If you’re looking for a new role in Accounting and Finance in the Twin Cities right now, there is one word that you can use to describe the job market, HOT, HOT, HOT! So what does that mean for you as a candidate? It means that this year you’ll have the opportunity to interview for multiple opportunities and potentially receive multiple job offers. As you know, a job offer is bigger than the salary they’re offering, and there are a lot of things you should take into consideration when deciding where you’re going to take the next step in your career. So when you have more than one job offer to consider, how do you know what is the best offer?
The best offer will never be the counteroffer. Here’s why. . .
A counter offer can sometimes address pain points that you’ve discussed with your current boss or manager, but it will never change the dynamic that has already been established between the two of you. If you have asked for the ability to work from home one day a week, or feel like you’re underpaid and your boss or manager hasn’t met you half way toward making your requests a reality, why is it that when you’re ready to leave that he or she is willing to acquiesce? What will you do next time you really want something at work to change? Will you have to threaten to leave every six months to get a perk that would really make your life at work better? Here’s an article from Forbes that further dives into reasons you should never take a counteroffer.
Your commute.
This is a big one. Aside from the obvious implications it has on your work/ life balance, it impacts your health in ways that aren’t always noticeable. From your cortisol levels (stress hormone) to your blood pressure, the length of your commute has been tied by multiple studies to your overall well-being. You can read the science behind why you should take your commute into consideration when evaluating an offer here.
The financial picture of the company.
If you’ve received an offer from a publicly held company, this is a lot easier to gauge. With a few clicks you’re likely to get your hands on a dozen public documents that can give you insight into a company’s financial health. Private companies are a little more difficult, but hopefully you’ve asked questions before you got to the offer stage about year over year financials, growth plans, or a recent restructure. If the financial picture isn’t so rosy, ask questions that can help you understand if there’s a formal plan in place to turn things around, or how they’re going to deal with potentially negative market/ industry circumstances.
Your trajectory.
One of the interview questions you might have had to answer is “where do you see yourself in five years?” Ideally you were able to ask the question about the trajectory for this role, or how your interviewer sees this role fitting in the overall company structure so you can understand how your skills and experience will grow if you were offered this position. There are times when it may make sense in your career to move laterally to another company because you will be eligible for a manager or executive level role in 18 months that it would take you years to get at your current company. So when you’re evaluating a job offer, make sure you understand what you may have the opportunity to do a year from now or two years from now, not simply the role you’d be accepting as a result of this offer.
Leaving your job can feel stressful. Using these four points should help you equally evaluate each opportunity you’ve been offered as a candidate. This market is putting a little pressure on both sides of the hiring equation. Candidates are feeling pressure to accept or decline offers quickly, and hiring managers have felt the sting of a candidate taking a competing offer. Your recruiter can be a real asset to you as a client or candidate in a market like this one. Because he or she has a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the broader marketplace, your recruiter is a great resource for assistance with evaluating offers to present candidates, and helping candidates objectively evaluate offers. In addition, your recruiter will help keep the dialogue open about what’s happening for each of you in the process.