When your employer makes a counteroffer, remember why you started job hunting

Q: The offer you've been waiting for came through. The money is good, the job is great, and the company is a winner. But when you tried to resign from your old job, your employer surprised you with a counteroffer that's a bit higher than the other offer. What should you do?

Nick's reply: Let's step back for a minute and consider why you're job hunting to begin with. If you'd consider a counteroffer from your employer, then stop. You're probably job hunting for the wrong reasons.

If you'd take more money to stay with your employer, then instead of job hunting, go ask for a raise, a promotion or a reassignment. It means you're essentially happy and all that's required is a modification to your "deal."

If you try and fail to get a better deal from your employer, then your course is clear: Go job hunting. Don't worry about a counteroffer, because if they wouldn't give you a raise, they're not likely to give you a good enough counter to make you stay.

On the other hand, if your company ponies up a big counter when you try to resign, then you've got to wonder why they didn't do it before you notified them you're leaving. This says a lot about the way they run their business.

If you're not sure whether you'd take a counteroffer, take time to reassess your situation. Money may not be your prime motivator. What is? Until you figure this out, you'll waste your time chasing jobs because you won't know why you're doing it. Job hunting for the wrong reasons is the first step toward failure.

If you know you would not consider a counteroffer, then you've got your head screwed on straight and you're leaving for good reasons. You've cut the cord emotionally already and you're ready to move on. You're pursuing change with all your heart and a counter isn't going to make a difference.

People who seek new jobs just so they can dangle them in front of their employer to get a counteroffer are usually foolish because a counter often comes with invisible strings attached. The money to pay for that counter may be coming out of your next raise. (It's got to come from a budget somewhere.) As you return to the fold, you will likely be regarded with some resentment by other team members who didn't get the "bonus" you did. Your bosses will also keep an eye on you: Will you pull a disappearing act again? Are you loyal? Can you be trusted? In a downsizing, you may not be regarded as worth saving -- ecause you once threatened to leave.

So when should you accept a counteroffer? When you had no intention of doing so, when your employer's intentions are 100 percent above suspicion, and the work-related reasons for staying are sound.

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.