Having multiple job offers is pleasant, but it does carry a certain amount of pressure for you to make the right decision. In all likelihood, you will be committed to this employer for some time, and, during that time, the job will become a primary focus of your life.
Good candidates receive multiple job offers more frequently these days because most of the available talent in the job market does not meet the standards of highly-skilled positions. If you should find yourself with multiple job offers, the following tips could help you make the right career choice at this time in your life.
Keep Your Goals in Mind When Evaluating Multiple Job Offers
Whether the details of every job offer you have are similar to each other or very different, you should still keep your primary objectives in mind. Remember why you are looking for a new position in the first place, and what you hope to achieve with this next job. It might be better benefits, such as working from home, possibly a higher salary, or more opportunities for personal growth. Whatever it is that caused you to go job-hunting in the first place, you should match that against the advantages offered by each of your potential employers.
Company Culture
Apart from your employment objectives, you should also consider which working environment is more suitable for you. Every benefit is significant but, if you don’t find the right company culture to work in, you might end up being miserable on the job. Obviously, you won’t be able to know everything about a work environment without being part of it, but there are a few clues you can pick up beforehand.
For instance, you can form some definite impressions of the people who interviewed you. If you received a tour of the premises, that should have afforded you the opportunity to get a feel for the workplace itself, and possibly for interacting casually with other employees. It might also help if you can obtain information from friends who have worked there before, or if you know of others who have worked there.
Long-Term Objective
How well does working for every prospective employer align with your long-term objectives? This may be somewhat different than your short-term goals, e.g., better pay. If earning more money in the short term could only happen at a company which doesn’t match up well with your overall objectives, you’ll have to decide on whether those short-term goals carry more weight at the moment, or whether you should stick to your long-term goals. It’s possible that by declining a higher paying job now, in favor of one which offers greater promise for upward mobility, you may eventually earn more money by accepting the lower paying job.
Potential for Negotiation
It can be tricky, but you should give some thought as to whether it would be advantageous to let both employers know you have several concurrent opportunities. This could work out very well if either one of them is impressed with you and is willing to sweeten the deal to secure your services.
It could also be a handy tool in nudging one of the potential employers into making a decision. A situation like this might occur if you’ve been invited back to multiple interviews over a period of time but have yet to receive an offer. By letting this employer know that you have another offer on the table, it could spur them into deciding which would work in your favor.
Admittedly, this kind of negotiation can be akin to walking a tightrope, but the worst thing that could happen is you lose one job offer, while the reward from a skillful negotiation could be extremely beneficial.
Consider Well, act Decisively
The last thing you want to do when confronted with multiple job offers is to make a hasty decision and choose one or the other because of one specific benefit. You should be very deliberate in considering the points mentioned above, as well as anything else that comes to mind, relative to accepting the right position.
That doesn’t mean letting the decision drag out for days; it means focusing on the main points and spending some concentrated thought on the appeals that each has to offer. If you need time to do a little research or find out information from friends, it may be worth your while to ask a potential employer for a few more days to decide. This should not be something that you allow to drag on though because employers have other candidates that they are probably interviewing for the same position. If you appear indecisive, they might want to consider someone else.
Whatever you decide after your deliberations, be sure to decline the other offers on the table graciously. This isn’t just to demonstrate good character—there may come a time in the future when you would reconsider working for one of those specific employers. It’s wise to stay on good terms with all of the employers in the area who have job opportunities in your field. Taking all of these factors into account when faced with multiple job offers will help align your objectives with your optimal career path.