How to Evaluate a Job
Does it Meet Your Criteria?
When you accept a job offer and start in a new role, it’s
too late, then, to turn back! The best approach is to decide whether
you want the job before an offer is extended.
In other words, you need to set some criteria for your new role.
This allows you to clarify whether a particular job suits your
needs. Unless you’re motivated solely by money, it’s
doubtful a few extra dollars will turn a bad job into a good one.
The time to start any serious evaluation of a potential new job
is after you have been to the first job interview. The full details
of the job often do not become clear until then.
After the interview, you need to decide whether the new position
is right for you. Ask yourself the following:
- Does the new job meet the criteria you set out when you
first began your search?
- Will the new job improve your level of personal and professional
satisfaction?
- Or will it simply offer you a rehash of what you already have?
One tool to help you in comparing one job with another is the "Position
Comparison Guide" (separate document).
If your new-found
understanding of the job does not meet with your originally stated
requirements, don’t hesitate to drop it.
Your future happiness (or frustration) may depend on being firm in
your decision here.
If, however, you now know that the job is, indeed, one you would
enjoy, the next step is to look at the specifics of the offer.
The Economic Factor
Compensation, of course, will be a key factor in your decision
whether to accept a new position.
If you’re looking at an opportunity that’s in a different
geographic location, for instance, you might want to do some investigating
before you even interview. For example, if you live in a nice suburban
community in Adelaide, what would it cost you to maintain your current
lifestyle in an area like Sydney? Your answer (and your willingness
to make the necessary trade-offs) will help determine your level
of interest when considering the new position.
Figuring the Bottom Line
If the job interests you, then determine the conditions under
which you’ll accept. These fall into two categories: the “Bottom-Line” and “Porcupine”.
The term “bottom-line” refers to the amount of compensation
you feel is absolutely necessary in order to accept the job offer.
If, for example, you really want $56,000 but would think about $55,000
or settle for $54,000, then you haven’t established your bottom
line. The bottom-line is the figure, below which, you would positively
walk away from. Setting a bottom line clarifies your sense of worth
and helps avoid an unpredictable bargaining session.
It’s not a good idea to “negotiate” an offer in
the classic sense, where the company makes a proposal, you counter
it, they counter your counter, and so on. While this type of tit
for tat format may be customary for negotiating a residential real
estate deal, job offers should be handled in a more straightforward
manner.
Here’s How: Determine your bottom-line in advance and wait
for the offer. If the company offers you more than your bottom-line,
that’s great. If they offer you less, then you have the option
of turning the offer down, or revealing to them your bottom-line
as a condition of acceptance. At that point, they can raise the ante
or walk away.
Lay Your Cards on the Table
It’s much better to lay your cards on the table in the beginning
than to barter to get what you want. An employer can get very irritable
when a candidate says, “I’ll think it over,” or
if they keep coming back with new demands again and again. Even if
you get what you want, you’ve created a negative impression
with the company that will carry over after you’ve been hired.
In effect, you may win the battle, but lose the war.
You may want to itemise your bottom-line and, if it’s appropriate,
show it to the company (or your recruiter) as a means to justify
your salary request. Carefully figure your total package and document
your requirements for base salary or wages, overtime and call-out
fees (if applicable), car expenses, fuel cards and the like.
If a recruiter asks for your bottom-line, he or she isn’t trying
to manipulate you or conspire with an employer that plans to “lowball “ its
candidates. The recruiter is simply making a good faith effort to
discover what makes you happy and put two interested parties together
who can agree.
The Porcupine Category
Of course, there are considerations aside from money that
usually need to be satisfied before an offer can be accepted.
Factors
such as your new position title, review periods, work schedule
and promotion
opportunities are important. These, too, should be looked
at carefully.
The “porcupine approach” is used to quantify each consideration
or “point” that you feel is important as a condition
for acceptance. Professional recruiters will use this approach to
understand each point. They can then work with the company to put
the deal together, without having to go back to you later to get “one
more thing.”
Once you know your bottom-line and each condition, or point
on the porcupine, you’re in a better position to get what you want,
since you’ve established quantifiable goals to shoot for.
