Tips & Advice.

• Review Resume Key Points. Your resume is the potential employer’s outline of your career – and in most cases, the basis of questions asked during the interview. Make sure you are prepared to provide details and expand on key points.
• Dress for Success. Unless instructed otherwise, dress in formal business attire (appropriate attire, meticulous grooming, etc.). Take the time to properly organize any paperwork you bring along (i.e., extra resume copies, letters of recommendation, references, performance evaluations, questions).
• Do Whatever it Takes to Arrive on Time. Check out the address and parking facilities BEFORE the interview date. First impressions are critical and arriving late to an interview almost guarantees a negative first impression.
• Go Out of Your Way to be Polite. Not only to the interviewer, but also to the receptionist or secretary.
• Use a Firm Handshake. Direct eye contact and a friendly smile; demonstrate a sincere interest and enthusiasm for the job.
• Always Display Loyalty to Your Former Employers. No matter what they did (or did to you) never, say anything negative about them.
• Maintain a Positive Attitude. Believe in yourself!
• Always Follow-up. By sending the interviewer a brief thank-you letter or note.

It is wise to furnish a formal resignation letter to your current employer. This shows that you have thoroughly thought out your decision to make a career change and writing the letter will make your resignation easier.

• There’s a psychological reason for them to counteroffer you. Does your current employer want you to stay because it is the best thing for you or for them? You’ve been handling the job for them and have certainly caught them by surprise. Naturally they want you to stay. However, the only one to benefit by your staying is the company. Your long term career is certainly of the greatest importance.
• If they’re not expecting your resignation and they don’t have the talent to replace you, it’s good business to make a counteroffer and “buy” you for the time it takes to find your replacement. You have to be firm with them up front that you’ve made a decision and aren’t interested in a counteroffer.
• 60% of all management people who accept counteroffers are terminated or quit within 6 months for one reason or another – think about it. The relationship you have with the company deteriorates and is never the same. They’ll always remember that you accepted another position.
• Don’t let them lay a guilt trip on you. Don’t let them play on your emotions. Keep your emotions out of it. The reasons why you’re leaving are the reasons around which a counteroffer will be made. Don’t let them tell you that you can’t leave.
• It’s a direct insult to your professional ability if they make a counteroffer. Why didn’t they recognize your talents and contributions until now? Companies don’t change their ways. Imagine how long it’s going to be before they even consider giving you another raise or promotion.
• The move to our client is calculated to escalate your career potential. They are anticipating your arrival and are counting on you. You’ve made a professional commitment to our client and to yourself; don’t let a hastily prepared counteroffer sway your career decision.
• You’ve made a commitment and your new company is relying on you. If you receive a counteroffer say, “No, I’ve made my decision and I’ve made a commitment”.

1. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.
2. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal and who was not.
3. When times get tough, your employer will begin the cutbacks with you.
4. Accepting a counteroffer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride: you were bought.
5. Where is the money for the counter-offer coming from? All companies have wage and salary guidelines which must be followed. Is it your next raise early?
6. Your company probably will immediately start looking for a new person at a cheaper price.
7. The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the future, even if you accept a counteroffer.
8. Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, the probability of voluntarily leaving or being let go in six months is extremely high.
9. Once the word gets out, the relationship that you now enjoy with your co-workers will never be the same. You will lose the personal satisfaction of peer group acceptance.
10. What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?

The following are critical points of consideration when weighing a counter offer from your current employer vs. moving forward with a new offer from a new employer.

Personal Considerations:

• Buyer’s remorse: The reason(s) you launched a search for a new position with a different employer rarely disappear. Whether those reasons are career driven, or internal operational issues that create a barrier to an environment where you can thrive.
• The odds are against you – A survey of 2,752 organizations, representing over 2.6 million (2,686,179) employees, shows that of the staff they counter-offered, 46 per cent left anyway, four per cent stayed less than three months, 21 per cent stayed between three and 12 months, and just 29 per cent stayed longer than 12 months.
• It’s a small world – the interview process takes time and expense to fill a position with the right candidate. Candidate’s that back out of an offer in the last minute take the risk of being tagged as “non-hirable” for future rolls with the new company or other businesses that “heard through the grapevine” that you’re a high-risk candidate.

Current Company Considerations:

• Although a counter offer from a current employer is flattering, consider the “genuineness” of the counter vs. operational reasons the counter offer was made “after” you submitted your resignation:
  • Loss of productivity– you probably play a critical role within your IT department, your vacancy will have a short-term (or possibly long-term, depending on your skill sets) impact that most companies are not prepared to back fill.
  • Cost of recruitment – the cost to recruit a talented IT professional can be up to 5 times greater than other positions within the organization. If the cost hasn’t been budgeted, another expense will need to be cut to keep expense budgets in check.
  • Ramp-up time and operational disruption – not only is time lost while a position is vacant, additional time is lost along with the time it takes to on-board and train the new replacement. It usually takes a team of “several” to schedule the time in their schedules to facilitate this effort and insure a seamless transition.
• Companies interested in making “genuine” change to their current operational environment or want to establish a more achievable roadmap to support individual’s career goals, do so willingly without being prompted by an employee who is set to move on.

Any type of change can cause a person to pause a moment to consider their decision.  A counter-offer from a current employer can justify a “pause”, but the time invested in the new position opportunity will most likely have a lower risk and higher payoff result.