Will you take this offer?

Excellent!! You have passed all the tests, assessments, interviews and reference checks. You have been patient enough to remain in the process for several weeks, even months… And there it is: the offer letter is in your hand.
Now is the time to sit down, take a deep breath and make up your mind. Will you accept or resign?

I have been in this situation personally.
I have made proposals to join my teams a few dozen times and a thousand times on behalf of my clients.
I have analyzed offers with the people I have helped.
It all comes down to the same thing. Getting a new job is good if:

1. you get a more interesting job in itself,
2. it helps you have a better life.

Most Career Coaches, Recruitment Consultants and HR persons would usually tell you that any of the 2 can be good enough to seize an opportunity.

I really believe you want to have both, to make it worth taking all the risks of changing/joining and to justify all your hard work during the first year in position.

Let’s have a closer look at what qualifies a worthy job proposal.

1. More interesting.
It could be any of the following or, even better, a combination of:
– more responsibilities,
– contributing more/seeing more what is your contribution,
– being closer to the company’s decision-makers,
– getting new skills, gaining experience, developing competences,
– having better prospect for further development,
– bigger teams, maybe?

Don’t just take for granted what the people you met during the selection process told you. Remember: in every recruitment, both sides are trying to sell something. You have shown your ‘better profile’, you have emphasized your qualities… the other party as done the same.
You need to analyze things coldly and rationally by checking facts, making comparisons…
Most of the above criteria can be assessed thanks to the contacts you have made when you networked your way to the offer and before you answer. People who know the company because they are working within or with it will give you tips, info… that will allow you to fairly estimate what you might be getting into.

2. Better life.
– less (uncontrollable) stress/pressure,
– better command of your work hours, less wasted time traveling to the office,
– nicer environment of work, from the office to the people you interact with, especially your hierarchy,
– more money.

Again, with some of these item, networking helps getting the truth and the others are simply hard data.

While it is never ‘black or white’, let me try to give you pointers on how to make a decision.

If you are facing an opposition between an item of the first category and one of the second, after having checked they REALLY oppose, I suggest you resign.
Contributing more or having more impact can’t be worth too high a pressure, nor a lesser compensation for instance.

It gets difficult when some conflicts might arise between items of the same category, like: more money but tougher working hours or having to relocate to the middle of nowhere… In that case different people will make different compromises.

Nevertheless, I think I have seen enough to share this: be demanding.
If you want to change and have worked to make it happen, aim for the best! Compromises should only be made on very secondary issues. If this is not the case, then keep on looking! You received one offer, so you will get some more.