. As odd as it sounds, company value the higher paid person more, it's almost a rationalization on the part of the company.
One more thing: never accept counter offers from your current employer.
Depends on if you already know your compensation situation or not.
I had a job years ago where I was happy enough but completely unaware that I was massively underpaid. Once I realized that, I left as the pay difference did not warrant my comfort level I had with that job.
My current job is such that i could easily go find more money but there's no guarantee an offer would exceed my salary, let's call it the lower end of average. However I'm very happy. I'd consider leaving, but it'd have to be a lot of money, 10% isn't going to do it. There are certainly companies out there that could offer me a 50% increase though and while I won't go seeking them out I'd consider it if they came calling
If you're very early in your career, you probably haven't learned that most companies are very disloyal even to people that show them extreme loyalty. You owe an employer nothing other than giving 100% of your effort for your time there. Unless there is something about this current job that you really, really love, it would be (IMO) pretty foolish to turn down double the salary. I would at least interview with them and see if they are serious about it.
Money is the best way.
Your situation is a different scenario. If you were going to accept the other offer what would it took to keep you in your current one? Money.
And if you worth +50% on the market you should really re-evaluate how nice is your manager not paying you that much. It is all 3-5%/year {raises|insults} until you show them a competitive offer, then the parent question gets asked.
I tend to agree with the rule "don't entertain counter offers", but if you think you may get one, discuss it directly. A lot of employers will be very honest about your total comp and why they level you there. It's often about their own costs, their own "grid" of salaries, and because they have a "system", they can't really pay you more unless you're promoted to management. It could be about you and if that's the case, they probably view you as expendable and you should almost certainly move on.
Whatever you do, try to minimize the emotions and focus on all of the tangible aspects.
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