Counter Offer: Career Suicide

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Kymberly OBrien PCC CPCC, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

It feels nice to be wanted and to have your current employer give you more money to stay. Don’t be fooled by this gesture; it will not fix what was wrong in the first place and you should not expect that things will go back to normal.

If you like your job except for one or two minor things, you owe it to yourself and your employer to try to fix the issues before you start interviewing. Have an honest conversation with your boss explaining what you are dissatisfied with and how they can improve it. If improvement is made, you know that you are working for an employer who values what is important to you and will do what it takes to keep you challenged and satisfied working for them. If your employer is not sympathetic and there are no improvements made, you will know exactly where they stand on the issues that are important to you. They had an opportunity to make improvements and decided not to implement any changes that would improve your job satisfaction. Knowing that you did everything possible to fix your current position the right way, you will be able to decline any counteroffer with a clear conscience down the road.

Candidates look for a new job because they are missing something in their current position. They find their “Dream Job” and then give notice. Some companies will offer a plethora of benefits to a wandering employee just to get them to stay. Recently, we placed a controller with a mid-sized company and upon giving notice he was countered with a new title, a promise of part ownership in the future, an additional week of vacation and they matched the compensation. He took the counteroffer and stayed.

This employer failed to tell him that they were going to sell the company to a private equity group and within seven months this candidate was out of a job. He burned the bridge with our client and now had to start a job search.

In my 20+ years of executive recruiting, I have seen this scenario way too often, typically with the same horrific results: the candidate leaves or is fired within twelve months about 85% of the time. Think about the pain you inflict on your boss when you give notice. All of your responsibilities just landed in their lap and they react accordingly. First they feel betrayed and view you as being disloyal. They remember all of the long lunches and the late arrivals over the past few months as you were on interviews and they feel they can’t trust you anymore. I put trust up there on my list when I look at my employees and my employer. I could not work closely with people that I did not trust completely.

Most employers will do whatever they can to change your mind and entice you to stay. They want to retain you, keeping you in place and doing your job, at least until they replace you or figure out a plan to redirect the work. Two weeks is not enough time for them to conduct a search for your replacement. They need to stall you so they can cover themselves. Many times when a counter offer is accepted we get a call from the manager looking to confidentially replace the disloyal employee. The work environment has been thrown into disarray with many loyal employees in the group feeling unsettled that their co-worker just received an incentive to stay that they did not get. There is no magic in a counteroffer. You do not get to accept one and have everything go back exactly the way it was. Loyalty issues cut deep: bosses will take it personally that you wanted to leave and co-workers will view you as not being a team-player.

It is natural to want to stay. Career transition is not comfortable in any way. It is the unknown road and the change can tough. Ask yourself this: Do you want to work for someone who does not recognize your value or potential until you quit? Do you have to give notice in order to receive the raise you wanted? Isn’t it ideal to have a company offer you a larger salary or promotion because they see your potential and they want you on their team because they see your long term value? Don’t be tempted by a counter offer. Understand they are responding to you making their life miserable and that you need to look after yourself and continue down the path of building your career.

Kymberly O’Brien