What should my counter offer be

Accepting a counteroffer is likely to damage your relationship with your current employer. And, sometimes, companies go as far as to create a contingency plan and start looking for someone to fill your position before you can find a better offer. You probably started to look for a new job because you felt underappreciated and restricted. Our case studies show that after accepting a counteroffer, your job security drastically decreases. Even worse, your current employer may have only given you a counteroffer to buy them time to find a new employee to replace you.

This saying certainly applies to whether or not to accept a counteroffer. Turning down a counteroffer and moving onto a new company could take your career to the next level. Your new company might offer better career development opportunities or, at very least offer you a chance to tackle a new challenge and reach a new personal best.

Deciding whether or not to accept a counteroffer can be challenging. You may find that you need more information about your potential new employer. Discover some of the most common reasons candidates may be rejecting your job offer -- counter offers might not be the only culprit! A week later that same company contacted me via LinkedIn to see if I was interested in the role.

Knowing I probably don't want to work there, and that my friend had to meet with 4 different people for more than 5 hours, should I go on the interview anyway so that I have that higher offer on the table that I can use for a counter-offer? What do you think this person should do? Level one has the least amount of leverage, and is basically flat-out lying. The Silver level of salary negotiation is presenting a counter-offer based on research.

This is something that every job-seeker should be doing anyway, checking the Salary. Often this alone is enough, but we can do better. The Gold level of salary negotiation goes beyond standard online research and connects your skills specifically to a certain position.

As a hypothetical example, pretend the position is for a Senior Marketing Manager for Pepsi. You've stayed in touch and are comfortable enough to send them an email, tell them about the position that you are applying for, and get their opinion.

The highest level of leverage occurs when you have one or more legitimate offers from other companies that you want to work for at the same time. This can happen to college seniors when companies are recruiting on campus at the same time, resulting in the best candidates being offered multiple positions. As your career progresses, it becomes less likely that the timing works out perfectly and multiple offers roll in on the same day. The typical job search takes months and different companies progress at different speeds.

Thus, a more likely scenario might actually be stressful, with a job seeker receiving a very good offer from Company A and needing to respond quickly, while still only in the second round of interviews for Company B. Thus, they are faced with accepting or rejecting a sure thing, not knowing if they will even get the job at their second option. Of course, you should always look beyond salary when making a career decision. Perhaps he totally clicks with the hiring manager, they talk about skills that differentiate Mike from his friend, and they offer him a job in another, fast-growing department.

Perhaps Mike digs deeper and asks questions concerning management and the future of the company, and gets a fuller explanation. Worst case, he has that Platinum-level counter-offer. On the other hand, it seemed to me that Mike had already decided that he had zero interest in working for the company.

We like you, and we hope the feeling is mutual. If we make you a competitive offer, will you accept it? You ask your potential boss whether she has any flexibility.

What do you do? Each of these situations is difficult in its own way—and emblematic of how complex job negotiations can be. At many companies, compensation increasingly comes in the form of stock, options, and bonuses linked to both personal and group performance.

With executive mobility on the rise, people vying for similar positions often have vastly different backgrounds, strengths, and salary histories, making it hard for employers to set benchmarks or create standard packages.

In some industries a weak labor market has also left candidates with fewer options and less leverage, and employers better positioned to dictate terms.

But job market complexity creates opportunities for people who can skillfully negotiate the terms and conditions of employment. After all, negotiation matters most when there is a broad range of possible outcomes. As a professor who studies and teaches the subject, I frequently advise current and former students on navigating this terrain. For several years I have been offering a presentation on the topic to current students.

To see a video of this talk, go to www. Every situation is unique, but some strategies, tactics, and principles can help you address many of the issues people face in negotiating with employers. Here are 15 rules to guide you in these discussions. Anything you do in a negotiation that makes you less likable reduces the chances that the other side will work to get you a better offer. Negotiators can typically avoid these pitfalls by evaluating for example, in practice interviews with friends how others are likely to perceive their approach.

Never let your proposal speak for itself—always tell the story that goes with it. If you have no justification for a demand, it may be unwise to make it. Sometimes you get people to want you by explaining that everybody wants you. And before you can influence the person sitting opposite you, you have to understand her. What are her interests and individual concerns? For example, negotiating with a prospective boss is very different from negotiating with an HR representative.

On the flip side, HR may be responsible for hiring 10 people and therefore reluctant to break precedent, whereas the boss, who will benefit more directly from your joining the company, may go to bat for you with a special request. They may like you. They may think you deserve everything you want.