There is Only One Response to a Counter Offer

No one embarks on a job search lightly. The reasons to leave are just too compelling. There should only be one response to a counter offer.

You weigh up the options, spend countless hours preparing for interviews and (hopefully) consider numerous offers before you accept “the one.” There will be doubts at every stage, but you emerge with strengthened resolve after every rejection and setback. By the time you get the job offer, you will have a new-found appreciation of your value.

Then, when you hand in your resignation, your old employers offer you a 20% salary uplift.

Your response to a counter offer? A futile gesture from a desperate employer. Don’t fall for it.

If you were indeed that valuable to them, why didn’t they understand that your needs weren’t being met? If they aren’t paying market-rate salaries, you should go somewhere else for the longer term.

Counter offers are not given because the employer suddenly realises how much they value you. The recruitment process is expensive and taking on and training someone new is a tentative step. If you are good at your job, bumping up your salary is a common knee-jerk reaction. The “what can we do to keep you” conversation is born out of desperation rather than desire. Not a great foundation for an already rocky relationship.

Counter offer response

Let’s consider five reasons to decline:

…. The question mark of loyalty will forever hang over you.

…. They will likely start working towards replacing you in their own time.

…. Your colleagues will be envious that you are now paid more.

…. Statistics show that you are highly likely to leave within six months.

…. You won’t develop if you remain within your comfort zone.

Put simply, getting paid more won’t change the job. Salary may well have been one of your headline reasons for leaving, but your situation will have been exacerbated by lingering discontent, fractious relationships, and unfulfilled ambitions. Just as career contentment is hard to measure, there is much more to a discontented work life than meets the eye.

If you make the right decisions, you can even move to a new job for slightly less money and be blissfully happy. Be polite but firm when saying “no, thanks” to the counteroffer. 

Your previous employer doesn’t own you – move on with hope in your heart and a head filled with possibilities over and above a slightly improved financial package. Take pride in your response to a counter offer – you are moving on top better things.

Changing jobs is the one point you get to look at yourself in the mirror and say: “Do you know what? I am so much more than the number on my bank statement every month. What is my work life truly worth? What would I like it to look like?”

Then go out and get it. Your salary does not define your career worth. 

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists. 

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).