Congratulations! You have accepted a job offer at another company and are ready to make the transition. You’ve turned in your two weeks and started packing up your desk. All of a sudden, your current boss calls you into his office and out of his files pulls out a counter offer for you to stay. What do you do? Do you take it or do you politely decline and finish your packing? This is the decision the majority of employees face when choosing to leave to another company. Counter offers are all too common, and over 60% of employees will receive a company offer before switching companies. Even though the counter may seem persuasive, it’s still probably not the best option for you or your career for a number of reasons.
1)The company may not be keeping you for the right reasons It may be flattering that the company wants to keep you, but the question you should be asking is “why they want to keep you.” The hard truth is that the reason they want to keep you so bad is because training someone new takes a lot of time and money. Although they may have given you a nice raise, or even a promotion, the amount they would have spent training someone else would have cost a lot more. It may still be true that they want to keep you for your irreplaceable work ethic, but hiring costs were also a factor. 2)Your salary increase has to be coming from somewhere For most companies, budgets are approved at the beginning of the fiscal quarter or year. What that means for you is that pay raises and bonuses do not come out of thin air. The monetary increase included in your counter offer had to come from another pot, and in most cases that pot was yours. The bonus or raise you may have gotten later that year is gone the second you accept the counter offer. Therefore, you actually are not getting anything extra that you wouldn’t have already gotten before. 3)There was a reason you wanted to leave Think back to when you were still weighing the pros and cons of the new company and your current company. There was a reason you chose to leave your current company to pursue the new opportunity. These may have involved company culture, people, career growth, benefits, or pay. If you go with the counter offer, nothing will change. The company culture will remain the same, you will be working with the same people, and even if you did get a raise, more benefits, or a promotion these will just postpone the next time you move up in your career. The new company is offering to reboot your career, their recruiters find value in you and the move may even surprise you. 4)Trust between you and your employer is not what it was before. Once you turned in your letter of resignation to your boss, you told them your intentions to leave for greener pastures. They know that there are certain benefits that another company is offering you that persuaded you to want to leave, and if you could be persuaded once what keeps you from getting persuaded again? Even if you accept the counter offer, your relationship with the company won’t return back to normal for months or even years. This distrust may harm your career the next time it’s time for a promotion, or even keep you from accessing certain parts of the business. 5)You burnt the bridge with the other company The other company is putting their trust in you. You have already accepted the offer, and you have given them your word that you would work with them. By going against your word you are tarnishing your brand and your image with the company. If you don’t like it, then there is a much higher chance that your current company will hire you back than the other company taking a chance on you again. Your chances of being given another offer with the same company later in your career have dramatically decreased. We understand that counter offers can be tempting and sometimes even over-whelming. However, by making the switch you will advance your career and gain a new set of skills in a new environment that will help you grow. If you are thinking about leaving your current company but don’t know where to start, contact us and we will get the ball rolling toward new opportunities.
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The most common interview question interviewers ask is, “Tell us about yourself?” If you aren’t ready to answer this question then you’re already in a lot of trouble. Your response to this question should be a 2-3 minute introduction highlighting your career, skills and passions. The best way to prepare for this question is to simply ask yourself, “What is my brand?” You have to convey your brand to the interviewers and leave them with something to remember you by. Your reputation is your personal brand, and your brand is what sets you apart from the others.
How do you make your brand stick with recruiters and hiring managers? Here are FIVE tips to ensuring that your brand lingers in their minds weeks after your interview. 1) Your brand doesn’t have to be only “professional”. You are human and your brand should be too. Don’t let your corporate skillset distract you from who you are. Companies want to get to know you as much as they want to know if you are capable for the job. Let them know you do more in your free time than developing marketing campaigns. Figure out what your passions are and convey that in your interview when appropriate. This is the area to fill in the blank to “the girl or guy who…” The more unique to you it is, the better. 2. Be more than who your resume says you are. Leave them with something to remember you by. Unless you left them with something to remember you by, most interviewers will not remember your name when making their decision on who to hire. However, they will remember what you told them. It’s not enough to be John Smith from Dallas anymore. When you leave the interview room, be John Smith the award winning photographer. John Smith the cliff climber. John Smith the weekend karate teacher. You want them to remember you for something more than just John Smith the Creative Director. 3. Anyone can learn a skill, but strengths are unique to you. Identify your strengths versus your skills. Skills are defined as something that you do well, whereas strengths are a good quality or attribute about you. The difference between the two is skills can be learned, while strengths are slower to develop over time. Jennifer down the hall may be just as good at SPSS as you are, but is she as meticulously patient when discovering trends in the data? Both you and Jennifer are skilled in SPSS but your difference is that your strengths lie in your work ethic and attention to detail. 4. Getting the job is as much about how relatable you are than it is about your skillset. Find commonalities with your interviewers. If your bosses are going to spend eight hours a day working with you, they want to know if they can relate to you first. Find commonalities with them, and nurture those until you form a connection. This is all part of instilling your brand with the interviewer so they remember you after the interview. 5. Invest in Professional Career Coaching Utilize a career coach to help shape your brand. Sometimes it can be hard to look at ourselves objectively. Asking friends and family what your strengths and weaknesses are can be hard because they are biased toward you. At DCAProSearch we offer some of the highest caliber career coaches in the industry. We work with you to develop your brand, and help you build the brand that will land you that dream job. Visit our website, or give us a call to learn how to use a career coach to build your brand. Want to learn more about how to build your brand? Contact us and let us get to know your personal brand. |
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April 2020
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