Have you evaluated your job offer?
Congratulations – you landed the job! All that hard work and time spent customizing your resume and writing cover letters has finally paid off. But when receiving your offer, you must take your time to assess what the offer entails fully. We know job hunting can be beyond exhausting, but dint be too hasty when accepting an offer. If you are in a position to be picky about the terms of your job, there are a few criteria you need to consider when reviewing a job offer.
Criteria for Evaluating a job offer
Research your future employer
It’s time to do a little make-believe and play detective. Research the company by checking their website, social media and anonymous employee reviews. Ideally, you’ve already done this step when applying, but we always advise you to do another look-through. That way, you can get a taste of the company’s culture, mission, values and beliefs.
Benefits and perks
Benefits can make up a significant part of your compensation. The value of perks is less apparent than your salary, but when you dig deeper, benefits can be invaluable.
If your salary isn’t quite where you want it to be, consider how your benefits and perks might buffer this number. You might be getting paid more, but if you’re health benefits or pension isn’t lacking, this can affect you in the long term.
Some benefits to consider are:
- Tuition reimbursement
- Flexible work hours
- Stock options
- Health insurance
- Company car or cellphone
- Pension
- Leave and vacation time
Know your worth
Depending on how long you’ve been job hunting, any offer might appear pretty enticing. Unfortunately, not all jobs offer the same rate for the same positions. You can check the average rate for your location using one of the many online salary calculators. You might hope for a specific number, but if you’re going to negotiate, you need to be realistic. These tools can give you an idea of what salary you should expect. Based on your experience, education and background, your expected salary might vary even from someone else working in the same position.
Consider your everyday tasks
What will you get out of this position? Assess what your daily duties include. Are you expected to do tasks you can see yourself enjoying? Are you able to use and expand on your current skillset? Or are there skills you love using that you won’t be required to utilize?
Evaluate hidden costs
With any job comes hidden expenses. And when switching jobs, there’s always a chance these expenses may rise. These expenses aren’t written explicitly in the offer. Consider how your commute might change. If you need to relocate for the position, how will that affect your property taxes or rent fees? Remote positions also come with their own set of hidden expenses. Will you need to invest more money into Wi-fi and other equipment to build an effective home office, or will the company provide stipends?
Career development
It’s important you question how this role fits into your career plan.
If you accept this job and realize you want to leave, you might be desperate to find a new job and continue to repeat this cycle. Your resume will be filled with short-lived jobs, and soon enough, you’ll be labelled a job hopper (this isn’t a compliment).
Finances are necessary, but it’s equally important you will feel fulfilled. Ask yourself how this role will challenge you, help you grow and develop your skills. Does this company offer development opportunities and expose you to new experiences?
Making your decision
After doing a thorough evaluation, it’s time to make your decision.
Sometimes you’ll receive an offer you absolutely can’t refuse. In this case, it’s a no-brainer that you do nothing BUT accept the job. You’ve decided the pros outweigh any cons; you believe you’ll feel fulfilled and be provided developmental opportunities to advance in your career.
On the other hand, a job might look appealing until you see the offer. If the offer isn’t what you expected, you can always negotiate. If you give a reasonable counteroffer and the company has room to budge, you might get what you want in the end.
The Best Recruitment Agency in Toronto | About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
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