Companies are always keen to retain their top employees, so you are likely to be presented with a counter offer if you hand in your resignation. Deciding whether or not to accept a counter offer can be difficult in the thick of it. You are faced with a tough choice and you don’t want to seem ungrateful. And maybe you are reluctant to take it as you do not want to leave your comfort zone as changing jobs could be stressful and you do not want to deal with that.
When you resign, there are a number of underlying reasons for it. It could be the company culture, your co-workers, or the fact that you are simply not reaching your full potential in your current workplace.
A Counter Offer Doesn’t Tackle the Underlying Issue
When presented with a counter offer, it is important to remember why you resigned in the first place. Counter offers rarely address the true factors behind what prompted you to decide to leave. Even if you are offered a better salary, promotion, or working conditions, chances are you will go back to feeling the same way about your job because a toxic workplace or micromanaging leader will not change overnight.
While it may seem flattering to see your employer entice you to stay, there are considerable arguments to be made as to why you should never accept a counter offer and instead explore new opportunities.
Should You Stay or Should You Go?
There are many studies out there that cover this issue and articles listing dozens of reasons why or why not to accept a counter offer. One of the often quoted statistics in the recruitment world says that 80% of job seekers who accept a counter offer go on to leave their job within six months anyway and after 12 months the number can even be up to 90%. There is zero evidence or proof of that or even a study confirming the validity of this statement.
The 80% is an urban myth, like the ‘six-second resume scan’ done by recruiters or the idea that 70 percent of resumes get filtered out of the initial screening process through the use of ATS. Over the years I found out that you can apply an easy rule of thumb to recruitment statistics; if you see a…
