Your Job Search: The Job Offer
By: Bob Skladany | Source: AARP.org | December 29, 2008
After Accepting the Job
Now that you have accepted the new job, here’s how you should proceed.
- Notice. Tell your current employer promptly with a written resignation. Company policy usually includes a preferred period of notice, while others may ask you to stay longer, and still others may ask you to leave immediately. Be prepared for either response. The norm is two weeks notice for hourly-wage jobs and lower-paid salaried jobs, and four to six weeks for more senior and higher-paying jobs.
- Announcement. Ask your boss how he or she prefers your resignation to be announced. Don’t burn bridges! Keep your negative comments to yourself, even if you’re brimming over with resentment. It never helps. Should you tell people where you’re going to work? Sure, just don’t use it as a chance to criticize you current employer.
- Moving on. Keep it positive until you’re through your last day on the job—your employer will remember, and you’ll feel that you’ve handled things professionally.
Your Job Search
- Your Job Search: The New World of Job Searching
- Your Job Search: What Do You Want to Do?
- Your Job Search: Preparing Your Résumé and Cover Letter
- Your Job Search: What Type of Work Arrangement is Right for You?
- Your Job Search: Researching Jobs and Employers
- Your Job Search: Applying for Jobs
- Your Job Search: The Interview Process
- Your Job Search: The Job Offer
Find a Job
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All your hard work—the resume tweaking, the anxiety, the frustration, the researching, the interviewing, and the reference checking—has finally paid off. Congratulations, you’ve got the job!
Chances are you get this news in a phone call. You feel a flush of excitement and a sense of relief that you haven’t enjoyed in months. Now, more than ever, it is important to put your emotions aside and ask some important questions before you consider the offer.
Your Acceptance Criteria
Hopefully, before you receive your first offer, you’ve set some standards to guide your decision process. These should include:
- Employment status. Will you be a regular employee or a contractor?
- Pay. What is your preferred salary level, and what is your lowest acceptable amount?
- Health benefits. Do you or don’t you need health benefits? Do the benefits need to be comprehensive or merely supplemental to Medicare or other insurance? How much are you prepared to pay?
- Other benefits. What are your requirements for life insurance, disability income, and other essential insurance benefits?
- Paid time off. What are your minimum expectations for paid holidays, vacations, and other paid leave?
- Retirement income and savings plans. Are you hoping for a traditional employer-paid defined benefit pension (not very likely in most industries) or at least an employer-matching savings plan? A minimal savings plan should provide an employer match of 2 to 4 percent of your total annual pay.
- Work schedule and flexibility. Do you have expectations for a reduced, compressed, or nontraditional work schedule? Would you like to telecommute?
- Growth and development. Is the opportunity to train, grow, and advance important to you?
Try to get your acceptance standards in place before you confront your first offer.
Reacting to the Offer
You may desperately want and need this job, but try not to let it show. Raise these items with the recruiter or hiring manager:
- The position. Review the job duties, accountabilities and reporting relationships. Get a written and comprehensive description of the position.
- Compensation. Ask for a clear statement of the base pay and any variable or incentive pay being offered. If they have a pay structure, ask about the pay grade and range for the job.
- Benefits. Request an explanation and written summary-plan documents for any health care, welfare, pension, savings or profit-sharing plans, as well as details about the paid time-off schedule.
- Work schedule. Get a clear understanding of your scheduled work hours and any potential for flexibility.
- Written offer and employment agreement. It’s not required that an employer give you a written offer by letter, but it’s a good idea to ask for one. It’s another way to minimize misunderstandings at what can be an emotional time. Depending on the job and employer, you may also be given an employment agreement stating the terms and conditions of employment and any specifics that relate to your employment.
Ideally, if the job meets the bulk of your essential job requirements, it’s strongly suggested you accept on the spot after clarifying the specifics of the offer. Now, it’s time for good will and big handshakes: Recruiters really enjoy “closing a candidate,” and they’ll remember your reaction.
In the event one or more important aspects of the offer don’t meet your preliminary standards, take a moment to gather your thoughts and then objectively and directly tell the recruiter your concerns. If it comes to this, it’s the moment that will cast your reputation with the employer. If you overreach and come off as demanding, you may have damaged your future prospects. If you timidly and reluctantly accept whatever is offered, you’re likely to resent the less-than-satisfactory offer in the long run.
My advice? Pick the one or two items of greatest importance to you, and raise them immediately. If the issue is pay, try saying: “I understand that the pay offer is in line with your pay structure and the pay of comparable peer positions, but I believe my value to you and in the labor market is higher.” Then offer a specific counterproposal. Make your counterproposal at least 10 percent greater, or don’t bother making it.
The rule to remember about counterproposals is to ask for a meaningful improvement or none at all.
If You Decide to Negotiate
Your ability and freedom to negotiate has a lot to do with the type and level of job you’ve been offered:
- Hourly wage positions (administrative, clerical, manual labor, skilled trades, personal service, or technical). You may have some success at negotiating a higher base wage. Base your request on qualifications and achievements that exceed what would be accepted for the job. Experience with a direct competitor is also very valuable. Other than higher base pay or accelerated pay reviews, you aren’t likely to be able to negotiate basic benefits—these must comply with federal standards for design and administration. You could try for some schedule flexibility or perhaps advanced training.
- Salaried positions (professional, senior technical, sales, supervisory, or managerial). There could be more items in play for higher-paid salaried positions, including base pay, variable or incentive pay, stock options, supplemental benefits such as additional life and disability insurance, and deferred compensation plans. Negotiating at this level of job has a greater reward and risk potential. The employer may have a culture that does not encourage or tolerate negotiation. If you don’t know, just ask the question, “Would you consider counterproposals to the offer?” They’ll let you know. You should insist on a written job offer letter and possibly an employment agreement that specifies the minimum length of employment, terms for severance, and limitations on future employment.
- Higher-paid salaried positions (senior professional, upper management, or executive). You have the greatest negotiating power at these more senior and highly-paid positions. Every element of rewards and employment should be considered negotiable. Know your priorities in advance, and only pursue those of highest importance. It’s also likely there will be a retained search recruiter or recruiting agency involved, so you can expect three-party negotiations. Always communicate your position and requests in writing in order to minimize the possibility for misunderstandings. You can expect a written final offer and, most likely, a written employment agreement.
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