How to choose the right job offer to accept

Although receiving multiple offers for jobs is a nice problem for any job seeker to have, it does not mean making the decision is easy. If you are in this position, you may find it particularly difficult to weigh up your options if different companies are offering different things – and more difficult again if different companies are offering the same things.

How do you decide how to choose the right job offer to accept if you have received more than one?

In this article, we will give you our top tips on how to make the right decision for you and your career.

A complete comparison

The first thing you should try to do is make a comprehensive side-by-side comparison of the offers that are on the table. For each role, make a note of everything you know so far, including:

• Salary and financial perks
• Career development and training opportunities
• Other perks and benefits
• Annual leave
• Working hours
• The length and difficulty of the commute
• Your rapport with those you have met at the respective companies
• The company’s core values

Next, prioritise the areas of a job that are most important for you, so that you can see which offers perform well for what actually matters to you.

This will give you a solid starting point in understanding which offers, and which companies, are best suited to you.

Consider the long-term

What are your career goals? It is important to make sure you are looking as far ahead into the future as possible and considering what you want your career and life to look like further down the line.

Some roles can seem ideal in the short-term, but may not do much to move you closer to the professional and personal life you had in mind for yourself.

Think about:

• The opportunities to learn new skills
• How dedicated the company appears to be to training and development
• The performance management systems and processes in place
• The typical progression path to get you to where you want to be

How much the job will challenge you
If you feel you do not know enough about a prospective employer’s attitudes towards training and development, try and do as much as you can to seek the answers you need before making a final decision.

Job satisfaction

An important thing to consider when weighing up two offers is whether you are going to end up compromising your job satisfaction in favour of a higher financial offer.

If you are in a position where one of your offers has a higher salary, think carefully about whether that is what matters most to you.

It is also worth thinking critically about other benefits and perks on offer and whether they will make a true difference to your life. For instance, one employer may offer a company car while another may have excellent maternity and paternity benefits, but it might be that neither are appropriate for your current circumstances.

Culture fit

Linked to job satisfaction is ‘culture fit’, a potentially vague concept that is nevertheless very important in determining how well you will get on in your next role. Working in a difficult professional environment can be extremely challenging and make work something you dread, rather than something that excites you.

Think about each company’s core values and whether they resonate with your own personal and professional values. It is useful to have an awareness of the environments and conditions in which you tend to thrive, so that you can properly assess where is best for you to fit in.

You might also want to look for company reviews that are available online at websites such as Glassdoor.com, which will help to paint a more objective picture of what it is like to work for the business.

Trust your instincts

At the end of the day, trusting your gut instinct is very important. Is there one job that particularly excites you? Is there one that makes you feel slightly uneasy or not quite right? Were there any potential red flags that you noticed during your interviews?

Remember that while you have to offer something of value to the company you ultimately work for, they too have to offer something of value to you. If you feel that one manager, colleague or company might not give you what you are looking for professionally, take it seriously.

If you have more than one job offer, deciding which one to pick can be more daunting and challenging than you expect. However, by being pragmatic and working through the pros and cons of each, you can put yourself in the best possible position of selecting the role that will put you on the right path to where you want to go professionally.

If you have any questions, contact us today.