How an Offer Is Staged
Every company makes hiring decisions differently. Some
will encourage shoot-from-the-hip managers to make job
offers
on the spot. Other
companies will limit the decision maker’s ability to act quickly
and unilaterally, and require a drawn-out series of staff meetings,
subsequent interviews, corporate signatures, and so on.
Offers can be extended by either a letter, or verbally
from a hiring manager. They can also be made through
a third party,
such as a
recruiter. In either case, be careful. An offer needs
to include the following
components before it can be considered official:
- Your position title.
- Your starting date.
- Full details of salary or wages, including overtime,
call-out fees, etc.
- Full details of car expenses/fuel cards etc.
- Specific agreements regarding compensation increases
based on future reviews.
Before you resign from your present job, make sure
you nail down each of these components in writing,
in the
form of
an offer
letter.
As an example, it has happened that a candidate
accepted an offer, assuming he was on a wage, including
overtime
and call-out
fees.
When he started the job, he found he was on a salary,
not a wage, so no overtime or additional fees were
involved.
There was also the case of a Technician who was
told there was a company car and fuel card. He
asked if
he could have
a Car
Allowance instead, and they agreed. The only trouble
was that when he started,
he found that a Car Allowance did not come with
a fuel card!
All of these details need to be explicit in the
letter of offer. If it’s not written, you have no recourse.
Accepting the Offer
It often happens that you may be applying for several
positions at the same time. Be careful here not
to fall into the
trap of playing
one off against the other. As you go through
the initial interviews, gaining a fuller understanding
of each
offer, line them up
and give each of them a rating. Remember to rule
out the ones that
do not
meet your base criteria. Rate the rest according
to which job you would most like to win.
You may need to wait until you have clarified
all of the details of each of the jobs on your
short-list.
But, when
you have
them all, now is the time to evaluate the relative
benefits of each.
Once all the offers are on the table, it makes
common sense to accept or reject them within
a day or so.
Otherwise, your inability
to commit
will reflect poorly on the way you make decisions;
or it
will telegraph your lack of enthusiasm to the
new employer. In either
case, you’re
likely to be bruised by waiting too long.
So, when the one on top of the list meets all
your criteria and the offer is clearly defined
and acceptable,
go ahead
and accept
it.
Now, when you make that decision, make it final.
Immediately wipe the others from any further
consideration. As
a matter of courtesy,
you should contact the others to let them know
you are no longer in the running for their job.
And steel
yourself
against
listening
to any counter-offers at this point. You’ve made your decision – stick
to it!
If you have legitimate concerns, or you still
have questions that need to be answered, be sure
to
bring them up. Rather
than tell
the employer, “I’ll have to think it over,” use the
following script:
“Mr. Employer, this job looks very good to me and I’m enthusiastic
about coming to work for your company. I’ll be in
a position to accept your offer if I can just clarify a
couple of things...”
The answers you get to your “couple of things” will help to make
your decision for you. If you decide to reject an offer, remember that it’s
almost impossible to resurrect the deal at a later date, since the position will
be offered to someone else, or the employer will feel insulted and close the
door on your candidacy. Whatever you do, make certain your decision is final.
New Angles and Unusual Deals
Money can present a problem for employers when your salary
requirements exceed the published range for the position,
or create an inequity
within their
department. In fact, internal equity issues (in which your
expected salary might be greater
than someone on the staff who has more professional or
company seniority) are the cause of most deals that fail to close
for financial reasons.
To satisfy money matters, look for ways to increase your
overall yearly compensation, rather than your base salary.
Here are
a couple of goodies
you can shoot
for to boost your earnings without ruffling too many feathers:
- A performance bonus to be paid after thirty, sixty, or ninety
days, assuming your clearly defined goals are met.
- An accelerated review which would occur after three or six months,
rather than on your first anniversary of employment, in which
your salary would be increased.
When required, companies will sometimes serve up these
tasty morsels to hungry candidates who recognise that
overall compensation
consists
of more
than
salary alone.
Careful evaluation mixed with a little bit of creativity
will help you get the deal you want.
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