Congratulations! You have just received a job offer, which is what you have been directing all your energy toward for the past several months. So why do you feel uneasy? The decision whether or not to accept the offer and make the move can drive you and your family crazy. It is difficult comparing your old job with the new one. The salary itself is higher, but moving will cost money; the benefit package sounds equal, but you are not positive. And will it be a smart move for your career? You have good reason to feel uncertain. Deciding to change jobs is one of the most important and difficult decisions you can make.
Factors to Consider in Evaluating Job Offers
There are many factors involved in making the decision to change jobs, and candidates often have trouble determining which factors are most important. Because changing jobs is not a routine matter, our own experience is usually not adequate to help differentiate between relevant job factors and the incidental ones. Let me assure you that there are only three important considerations: money, opportunity, and location.
Money
It is only natural that money should be a consideration as you evaluate a job offer. We are all money-oriented to varying degrees, and money is the denominator for keeping score on how successful we are in our careers. "Money" really means total compensation: salary, bonus, benefits, deferred compensation, and other related items. As you evaluate a career decision, you must weigh in your mind the compensatory advantages of the offer. There should be a substantial monetary reason for making the change. Most candidates will not consider a move for less than a 15 percent increase, assuming all other things are equal. (Of course, all other things are seldom equal.) Evaluating the monetary factor is the most straightforward of the three because money is easily quantified, and thus easily compared to present compensation or other offers.
As you evaluate compensation, consider the total package. An offer of $80,000 plus a potential bonus of up to $15,000 is probably more attractive than a salary of $85,000. A car, club memberships, and other fringe benefits sweeten the deal. And don't forget to check on state and local income and property taxes at the new location. Many candidates discover too late the monetary effect of moving from a low-tax area to a higher one. State income taxes are deductible on the federal tax return, so the bottom line effect is less than the actual state tax, but you still want that bottom line to warrant the move.
Most compensation offers are negotiable, although the specific salary may not be. If the salary offer is unacceptable, you have several alternatives. The first and most obvious one is to negotiate a higher starting salary, perhaps by producing salary surveys indicating the earnings of individuals with your level of experience. If this approach fails, try another tactic. Negotiate for a signing bonus or a moving expense allowance considerably higher than your actual moving expenses. Or you could accept the position with the provision that you will be guaranteed the salary you seek after a six-month review. If all else fails, accept the position like this: "John (the boss), I am ready to go to work for Memorial Hospital. I accept the position right now if you can get the salary to $ ." This approach gives John the chance to push for the salary change. You have taken away the uncertainty of turning down his offer and given him the ammunition to clear the path for your contract signing.
Money is only one of the three factors to consider. Curiously enough, surveys consistently show that money is far down on the list of what people actually want from their jobs, below the challenge, the type of people one works with, and the type of work performed. If so, why do people expect significant salary increases for changing jobs?
The salary increase compensates them for the risk and exposure associated with the job change. As a general rule, the higher the risk and responsibility, the greater the increase. If a situation is risky, don't sell yourself short on salary. Remember also, if a job is extraordinarily risky, you should negotiate a severance package.
Opportunity
What is opportunity? Different individuals have different definitions, but in general, opportunity means a chance to expand the scope of your responsibilities, duties, or span of control. Opportunity may also mean a chance for unlimited growth in the long term, a chance to get away from a repressive management style, or a chance to run things your own way. It can also be defined in terms of challenge, the type of work, and the type of people with whom you work. In any case, the precise definition of opportunity is purely subjective. It depends on your own personal view of short-term and long-term career goals. Therefore, only you can decide what is a "real opportunity".
We have observed in our search practice that many people view opportunity as a new and exciting challenge. Many health care executives have an ongoing desire to improve on their experience and are willing to leave a secure and satisfying position just for the challenge of doing something different, and usually harder. Like those who climb Mount Everest, many individuals seek out a new challenge just because it is there.
If you are eager to pursue a new professional challenge that you deem an opportunity, be as deliberate and thorough as a mountain climber before you begin. Get the facts. Talk to people other than the ones to whom you have been introduced in the organization. Outsiders who have dealings with the facility or company can be helpful in characterizing its strengths, weaknesses, management style, or viability. If you can, talk to people who have left the organization; they are excellent sources of scuttlebutt. During your interview, listen for the names of people who have left and where they now work, so that you can call them. Find out all you can about the position itself and its history. If the position is newly created, what are the performance criteria? If the position has existed for a long time, how long has it been vacant? Who has been covering the responsibilities? Why is it vacant? How many people have held the job in the last ten years? Where are they now?
Additionally, in order to determine if the position is really an opportunity, you need to determine your prospects in the organization. Ask about your career path. Such questions should be addressed in the first interview and should be asked of more company personnel than just the hiring manager. Some hiring managers will not intentionally lie, but in their eagerness to attract a strong candidate, will paint a rosier picture than actually exists. In order for you to have a realistic picture of the position, you must ask the same set of questions of each person with whom you interview. Inconsistencies in the answers should be a red flag that you may want to pass on this opportunity.
Of the three factors in evaluating job offers, opportunity is the hardest to gauge. In the final analysis, it boils down to "you pay your money and you take your chances." Your gut instincts may be your best judge, provided you have asked the right questions. If your gut tells you something doesn't feel right, keep asking questions!
