Acceptance hesitation
So, here you are. You’ve decided to make a change in your career, have successfully conducted a job search, and now you have an offer. Why on earth would you hesitate and not say yes immediately? Let’s look at the possible reasons for this as it’ll give us some insights into how to conduct a job search in the best possible way.
It was too easy. It may be that you did everything correctly. You used a number of channels to get interviews. Your preparation was thorough. Your performance was impeccable and seemed to go easily. You established that you’re a great fit for them. They’re a great fit for you and match your predetermined criteria almost exactly.
But in your mind, it should have been more difficult. It should have taken longer and the fit was never going to be as perfect as this one seems to be. This lack of struggle leaves you with a sense of doubt that this is indeed the right option. After all, ‘if it’s too good to be true then…” This leads us onto the next point.
2. Did I really explore the market thoroughly enough? Let’s say that in this scenario, you again seemed to get lucky and you’ve had all the interviews with the first firm that you met really quickly. They’ve offered you a position before you’ve met with any other firms and you’ve not had a chance to explore the market well enough. You don’t know what else is out there. Could there be something better out there? Might be grass be even greener elsewhere? You might accept and then only live to regret it if an even better comes up on your radar afterwards.
3. You’re forced to negotiate from a weak position. Perhaps you only have one offer and because you have no ‘walk away option’ you’re not in a strong position with which to negotiate from. This lack of negotiation strength, which may be felt even more keenly if you’re currently unemployed, could make you feel ‘obliged’ to accept a subpar offer, which causes you to pause.
4. Not so bad after all. Having thought that you’re unhappy in your current role and things would be better somewhere else, you now realise that, with all that you’ve learnt from your job search, that actually things where you are aren’t so bad after all. This is brought into stark focus now that you have an offer and you’re being asked to sign on the dotted line. It may be that this makes you realise that you’re walking away from something good for something that is just not that exciting.
So what are the ways that you can handle this situation and ensure that you really do make the best decision for your career?
Become really clear about what you really want at this point in your life and at this stage of your career. This is your north star.
Really think through where your current firm no longer meets both your career and emotional needs. The firm and/or your position might have shifted, or your values might have changed.
Conduct your job search campaign with vigour and focus so that you very quickly gain an understanding of the general level of appetite for hiring in your market and the level of appetite for hiring you specifically - given your targeting and the quality of your messaging.
This will give you comfort that you’ve left no stone unturned and that you won’t have FOMO on other jobs that might be ‘out there’.
If things do happen quickly, then examine the job opportunity on its own merits - how well does it stack up to the criteria for the new firm, culture, people, role that you wrote at the outset of your search? If it compares very favourably, then maybe you just got lucky and you can go forward knowing that you’ve done your due diligence and feel confident in your choice.
What if you only have one offer? Well, if the offer is reasonable then you may not need to negotiate anyway. Furthermore, whilst you may not have offers as such, you might also take enough comfort to negotiate well if you have other great options in your funnel and have that sense of abundance and choice.
Finally, it might be that you’ve conducted your job search with integrity and in earnest, but now you have an offer and feel that you’ve explored the market, it is perfectly valid for you to reconsider your assessment of your current firm and role. Perhaps you had to go through that process to realise that you are in the right place for the time being, and that a radical move isn’t necessary.
In all of this, clarity of thought is key. Not being subject to bias and talking things through with a trusted advisor can really help. You don’t need to do this alone, and of course, decisions relating your career should never be taken lightly.
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I hope you’ve found this useful. If you’d like to have a conversation about your career or job search issues, then please do reach out. There are any number of ways of booking an initial call both on our website and my LinkedIn Profile.