You’ve landed a new job and made the decision to resign. But your employer throws a curveball by placing a counter offer on the table. So now you’re in a bit of a bind to decide which direction to take. This decision will affect the rest of your career, so it’s necessary to consider the many factors at play.

Why does your employer want you to stay? 

First, chat with your manager to understand the terms of the offer and the motivation behind it. Perhaps they’ve offered a higher salary, more benefits or flexible hours. Whatever the counter offer, the point is they want you to stay. While the natural first reaction is to feel boosted, it’s important to be clear on why they want you to stay. Sometimes it’s because you’re in an industry with a skills shortage and they’ll struggle to replace you. Other times it may be because they don’t want to incur the recruiting costs and time to find someone new. 

Remember, you don’t have to make a decision right away. After chatting to your manager, ask for a day or two to consider their counter offer and ask for it in writing to ensure it’s genuine and you’re both on the same page. 

Remember why you were planning on leaving in the first place. 

Is what they’re offering you the reason you wanted to leave in the first place? If it is purely down to money and your employer offers you more, it could be a reason to stay. However, if you are looking for flexible working hours or career progression opportunities, but you’re being offered a pay raise, ask yourself if it will fill the void that initially got you looking for another job. 

In our latest Candidate Motivators Report, 38% of respondents indicated a lack of purpose in their current job motivated them to change roles with a new employer; and 46% of senior leaders said that a mismatch between the organisation's values and their own contributed to them looking for a new role. 

If your reason for wanting to leave is culture or career stagnation, it won’t take long for the novelty of a pay increase to wear off. 

Tips on how to evaluate a counter offer 

It’s important to be aligned with your company values. To help make this life-changing decision a little easier: 

• Make a list of what’s important to you in a job, ranking what you value from highest to lowest. 
• Create two columns, one for your new job and the other for your current job. 
• Tick off where each job aligns to your values. This will give you a good picture of the best option.  

Here are some ideas of what to include in your list: 

• better salary 
• better job overall 
• desire for something new 
• better for career path 
• desire to learn and grow 
• better benefits 
• better work tasks 
• better company culture 
• better location 
• better hours 
• more flexibility 
• more autonomy 
• more prestige. 

Trust your gut.

When making decisions, we operate with two minds – our brain and our gut. So, what is your intuition telling you when all is said and done? Be sure to know the difference between intuition and fear. Don’t let negative emotions and fear of change be the reason to stay. Instead, ask yourself, which of the job prospects gets you excited? 

Speak to your recruitment consultant. 

Recruiters have the experience and expertise to offer sound advice, and have your best interests at heart. They don’t want to place you if you’re having second thoughts, only to leave your new job a few months later. So they want to help you make a decision that’s right for you. 

Make a decision. 

Ultimately, it’s your call. Once you’ve decided, you should tell the relevant parties as soon as possible. Again, this is where your recruiter can advise you on the right way to hand in your notice. You want to remain professional and leave a good impression. Who knows, you may end up working with the person you’ve been dealing with in the future. 

How we value things depends on what we compare them to. So, at the end of the day, you will potentially face a compromise where you’ve got to let go of some opportunities for the sake of those you value most. 

Thrown a counteroffer curve ball? Talk to your Talenza consultant for advice.