You’ve made up your mind. After giving it a lot of though and diligently exploring your alternatives you’ve come to the conclusion that not only are you unhappy with your current workplace or its conditions, you actually have a better offer from another company.
You take the offer, and you’re set on resuming your career at a new place with new people when the unexpected happens. Management of your soon-to-be-former company brings you in for a talk, and they’ve decided they want to keep you working here. What’s more, they’re now making a counter offer that in some ways may beat out the current hiring terms of your new company.
When the place you were planning on leaving is making moves to lure you back, what should you do?
Resist The Impulse
One of the best things you can do for yourself in such a recruiting situation is not to reply quickly, either positively or negatively. Always remember that because your employer is making the counter-offer to you, YOU are the one in the position of power. This may be an unexpected development, but it’s not one you should reflexively react to. Thank your employers for the offer and take the time to think about it.
And you’re not just paying lip service when you say this, you really SHOULD think about this.
Review Your Reasons
The most important thing you can do in a situation like this is to once again go over the factors that led both to your decision to move on, and your reasons for wanting to work at a particular new company.
There may be any number of legitimate reasons why you felt it was time to move on. Perhaps you felt your efforts weren’t being financially recognized. Maybe you were feeling unchallenged and that, even though the pay was good, you were now feeling unfulfilled by the prospects of your career. Perhaps your reasons were managerial or social, and the people you worked with weren’t a good fit for who you are.
Whatever the case may be, the important question to consider is, “Is the counter offer being made actually going to address your reasons for wanting to leave?”
If your employer is offering a lot more money, but your primary issue is you don’t get integrate well with management, or are unhappy with changes to the workflow, then offering more money obviously doesn’t make these problems go away. But is increased pay enough to make the formerly intolerable more tolerable? Only you can answer that question.
Just remember to exercise a lot of caution when dealing with a counter offer. There may be genuine reasons to reconsider leaving, but if you decide to stay, you will have to contend with the fact that everyone, including management is now less certain about your loyalties. Rescinding an agreement to work for a new company at the last moment can also have an impact on your future prospects if you decide to leave once more at a later time.
There are no guarantees, of course, but a counter offer is a delicate situation, and should be handled as such.
