It’s a term that can send shivers down the spine of even the most seasoned recruitment consultant, not necessarily because it spells competition, but mostly because the facts and statistics stack up for themselves, it rarely rarely works out! You have decided to leave your role and have every good reason behind you – it might be that you are at the end of the road, achieved all you can and there is no where else to go, perhaps your salary hasn’t moved for a couple of years and there is no sign of anything changing, or maybe you have been side-lined for a promotion that had your name on it ; whatever the reason (and there can be tons), you have decided to cut the cord and move on.
At Grafton Haymes, we use testing questions on our candidates concerning this when we first meet them. Amazingly the “Counter Offer” is not something that many have given any thought to at all and immediately respond with “oh my company would never do that” or “I hadn’t considered it…” Well DO is our response! In tight economic climates companies won’t always /are unable to give the recognition they would like to all employees because it will set a precedent, however if they are suddenly about to loose a highly valued member of staff (and lets’ face it, run the risk of exposing themselves to recruitment costs in replacing that person), then it’s amazing what creative and highly attractive face value offers can be generated. Now that the market is starting to move again, we will undoubtedly see more and more of this.
It’s all very flattering, but crucially important is for you to consider where this now leaves you. And that’s why it’s important that the Counter Offer is considered right at the beginning of your job search, before you ever do an interview, when you can rationally work out, without all the emotion, what a counter offer might actually mean. Rarely does the counter offer result in the return of any long term job satisfaction and the underlying reasons for wanting to leave (demotivation, time to move on, a less than impressive manager, work life balance) still remain, except now there is possibly an enhanced level of guilt about moving!
Figures vary but usually only about 5% of counter offer situations have a long term positive outcome and most people are back on the market again within 6-12 months. Once the decision has been made by you that it’s time to move job, then normally it’s the right one.
