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Q: You have a great job, but you just received a great offer from another company. It's an increase in pay and it even comes with a grant of stock. The jobs are about equal. Should you give your current boss a chance to match the offer?
Nick's reply: Counteroffers can be dangerous. Sometimes, accepting a counter to stay works out OK. But you must ask, if your boss matches the other offer and you stay, will he regard you suspiciously? Will he take the increase he gives you out of future raises? Mark you as first-to-go in a downturn? Lose trust in you? It's a tricky call, because you're judging your boss's character while he's judging yours.
In my opinion, once we make the decision to move on, if the new job and compensation are better, it's not wise to look back. I think a counteroffer by itself is the wrong reason to stay at a job -- just like a higher salary by itself is probably not a sufficient reason to move to a new company.
If you do approach your boss about a counteroffer, try this. "Boss, I respect your knowledge of our industry and your insight in general. I need your advice. I was talking to someone I respect who arranged for me to meet with another company. Before I knew what was happening, I had a job offer. I wasn't looking for a new job, and this has taken me by surprise. I'm trying to figure out whether this is something I should even consider. It's so out of the blue. I'm coming to you as a friend I trust, not just as my boss. I would really like your help in thinking this through. What would you do if you were me?"
This approach might help take the edge off, and keep your boss from feeling as if you're trying to squeeze a counteroffer out of him. See what he says, and see whether he makes a counteroffer. Then do what you feel you must.
However, I would not stay just for a salary increase. If the new job provides an advance for your career in other ways, consider that more money by itself from your current employer might not match the new opportunity. If your boss offers you a better career opportunity on top of a salary increase, then it might be worth staying.
The problem is, if your boss gives you a counter and you stay, there's no telling whether he will hold a grudge. You must use your judgment. Just don't be surprised if he does something some bosses do if they feel betrayed: He may immediately walk you right out the door without further discussion. While that's not likely to happen, it might. Be prepared.
Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.
By Andy Brucia on January 28, 2009 2:17 PM
Hi Nick,
I write a blog on joblessness on the Seattle PI called Jobless in Seattle.
I would have to agree that once you decide you might move on, you probably should just do ahead and do it.
I think that in a perfect world, a manager would understand this, and would see that this is simply what happens in a person's career.
I've never seen that perfect world, or anything close to it. Companies seem to want people what are commited to them, while often showing little commitment of their own. My experience has also been that managers take departures (or even whispers of departures) of good people personally, seldom seeing it from the employee perspective. Often, they only see all the time that when into training them, all the work it will take to replace them, and so on.
I would say that in most jobs I've been in, if you're interviewing somewhere else, or even if it falls out of the sky and it interests you, you probably have to choose one or the other. And probably 'other' is the best choice.