After spending weeks or months searching for a new role, it’s exciting when you finally receive a job offer that meets your expectations. But what happens when you receive more than one enticing offer at the same time? While this gives you leverage to negotiate your offer more confidently, it can be a challenging and stressful situation to navigate so that you’re making the best decision for your career. You want to choose the role that’s truly the right fit so that you don’t resign shortly after, all while still managing your rapport with the company you turn down. For this reason, we are sharing 6 tips to help you when fielding multiple job offers to ensure you’re making the best decision for you, while also maintaining positive working relationships moving forward.
Express Excitement Without Saying Yes
If you have received multiple offers or have received one and are awaiting another, it’s important you show gratitude and enthusiasm for the position regardless if you still haven’t decided if you’ll accept. However, it’s important to not say you’ll definitely be taking the position in your communications once an offer is received if you’re still mulling it over. Instead, thank the employer, express excitement about the opportunity, and let them know you’ll need time to review the offer. Also make sure to ask when they will need your answer, this lets them know that you haven’t made your final decision. If you need an extension on the deadline provided, be honest with the employer and suggest an alternate deadline. If they are willing to accommodate your request, it says a lot about how the company treats their employees. This will also give you the time you need to make sure you’re accepting the offer that best fits what you’re aspiring for.
Get All the Information
We often hear from our candidates that the reason they are leaving their current role is not because of the company, but rather due to their manager or corporate culture not giving them what they need to feel fulfilled and succeed in the position. As such, it’s important to have all the facts about the offer, the positions, and the company to better decide which opportunity is the best overall fit for you long-term.
The following are questions that you will want to have answered to help evaluate the attractiveness of each offer:
- What’s the salary?
- How much paid time off is offered?
- What does the benefits plan specifically include?
- Is there a pension or retirement plan?
- Is there other financial compensation such as bonuses or stipends?
- Are there career-pathing or educational opportunities offered?
- What hours are required for the role?
- What are the specific responsibilities for the position?
- How large is the team? What are your reporting relationships?
- Will you need to commute to the office? Are they flexible with working from home?
Should there be missing information or you have additional questions, reach out to the hiring manager. Following-up with the hiring manager can not only help bring you to clarity, but it can help you get to know the person you’ll be working with and get a better feel for the company with additional face time even if it’s virtually.
Consider Your Long-Term Goals
Once you have all the necessary information about the positions and companies, you will want to think beyond just the day-to-day factors and examine how the offers play into your long-term career goals. Consider which job can provide you with the learning opportunities and skillset growth in the right way to develop your career and achieve your goals. You’ll also want to factor in if either of the jobs offers advancement opportunities, which could affect your final decision as well.
Investigate Their Reputation
You want to make sure that you’re choosing a company that values their employees, creates a healthy work-life balance, as well as has a good overall reputation. To obtain a better idea of the culture fit and reputation, try researching the company online, often Glassdoor and Google will offer a good sense of that in their ratings. While both companies may have good reviews, see if one stands out more than the other. If there isn’t a clear differentiator here, sometimes it’s best to go with your gut on the impressions you got during the interview process.
Negotiate If Needed
If you’ve compared and considered both offers and are still unsure, this is where you can negotiate to help solidify which offer to go with. If you feel that one of the offers is a better fit in terms of position itself, growth opportunities or corporate culture, you can ask the hiring manager if a salary increase or other benefits can be added to match what the other company is offering. Alternatively, if both offers are similar, negotiating a better compensation package may help you decide as to which to go with. Your negotiation should ultimately focus on what is most important to you in the end.
Conclude with Thank Yous
When all is said and done, you should be really excited about the opportunity you’ve accepted. That said, it’s important to close this process with a genuine thank you to everyone who has been involved to ensure they feel their efforts are appreciated and you’re keeping the door open to future possibilities. You should make sure to reach out to your new employer, the recruiter if you’ve used one, anyone who may have been a reference for you, and especially the company whose offer you’ve turned down to say thank you. By handling the situation directly, honestly, and graciously, you’ll have maintained and built new positive career relationships.
