It’s the BIG question. Should you, or shouldn’t you, accept your employer’s counter-offer when you resign from your job?
To be honest, if you aren’t counter-offered when you resign from your current job I’d be a little disappointed. Are you not as good as we thought you were? Why isn’t your boss disappointed that you plan on leaving the company? Don’t get me wrong, not every good employee gets a counter-offer but if you’re telling me there wasn’t at least an “are you sure?” raised when you handed your notice in then clearly I missed something when we helped you secure your new job offer!
What I’m saying is that when you resign from your job, there’s a significant chance you’ll receive a counter-offer from your employer so you’d better be prepared.
Statistics show even if you opt to stay at a company by accepting their counter-offer, the likelihood is that you’re still going to leave. Nearly 80% of candidates who accept a counter-offer end up leaving within 6 months anyway. And 9 out of 10 candidates who accept a counter-offer still leave their current employer within the twelve-month mark.
If these aren’t enough to raise a red flag to you accepting your counter-offer, think it through properly. Use my questions below to decide whether or not to accept a counter-offer when you resign:
- Why did it take you resigning for the company/your boss to give you the pay rise?
- Is the career progression going to miraculously appear? Why wasn’t it available before?
- Will you be as appreciated and valued as much as your peers, now that you showed your hand by resigning?
- If you end up accepting a counter-offer, won’t your employer have a niggling doubt as to how much longer you will stay with them?
- If you’ve just accepted a pay rise in your counter-offer. How much budget is left to give you a “normal” annual pay rise? How long will it be until your next pay rise?
- Is the company just stalling the inevitable? Will your boss now be looking for a cheaper replacement, now they know you’d planned on leaving?
- In these times of uncertainty, will you be the first on the list to get the boot? Companies tend to value those who’re loyal rather than those who’ve been shopping around
- Let’s be honest, you’ve declared your hand by resigning, won’t your loyalty always now be in question?
- Are you prepared to settle back into the same old routine? Where did the excitement for the new role and the new challenges go?
- Have any of the “other reasons” you chose to look at alternative employment changed? Are you still reporting to the same frustrating manager? Are the company politics the same? Is there still a slow decision-making process or lack of value placed on your expertise?
If you ask yourself these 10 questions, I think you’ll know your answer. Will you or won’t you accept the counteroffer to your resignation? More often than not, people who accept and stay in their job are back on the phone to me within 6 months. Ready to try again and make the move.
If you need more job seeking tips, keep on browsing. From cv writing, to interview questions you’ll be asked and questions that you can ask them, not forgetting negotiating shorter notice periods and much much more. We’ve tried to share as much online support as possible to help job seekers the world over.
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