How to Respond to a Counter Offer

Your career is personal.

How should you respond to a counter offer from your employer when you resign. A step by step plan for dealing with a counter offer.

Instructions

1. Assess your situation. If you get a counter offer when you provide your resignation to take a new position, you should evaluate the reasons why to agreed to take the new position. Does the counter offer resolve any issues you have with your current position, or is it strictly a financial increase in compensation? If there's a promotion or change in responsibility, why wasn't it offered to you prior to your resignation? Will the new offer really change things?

2. Consider the timing. If you're an important person to a project or new initiative at your current company, be careful that a counter offer isn't simply a way to keep you until a suitable replacement can be found. If you accept a counter offer, it doesn't mean that your current employer can't terminate you themselves, once a replacement is found or a project ends. The risk here is that now, the new position you were offered is probably no longer available.

3. What is the value of your new position? If you chose to accept a new position, you probably were excited about certain aspects of the new job. If you accept a counter offer and stay where you are, are you giving up the possibilities available in the new position?

4. Don't burn your bridges. For most people, turning down a counter offer is likely the best move. However, you never know what the future has in store for your career. So, if you turn down the counter offer, be sure to do so in a professional way that doesn't negatively impact your opportunity to return at some future time, and doesn't cause trouble with your references.

Tips & Warnings

• If your manager tries to make it personal, keep your responses professional and focused on your own career development

• Be sure to get written references before you leave.

• Across a wide number of industries, over 60% of people who accept counter offers are no longer with the company. Make your move when it's right for you, not for the company.