The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts you’ll make more than 10 job changes and three to five career changes in your life. It may not be a front-burner issue for you today, but two things are almost sure to happen in your career.
Someday, someone’s going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. And, at least once – so say the tea leaves – your present employer will make a counteroffer. They’ll try to woo you back with the moon, the stars and even promises of a better parking place, if you just stay put.
Counteroffers are the chess of career management. One blown move can easily checkmate your future. So, grab your strategic thinking cap before you act.
Nothing’s more flattering than a counteroffer. “By golly, they finally see I had the right stuff!” you gloat. Then the doubt about the new job sets in: Who wants to trade the devil I know for the one I don’t? What will I do with the fortune I just sank into granite kitchen counters? Who’d want to relocate to that Starbucks-free burg anyway? Afterthought after afterthought.
True, with a job offer in hand, you may never have a better chance to negotiate what’s really bugging you. A counteroffer may look like a comfy homecoming to a better-feathered nest. But take a peek for the lit powder keg that may be hissing beneath:
•Have you already been written off as disloyal?
•Does your present employer just want to keep you short-term until they can find a qualified replacement?
•Are they baiting the hook with a short-term raise? Or are they talking about development plans and a career track?
Headhunters are now primed to expect a counteroffer as a routine land mine on the way to closing a deal. IT placement specialist Howard Adamsky counsels recruiters to actually “prepare the candidate for what might happen in a counteroffer situation” and to “make contact right after the resignation.” That’s when any job-hopper needs reassurance and confidence about the future.
It’s worth looking at the other side, too. Robert Half is one of the finest firms in the world in personnel management. Recently, I saw a top-notch advisory they put together for businesses. It gives solid answers to a company’s question of the moment: “Should you make a counteroffer?” It warns that “trying to match or exceed the other offer could disrupt your firm’s compensation structure.” This analysis also urges companies to weigh the potential impact on morale that a counteroffer might have. They urge them to find out why an employee really wants to leave. As I often say, the real reason that people do things is usually not the reason they give you.
Some years back at Mackay Envelope Co., our top sales exec moseyed into my office on a Friday afternoon. (Always be on red alert for personnel earthquakes on Friday afternoons.) He told me he was headed over to a key competitor. Rather than bursting a blood vessel, I said we should each sleep on it. On Monday, he was still determined to take wing. I could have made a counteroffer, but I didn’t. Instead, I told him, “The door is always open here.” Why? Because I knew the competitor could never deliver on the promises it was making. It didn’t. Back he came … better for the fling. Our first trip to the altar was a classy experience. Our second shot the lights out.
Thinking about joining an outfit that walks on water? Without showing your hand, do you know someone you respect who left that firm? Can you find out why that person threw in the towel? Dreamboat companies can look like drowned wrecks the morning after.
•What would have to change for you to stick with your present employer?
•Does your boss have the faintest idea about what’s bothering you?
•Is the job you’re considering really a step ahead for you and your career? Or is it a way of ice-packing today’s aggravation?
These days, people at all levels jump ship – from the loftiest CEO to the lowest techie in the trenches. Some people chase opportunity on the outside hoping it will trigger a counteroffer. Facing facts is often better.
The time to consider the “what if” of a counteroffer is before you venture out into the job market in the first place.
Mackay’s Moral: In business, you should walk your talk … and know when to talk before you walk.
Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times bestseller “Pushing the Envelope.” He can be reached through his Web site, www.mackay.com, or at Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
