How To Deal With Counteroffers
/You’ve written your resignation letter. You’re mentally prepared to take up the challenge of a new job and face the future with a new employer. You’ve signed your resignation letter and are ready to have the much-dreaded conversation with your boss about your plans to leave. You inform your boss and the incredible happens. He tries to keep you with a counteroffer. He emotionally declares how excellent you are to work with, how it would be a big shame to have you leave the team at such a critical time…
You’re dumbfounded. As if leaving your job was not stressful enough, now you have to deal with this. Counteroffers are usually designed to match or even exceed the promises of your new or at this point, prospective employer. Your current employer promises you a higher position, more money and all the trappings that money can buy. I could go on but you get the drift.
There is no easy solution to this and I’m not about to tell you that there is. One thing is clear though: there are 3 hearts at stake and you have to make sure it’s not your heart that gets broken at the end of the day. Be brutal about protecting your heart (your interests) and leave feelings of guilt and indebtedness out of it.
As positive as the feeling of having more money is, it can blur your view of the situation, so my advice is to also leave money out at this point. A wise man once told me, “Don’t let money drive your career” and I’ve always lived by this code.
Here are 3 powerful quotes that can further set you on the right path to making the right decision:
What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us. – Julia Cameron
It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy. – George Lorimer
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. – Maya Angelou
In a nutshell, here’s my 2 cents:
- Go for the opportunity you love. One that will challenge you; one you will enjoy waking up to in the foreseeable future.
- Go for the opportunity that frees your mind and imagination, allowing you to be the best you can be.
- Go for the opportunity that allows you to make a difference; A difference that matters.
- Go for the opportunity that aligns with your goals. In the end, a job is only a means to an end.
- Make a decision and see whether you are at peace with it. Otherwise, change your mind immediately. You are the one that will have to live with your choice.
One last thing, believe in your ability to make the right decision. Remember, there’s no right or wrong decision here, there’s only you, what you want, what’s best for you and your ability to make the best of whatever bricks life throws at you.
Here's a quote to chew on:
