Lets talk Counter Offers!

Let's talk Counter offers...

In an increasingly competitive recruitment market, the counter-offer is becoming a far more common occurrence, as a last-ditch attempt for an employer to retain talent.

Unfortunately, in almost all cases, accepting a counter-offer from your current employer is an absolutely massive no-go!

Here's a list of reasons why:

?? 50% of candidates who accept a counter-offer are back on the job market within 2 months (Harvard Business Review).

There's also a stat that 70-80% are back in the job market within 12 months.

Think about why you wanted a new role in the first place. By accepting a counter offer, the initial monetary increase may help to plaster things over. But employees eventually remember all the reasons why they wanted to move. Management, culture, growth opportunity, etc.

?? Once you've made it clear to your employer that you were were looking for another role, they may start thinking about your inevitable replacement.

Replacing an employee is expensive, time consuming, and can leave a gap in a team for several months. Whether ethical or not, it's not uncommon for a business to try and retain you, to bridge the gap whilst searching for your replacement.

?? Does your value really change, simply because you tried to resign?

There are two obvious conclusions there. Either, you were probably underpaid/ undervalued in the first place, which is enough of a reason to take a new role. Or secondly, you accept a counter offer, and your employer is now paying you more than what they think you're worth, simply as a hail-mary to avoid losing you. The outcome of that is never positive.

?? If you wanted to move purely for a monetary increase, consider having this conversation with your employer before searching for a new role. Leveraging an offer elsewhere can damage your professional reputation in the market, and to all parties involved in the process.

Admittedly, I have also seen some pretty valid cases for accepting a counter offer, but in my opinion, they're an enormous rarity.

My advice; remember why you were searching for a new role in the first place. Evaluate the offer with your potential new employer. Make a decision, and don't look back. Unfortunately, we've seen a few cases of people regretting accepting a counter, and losing out on an exceptional opportunity.

Open to discussion!