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FYI Candidates – January 2009

Career Corner: Resignations and Counter-Offers
By Brock Boyd, CPC – CMI President and Founder

To leave, or not to leave…this should be the question. Instead, these days the average person is making a decision to leave their current company without deciding if what they really want is to leave their current job. Eventually it seems, people are forced to make that distinction when their employer makes a counter offer, making it appear more attractive to stay than to leave.

A person contemplating leaving their position should first ask themselves: Do I really want to leave my company, or am I just unhappy with my current situation? Much of the time, the truth is that you really like where you work…enjoy the people you work with and believe there is strong growth potential within the company. But in your mind, you’ve decided that the only way to speed up your career progression (or to get what you deserve in terms of compensation) is to leave the company or threaten to leave the company…by means of another offer. This begs the critical question: is receiving and accepting a counter offer r really in the best interests of anyone involved?

Is it in the best interests of the candidate/employee? I would argue it is not, once you look past stage one of this fateful decision. For starters, your performance in your current role will show immediate decline as you “mentally check out” of your company in order to start the interview process. Thinking beyond stage one, you can see how this will negatively affect your future with your current employer as they begin to question any bump in the road (in terms of your production) moving forward – and assume it may be because you are seeking a new job. You will also put a strain on your relationship with your bosses, as they remember that for a time you were “cheating on them”…or at least attempted to do so. Furthermore, you will most certainly leave a tarnished image with the prospective employer whom you temporarily accepted a new position with, keeping in mind they most likely dropped their interviewing process and cut out all other candidates when you accepted the job.

Most importantly, with the exception of small salary increases…more often than not the changes and/or promises an employer made in the heat of the moment to keep you were made with the best of intentions, but end up being short term promises that cannot be kept as they simply don’t make business sense. Much of the time this is recognized one, two, or even six months down the road.

Is an accepted counter offer in the best interests of your current employer? Again, I would argue the answer is no. They may have kept you for the moment, but unless they ended up giving you a promotion that they simply hadn’t gotten around to anyway…they probably gave more than they felt is equitable at that given time. They also may have kept you in a position/situation you have grown past anyway, putting a band-aid on a situation that will crop up again soon (instead of addressing the situation fully and realizing they need to hire someone more junior for this role). And finally, the manager has re-entered a relationship with someone who technically “left them” for someone/something better. As human beings, their ongoing subtle suspicions won’t simply cramp your style as an employee…it will no doubt make it harder for this manager to do his/her job effectively while trying to keep watch on all employees at all times.

Is it in the best interests of the employer you momentarily accepted a position with? Seems a bit silly to even ask the question. They have halted their search resources, cut out other candidates, and possibly already began to print your business cards.

To fully understand what a candidate accepting a counter offer feels like to the prospective employer, just imagine this scenario; you interview with company ABC, you get an offer from them and accept it, you put in notice to your current employer (who walks you out that day), only to get a call one week later from company ABC saying “We apologize but we have to retract the offer. The person we were letting go in order to hire you has just promised us that he will work harder…and has even agreed to a pay cut if we keep him on board. Sorry.”

Here’s the good news…most of the time you can achieve the same result (as a counter offer) without having to go through this stressful experience. The most logical path one can follow to make the best decision in this situation is:
• Figure out what things your company could do to keep you there
• ASK FOR THOSE THINGS!!! (details on approach below)
• If they give you what you want (and it is not a short term fix), perhaps you have the best of all worlds!
• If they turn you down, you can approach your new job search knowing that there is no counteroffer
that you will have to stress over in the near future. This allows you to leave gracefully, knowing that you have done all you can and that you won’t be burning bridges with companies you verbally accept a position with.

“Ask and you shall receive…or…leave”

What are the top 2 factors driving you to look at other opportunities? If your present employer could fix those, would you stay?
• If you have not already tried to remedy the primary issues driving you to look for a different opportunity, you should do so before going through the hassle of a full blown job search. For the record, the easiest issues for a company to “remedy” in order to make you happier and keep you on board are; 1. Compensation, and 2. More flexibility with regards to commute. There are many ways to address this with a current employer without the threat of another offer, and all of them are more desirable than putting yourself through the interview process just to get an offer that you don’t want in the first place (not to mention hurting your reputation with at least one company out there).
• If you decide that you would stay (happily in fact!) with your current employer if these items could be fixed, approach the appropriate person in your company on the topic in the most nonthreatening way possible, but make “formal preparations”. For example;
• Draft up a list of the reasons you believe you deserve what you want (tight deadlines you’ve met or beat, revenue you’ve driven above and beyond what’s expected, initiative you’ve demonstrated, extra hours you’ve worked voluntarily, etc)

