Wednesday, October 17, 2007 

Counter Offer Rule



New Rule -- (actually an Old Rule, but some people seem to have forgotten it!): Once you accept an offer, you need to stop interviewing! This one seemed so basic to me that I thought I'd never have to actually put it in writing. The purpose of an interview is to get a job offer and once you've accepted an offer, you need to stop interviewing everywhere else. That means not negotiating with your existing employer, either. Accepting an offer means you have given your word either verbally or in writing and hence are no longer available to other employers. We have had the uncomfortable experience several times in recent months of having a candidate accept an offer in writing, negotiate a later start date, and relo expenses afterward and then just weeks before his start date, decide to stay at his current job instead because the counter-offer from his existing firm was "too great to say no". This candidate has demonstrated to the firm he accepted with and to his current employer that his word means nothing! Should you choose to seek a counter offer (and it would take an entire separate column to explain why you should not), do it before you accept the other firm's offer.

Likewise, a candidate who accepts an offer but then continues to look for "something better", is doing something that is as equally bad. I would be surprised if either of these candidates would want the same rule applied to them. If, after they had resigned from their jobs and just before starting their new jobs, the prospective employer said "Sorry, but we kept looking after you accepted our offer and found someone better, so we're not going to honor our job offer to you.", I'll bet there would be a lot of whining! An ability to honor one's word is a trait that is universally respected in business, government and life. Enduring happiness and success is impossible without it.