Should You Take the Counter-Offer?

You’ve accepted a new engineering job, handed in your notice and your current employer suddenly offers you more money to stay. It’s a situation I see regularly, particularly when somebody has skills that are difficult to replace, and it can leave candidates wondering whether moving was the right decision after all.

There isn’t one answer that applies to everybody. Sometimes a counter-offer genuinely can be worth considering, and I’m certainly not going to tell somebody they should leave a job simply because I’ve introduced them to another one. What I do suggest is going back to the reason you started looking in the first place, because that’s usually the most useful place to begin.

Why Did You Want to Leave?

If the only reason you started looking was money and your current employer has now addressed that completely, then the situation may genuinely have changed. Perhaps you like the company, enjoy the work, get on well with your manager and would happily have stayed if the salary had been right.

But quite often money wasn’t the only reason. Maybe there was nowhere left to progress, you wanted more interesting engineering work, the commute was becoming difficult or you simply felt ready for something new. An extra few thousand pounds doesn’t necessarily change any of those things.

It’s surprisingly easy for the excitement of a counter-offer to temporarily obscure the reasons you spent the last three months looking for another job.

Ask Why the Money Appeared Now

It’s also reasonable to ask why the additional salary wasn’t available before you resigned. There may be a perfectly sensible answer. Perhaps your manager had been trying to secure a pay increase and your resignation finally gave them the evidence they needed to get it approved.

But it’s still worth understanding what has actually changed. Is this a recognition of your value and part of a longer-term plan to retain you, or is it primarily about avoiding the immediate difficulty and cost of replacing you?

Those are different situations.

Think Beyond the Next Payslip

Changing jobs always involves some uncertainty. Staying somewhere familiar can suddenly feel much safer when the moment arrives to actually leave, particularly when the existing employer has just made you feel wanted.

Try to think six or twelve months ahead rather than simply about next month’s salary. Which role gives you the work you want to be doing? Where are you likely to learn more? Which company offers the better progression? Which opportunity fits where you want your career to go?

The answer may still be to stay, but it should ideally be because staying has become the better opportunity rather than simply because leaving suddenly feels uncomfortable.

Final Thought

A counter-offer isn’t automatically good or bad, and I don’t think candidates should treat it that way. It’s new information that deserves proper consideration.

My advice when I’m speaking to somebody in this position is simply to remember the conversation we had before they ever attended an interview. What made you answer my call? What made you interested enough to meet another employer? And what ultimately made you accept their offer?

If the counter-offer genuinely changes those answers, it’s worth considering. If it only changes the number on your payslip, make sure the original reasons for wanting to leave haven’t been forgotten.




Photo by Mina Rad on Unsplash

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Should You Take the Counter-Offer?
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Co-Founder & Director