Once you receive a job offer, you have to decide if you want the job. Fortunately, most organizations will give you a few days to accept or reject an offer. There are many issues to consider when evaluating a job offer.
- Will the organization be a good place to work?
- Will the job be interesting?
- Are there opportunities for career advancement?
- Is the salary fair and justified for my profile?
- Does the employer offer good benefits?
- Now is the time to ask the potential employer about these issues—and to do some checking on your own.What’s the most important thing to consider?
- Do you have enough – whether it is salary, health benefits, or vacation time?
- Or could it be the corporate culture or the length or your commute?
- What about your boss and co-workers — will working with them be pleasant?
As you can see there are a number of factors to take into account and only some are negotiable. You can try to get a higher salary or health benefits are often standard packages. The corporate culture isn’t going to change for you, and your boss and co-workers aren’t going anywhere. Each of us, of course, is different. And what carries a lot of weight for some of us is insignificant to the rest of us.
The organization: Background information on an organization can help you to decide whether it is a good place for you to work. Factors to consider include the organization’s business or activity, financial condition, age, size, and location.
You generally can get background information on an organization, particularly a large organization, on its Internet site or by telephoning its public relations office. A public company’s annual report to the stockholders tells about its corporate philosophy, history, products or services, goals, and financial status. Most government agencies can furnish reports that describe their programs and missions. Press releases, company newsletters or magazines, and recruitment brochures also can be useful. Ask the organization for any other items that might interest a prospective employee. If possible, speak to current or former employees of the organization.
Background information on the organization may be available at your public library. If you cannot get an annual report, check the library for reference directories that may provide basic facts about the company, such as earnings, products and services, and number of employees. Some directories widely available in libraries either in print or as online databases.
Stories about an organization in magazines and newspapers can tell a great deal about its successes, failures, and plans for the future. You can identify articles on a company by looking under its name in periodical or computerized indexes in libraries, or by using one of the Internet’s search engines. However, it probably will not be useful to look back more than 2 or 3 years.
During your research consider the following:
1. Does the organization’s business or activity match your own interests and beliefs?
2. How will the size of the organization affect you?
Large firms generally offer a greater variety of training programs and career paths, more managerial levels for advancement, and better employee benefits than do small firms. Large employers also may have more advanced technologies. However, many jobs in large firms tend to be highly specialized. Also large firms are rigid about their salary and organization structure.
Jobs in small firms may offer broader authority and responsibility, a closer working relationship with top management, and a chance to clearly see your contribution to the success of the organization.
3. Should you work for a relatively new organization (startups) or one that is well established?
New businesses have a high failure rate, but for many people, the excitement of helping to create a company and the potential for sharing in its success more than offset the risk of job loss. However, it may be just as exciting and rewarding to work for a young firm that already has a foothold on success.
Job content: Even if everything else about the job is attractive, you will be unhappy if you dislike the day-to-day work. Determining in advance whether you will like the work may be difficult. However, the more you find out about the job before accepting or rejecting the offer, the more likely you are to make the right choice. Consider the following questions:
1. Where is the job located?
If the job is in another section of the country, you need to consider the cost of living, the availability of housing and transportation, and the quality of educational and recreational facilities in that section of the country. Even if the job location is in your area, you should consider the time and expense of commuting.
2. Does the work match your interests and make good use of your skills?
The duties and responsibilities of the job should be explained in enough detail to answer this question.
3. How important is the job to the company or organization?
An explanation of where you fit in the organization and how you are supposed to contribute to its overall goals should give you an idea of the job’s importance.
4. What will the hours be?
Most jobs involve regular hours—for example, 40 hours a week, during the day, Monday through Friday. Other jobs require night, weekend, or holiday work. In addition, some jobs routinely require overtime to meet deadlines or sales or production goals, or to better serve customers. Consider the effect that the work hours will have on your personal life.
5. How long do most people who enter this job stay with the company?
High turnover can mean dissatisfaction with the nature of the work or something else about the job.
Opportunities offered by employers: A good job offers you opportunities to learn new skills, increase your earnings, and rise to positions of greater authority, responsibility, and prestige. A lack of opportunities can dampen interest in the work and result in frustration and boredom.
The company should have a training plan for you. What valuable new skills does the company plan to teach you?
The employer should give you some idea of promotion possibilities within the organization. What is the next step on the career ladder? If you have to wait for a job to become vacant before you can be promoted, how long does this usually take? When opportunities for advancement do arise, will you compete with applicants from outside the company? Can you apply for jobs for which you qualify elsewhere within the organization, or is mobility within the firm limited?
Salaries and benefits: When an employer makes a job offer, information about earnings and benefits are usually included. You will want to research to determine if the offer is fair. If you choose to negotiate for higher pay and better benefits, objective research will help you strengthen your case.
You may have to go to several sources for information. This may include internet and your industry sources. Recruitment consultants may also be a great source of information. You should also look for additional information, specifically tailored to your job offer and circumstances. Try to find family, friends, or acquaintances who recently were hired in similar jobs.
If you are considering the salary and benefits for a job in another geographic area, make allowances for differences in the cost of living, which may be significantly higher in a large metropolitan area than in a smaller city, town, or rural area. For example cost of living in Mumbai is higher than Jaipur so you should be compensated for same. You can use Cost of Living index published by Government to compare COL in various cities.
You also should learn the organization’s policy regarding overtime. Depending on the job, you may or may not be exempt from laws requiring the employer to compensate you for overtime. Find out how many hours you will be expected to work each week and whether you receive overtime pay or compensatory time off for working more than the specified number of hours in a week. This may not be very relevant for managerial staff – but an indication of working hours and office timings will help you in making decisions. These days many openings are for BPOs serving clients abroad and work in night shifts – check if the company provides cab facility, night shift allowance etc.
Also take into account that the starting salary is just that—the start. Your salary should be reviewed on a regular basis; many organizations do it every year. How much can you expect to earn after 1, 2, or 3 or more years? An employer cannot be specific about the amount of pay if it includes commissions and bonuses.
Benefits also can add a lot to your base pay, but they vary widely. Find out exactly what the benefit package includes and how much of the cost you must bear.
How do you successfully negotiate the salary and package that you want?
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