Why, 9 times out of 10, it’s probably a mistake to stay
It’s fairly common that when you’re about to take the plunge and join a new firm, your existing firm comes back with a counter offer to lure you into staying. I’m by no means suggesting that you should never accept their counter offer. However, my experience in both Executive Search and Career Coaching tells me that there are some key things to consider as you deliberate and make your decision.
Your current employers are most likely serving their best interests. They may absolutely like you and value you as a colleague, but fundamentally they have a business to run. This will be their priority and will most probably be what drives their decision to put a counter offer on the table.
Having raised your hand in this way, your loyalty to the firm is now in question. That can work against you in a number of ways if you do decide to stay, as I’m sure you can imagine.
Having bought that time by persuading you to stay, they may start organising to replace you at a time of their choosing. Their trust in your loyalty has been shaken and they may begin preparing for the likely eventuality of you moving on at some point.
When it comes to considering redundancies and bonus payments in the next couple of years, the leadership may decide not to be too generous. Their confidence in your loyalty may well have been shaken.
It will be assumed that you signed the offer contract with the firm that you intended to join and you may well have shaken hands and given your word. As old fashioned as it may sound, I believe that ‘so much depends on your reputation’ (48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene). You may end up damaging your reputation both within your current firm and beyond, depending on how you handle this situation.
Of course, there may well be extenuating circumstances for turning around, but by and large, I would suggest three things that will help you avoid making a bad step:
Become very clear about why you want to leave your current firm. Really investigate your situation to see if it can be improved and avoid making your decision based on unexamined assumptions.
Become very clear about why the firm you want to join has all that you want and scores very highly against your predetermined criteria. Do your due diligence and keep doing it until the very last moment. Avoid searching for evidence to confirm a decision that you have already sort of made.
Do your thinking on paper and then bounce your arguments for and against making a move before you accept an offer with a trusted advisor. This will allow you to see any blind spots in your thinking.
Having candidates turn around was something that happened from time to time early in my Executive Search career until I helped them address all the issues above, before my client got anywhere near making an offer. Decisions like this should not be taken lightly. Make sure you put the time and effort into coming to an informed decision. If you’d benefit from an informal conversation to discuss your current job search, do get in touch. I’d be more than happy to help.