Which Job Offer Should I Take? Six Steps For Deciding Between Two Jobs
Need help deciding between two job offers?
These days, more people than ever are in a situation they’ve never encountered before: multiple job offers. I recently had a week with two separate clients who each had four (4!) job offers, although two is much more common. So, if the question “I have two job offers, which one do I take?” is keeping you up at night, read on!
1) Start at the beginning
We’re assuming that you’re not happy with your current job, or that staying there isn’t an option. (Blog post on whether or not to leave your job coming soon!). Your resume looks great, you’ve been interviewing, you’ve been acing the whole process, and you have two job offers. Now you’re asking yourself: which job offer should I take?
Start by doing a side by side comparison of each offer. You can’t know everything about a new job until you’re doing it, of course, but write down what you do know: salary, commute, work-from-home options, benefits, vacation days, the work you’ll be doing and how much it interests/challenges you, what your coworkers are like, what your boss is like, prospects for promotion, etc. Two columns, one for each job offer.
Now throw that piece of paper away.
Just kidding! Put it aside for a moment. You’re going to do a couple of exercises which, if you’ve ever had a session with me, you’ll be very familiar with.
2) Which Job Offer Should I Take? Well, that depends on what you want.
A couple of exercises first:
Exercise 1: make a list of your values. By "values" I mean things that are priorities for you in your everyday life. Some examples: autonomy, financial independence, romantic relationship, physical freedom, creative fulfillment, family, recognition for your work, getting to sleep in on a Thursday morning, etc. Anything goes here-the freedom to wear my fave ratty sweatshirt all day every day is on mine! Try to list them in order of importance.
Exercise 2: think a little bit about Future You. Envision what you'd like your life to look like in 1, 5, and 10 years–just jot down whatever occurs to you, and don't hold back! (and think 360 degrees—house, pets, relationships—jobs affect our whole lives, not just our careers!)
Seriously, though. Don’t panic.
3) Compare and Contrast Your Values
Now, back to that side-by-side comparison. Start with your values list--look at each job in relation to the values you identified. Does one match up better than the other? The focus here is on picking a job that’s in line with the person you are, and the things that are important to you. And checking how each job lines up with your values prevents you from being blinded by salary. Doing something that isn’t in line with our values—working for an oil company if you’re passionate about saving the environment, for example, or working evening shifts even though spending time with your young kids is super important to you—is just a shortcut to unhappiness. How many times has someone talked themselves into a long commute, figuring “I’ll get used to it,” and then been miserable? MANY TIMES. Many, many times.
It’s super easy to be swayed by things like salary or fancy titles, but if you make this list in advance, you might see that, actually, being able to work from home, or not having a long commute, or having an easygoing boss are actually more important to you than the shiny things in your job offer. Unlimited paid time off might grab your attention, but if you can look at your list of values and see that you’d rather have a stellar benefits package, it becomes instantly easier to decide between job offers. So ask yourself: which job is most aligned with what’s important to me?
4) Next, Compare and Contrast Your Future Plans
Take your Future You outline. Can you draw a straight line from any of these job offers to where you want your career to be in 1, 5, and 10 years? Lots of times we make choices that seem good at the moment, but they don’t actually help us advance towards our goals! Maybe the offers you got are great if you want to reach the C-Suite….but if you can see from the exercise that in five years you want to have started your own business, it makes more sense to take the low-pressure job offer and spend your free time and energy starting your company. Or, you plan to have kids soon, and one of the offers includes great paid parental leave! Knowing your goals for the future makes it much easier to see which job offer is actually the best fit for the life you want.
When you have two job offers and need to know which one to take, it can be incredibly helpful to look at your long-term goals. It’s often immediately clear which offer is the one that will help you to be living the life you want, faster. Sometimes a job offer seems appealing because it’s a lateral move: you know you can do the work, you feel confident about it, it seems low risk, and so we gravitate toward that option. But if you can see that it’s not getting you any closer to your 1, 5, or 10 year goals—well, it can make it clear that the second job offer is the right one.
5) Do a Gut Check
When you’re in the “Two job offers! Which one to take?” situation, it’s easy to dismiss what your gut is telling you. But sometimes there’s a nagging feeling that says that one job doesn’t feel right. Or there’s a sense of excitement that comes when you think about starting at the other place. As long as the job is both in line with your values AND it’s going to get you to your goals, it’s OK to go with your gut!
Still unsure if you should take a job offer you’re not that excited about? I wrote a whole article on this! Check it out.
6) The Final Question
Before you make your choice, ask yourself one last question: why do I want to leave my current job? This could be anything from a terrible manager to an unpredictable schedule to the lack of chances for advancement. Now, your last step is to make sure that the job you pick is not replicating that scenario! If you’re leaving your job because the commute is too long—do not take a new job with a long commute, no matter how much money they’re throwing at you! It might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often this happens.
Wondering if you should even quit in the first place? I have an article for that!
By now you should have a much clearer idea of which job to pick. But, if you still need help making that call, you can talk to me about it. In a single, one-and-done session, we’ll figure out which job is the right one for you. Book here, or go ahead email me if you have questions: nell@decisioncoach.com.