Juggling Multiple Job Offers

By TAUNEE BESSON

From the National Business Employment Weekly

After a four-month job search, complete with euphoric highs and discouraging lows, your hard work has paid off. You’ve received and accepted a great offer and will start work next Monday. But there’s a glitch: A dark-horse career opportunity that disappeared two months ago has resurfaced, and you now have the job offer of your dreams.

What do you do? You don’t want to destroy the good relationship you’ve developed with your new employer or the executive-search firm that helped you find the first position. But you don’t want to reject the second tantalizing offer either.

This situation is fraught with ethical and practical dilemmas, says Gail McDonald, a principal with Transition Resources Inc., a Dallas-based consulting firm, and a former vice president of human resources for Ryder System Inc.

"Once you’ve said yes to an offer, you’ve made a commitment. If you back out, you risk burning bridges with the company, your industry and colleagues, and this may have long-term implications," she says.

Planning Avoids Problems

Receiving a second offer after you accepted another one is an embarrassment of riches. But it’s far better not to put yourself in this position in the first place, says Ms. McDonald. The best way to avoid this delicate problem is to know what you want and stay focused. Because you know what you’re looking for, it will be easier to recognize and accept the right job.

Before you begin networking and sending resumes, write a job description outlining your ideal position. Consider the roles you want to play and the activities that require the use of your best skills and pique your interest. Imagine a work environment that would motivate you to do your best work. Also consider the compensation package and career path that match your vision. Armed with this job description, you’ll be in an excellent position to:

• develop your two-minute commercial to describe yourself when networking;
• write a resume that reflects the requirements for your ideal job; ask probing and intelligent interview questions;
• thoughtfully compare opportunities against your description of an ideal job;
• make a career decision based upon concrete information that you’ve thought about well before the job offer was made.

As you contemplate your ideal job, prioritize its elements. Are you most interested in your work role, or the projects or activities you’ll be assigned to? Perhaps a family-friendly environment or financial gain is your key concern. Be more specific by assigning percentages to each priority, scoring each item on a scale of one to ten or putting them in rank order. If you have multiple offers, make your decision less subjective by creating a table and comparing the factors for each job. If you think about your priorities in advance, you’ll be less likely to take a position that’s out of synch with your values.

Delay Tactics

When multiple job offers loom, try to delay your decision without irritating your suitors. Say, for instance, that a first offer isn’t as exciting as another on the horizon. Stall for time by telling your potential employer you’re pleased to receive an offer but need a few days to think about it. Most companies want you to be as enthusiastic about the "marriage" as they are, and they’ll understand your need for contemplation.

"I’d rather have a potential employee tell me she’s considering several options and needs time to make the right decision, than hire someone who wishes she’d waited for a better fit," says Alecia Carter, a Dallas-area human resources manager for United HealthCare Corp., a health-care services provider based in Minneapolis.

Buy time with other delay tactics. Mention that you need to talk to your family, or if the job requires relocation, ask for an exploratory trip. Request a meeting with key managers and colleagues you haven’t met. Develop a list of questions to clarify areas of concern. "Companies can usually tell when you’re not sure the package offered is right for you," says Ms. McDonald. "They want to know your sticking points. Your honest hesitancy gives them a chance to negotiate and fine-tune their offer to be a better match for both parties."

Employers also are aware of just how hot the job market is, and they shouldn’t be surprised if candidates have "four or five irons in the fire," says Dave Westberry, a partner with LAI, an executive-search firm in Dallas. He encourages candidates to use the market to their advantage and not to jump at the first opportunity. "If a candidate is unsure a position is right, it’s better to wait for another. In today’s economy other options come along pretty quickly," says Mr. Westberry.

If you think the employer you most want to join is near a decision, let it or your executive-search consultant know your dilemma. It may speed the company’s decision process, and the employer will appreciate your honesty about your intentions, says Mr. Westberry.

Facing the Other Offer

If you’ve accepted a job and get a second offer, think carefully before reneging on the first employer. "Your integrity is on the line. The ethical thing to do is stick with your original choice. Renege on your original decision only if the position truly goes against who you are," says Ms. McDonald.

Backing out of the first job may hurt your career in the long run because you may acquire a reputation within the industry or among recruiters for fickleness. Worse, it also may cause the firm making the second offer to question your integrity. "If you had no compunction about jumping ship for their offer, will you stay with them if you find slightly greener pastures a few months down the road?" says Ms. Carter.

Given the repercussions of taking the second offer, be sure it’s substantially better than the first. Is a $5,000 to $10,000 increase worth damaging your reputation? Will the second firm’s projects or culture be worth the job-hopper reputation you might gain? If benefits outweigh risks, then make your move.

Breaking the News

Honesty is the best policy when you must tell an employer whose offer you’ve already accepted that you’re going to work for another company instead. Don’t delay the news — it only aggravates the situation.

The first company may welcome your explanation of why the other firm is a better fit, says Ms. Carter. You may even receive a counteroffer, but such hastily proposed solutions typically don’t address the real reasons behind your choice, and you may end up leaving first firm anyway, she says.

If you’re truthful and contrite with the first company, you may get away unscathed. The hiring manager there may forgive you, but it’s unlikely he or she will forget. "Most people will understand [if you make one] mistake. But you only get one," says Ms. McDonald.

— Ms. Besson, an NBEW bimonthly columnist, is president of Career Dimensions, a Dallas-based firm specializing in career development and job-search programs for professionals and corporations, and author of "The NBEW Guide to Resume Writing" (1996, John Wiley & Sons) and "The NBEW Guide to Cover Letters" (1996 John Wiley & Sons).