Dubin & Lee Blog

Why Accepting a Counter Offer is a Career Ending Move

  

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I guess those 3 words are just too harsh to say out loud so these days people are calling a “career ending move” a CEM.

As a headhunter, I have seen a few CEMs in my career but by far the most common CEM that even smart people have made is accepting a counter offer.

Here is just one scenario that happened to a friend of mine that will illustrate how dreadful accepting a counter offer can be.

After giving her notice to her boss, Emily, a Corporate Controller,(no, that is not her real name) was surprised to hear how much she was valued, the plans that they had in place to have her take on more responsibility and about the raise that she was going to hear about “tomorrow.” Oh, please, “tomorrow!?!?” That was too obvious.

Anyway, she fell for it but not just because of the money but I think it was more of the “valued” part that got to her.  THAT NEXT DAY, her company called my company to confidentially replace their Controller that was just not working out.  They made up some story that I KNOW was not true but my hands were tied.  I could not say a word to her.  As much as tried to emphasize all the reasons she wanted to take the other job in the first place, she was suffering from a little change anxiety as well.  To respect the confidentiality on both sides, there was nothing more I could do.

One of the things that she did like about her job was that they allowed her to get her work done from home at night if she had to leave early for an event with her daughter.  Well, the next time she had to do that, she ended up with a warning and on probation.  Coincidentally, the Friday before the new Controller was due to start, they let her go.

I wish I could say this only happen once but the bottom line is that I see variations of this all the time.  Once the company knows you have the desire to leave, they figure it is only a matter of time before you are going to want to leave again.  If you accept a counter offer you will be viewed as a disloyal employee and your future will be limited even if you are not let go soon.

So why do they do this?

It is expensive and inconvenient to find a replacement even within a month.  If they can slap a band-aid on it and replace you in their own time it will be much easier not to mention it won’t mess up the vacation schedules.

If your company does value you, they will do the right thing and show you how much while you are there.

When it comes to “career ending moves” there is only one other CEM that I see as frequently by otherwise very intelligent people…

choosing a job just based on the money.

Learn why and what your criteria should be for a career nurturing move by downloading The 3 Guidelines to Avoid Choosing the Job for the Wrong Reason.