• Be specific about what you want, and why
• Consider asking for increased responsibility along with your raise/flex commute/etc
• Create a “cheat sheet” of what you plan to say/cover/ask for

If your boss doesn’t meet your requests now, do you want to leave the door open for him/her to offer it later? Perhaps with a counter offer once you find a position that meets your requirements? There are a plethora of arguments supporting the idea that accepting a counter offer is a bad idea for both you and the company who makes the counter offer. But the bottom line is this: what does it say about your relationship with your boss if you make a case for what you want (politely and professionally), and they say “let me get back to you on that” or even simply say “no”. However, upon you getting an offer from another company and putting in notice, all of the sudden they’re willing to meet all your requests??

In the end, you need to do what you perceive to be in your best interests. I’m simply pointing out that the perceptions around counter-offers are worth some scrutiny. After all, perception is not always reality…just ask Galileo.

Happy Hunting,
Brock Boyd, CPC
Career Management Inc.

8605 Westwood Center Drive – Suite 506 – Vienna, Virginia 22182 – www.cmicareers.com –703.356.2190

 

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Change is Coming: Employment and the New Administration

By Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC
Vice President, Dick Wray Executive Search

 

The day after the election, the market plummeted in what analysts surmise was in anticipation of the challenges the new administration will have to face once it takes office in January including unemployment, the war in Iraq, and the economy in general. Was it a bad sign for things to come? Probably not. Daily Markets said that “investors must have felt the after-election fall wasn’t completely justified,” as the markets railed just three days later.

So what are the realistic expectations we should have about how employment will be affected by the new administration? Here we take a look at what is being said, what promises are being made, and what is realistic given our nation’s current situation.

Unemployment
In October 2008, we reached the highest unemployment rate our nation’s seen in 14 years. There are a huge amount of catalysts that can be blamed for this occurrence, but the bottom line is that all of them together made for the perfect storm – eliminating a total of 1.2 million jobs since January 1. While the restaurant industry has yet to feel as big of an impact from these conditions, as I have said in some of my other articles, the effects, to some degree, will be felt by all before this is all over. So, let’s take a look at what the administration is saying now about the problem and what you can expect in the near future.

The Plan from the President-Elect
On Friday, November 7, just three days after his historic win, Obama met with 17 high-level economic advisors to discuss the economy, and especially the state of employment. They primarily discussed the loss of an astounding 240,000 jobs in the service sector in just the month of October. Economist for Goldman Sachs, Jan Hatzius, said, “The U.S. labor market has moved into full recession mode with payrolls dropping sharply—and more than generally expected—in October and, on revision, in September as well.” What’s more, Goldman Sachs announced that the unemployment rate could reach as high as 8.5pc by the end of 2009.

With this, Obama has said that the current state of economy is an urgent reminder of the need for swift action. In his first news conference on the afternoon of November 7, Obama said, “Immediately after I become president I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity.” To do so, Richard DeKaser, chief economist for American regional bank National City said, “This is going to increase the urgency for another stimulus package to staunch the slide.”

Expectations?
With all this said, what should your realistic expectations be about the job market? In my mind’s eye I see us with a difficult road ahead. I think it is going to get worse before it gets better, as predicted also by Goldman Sachs. When a movement such as a major bailout occurs, it takes a while for the domino effect to make its way around, so we need to be patient, as consistently reminded by the White House. There is relief in sight, but recovery from something like this takes time. My best advice is to stay informed and to formulate a back-up plan for your career. Don’t wait for the chips to fall – anticipate them before they do and be prepared with other options.

About the Author
Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC, is Vice President at Dick Wray Executive Search and author of “Hitchhiker in the Corner Office: Avoiding the Top-10 Potholes So Your Employees Don’t Hit the Road.” With nearly 20 years of experience in the restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industries, Orrick consults executives and companies in recruiting, hiring and retaining human capital for their organizations. Visit the Restaurant and Foodservice Blog to read more of Orrick’s blog relating to the restaurant industry.

 

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