You have found your perfect job, your profile has been submitted, you’ve been through 2 interview stages and finally, you have received a job offer.
Naturally, this all seems perfect but this is where the biggest decision lies. Do you accept the offer, decline it or wait it out? There are a few things to consider before your decision is made:
Start Date
Consider if the proposed start date works for yourself. Will you be starting your new role straight after finishing your previous one? Would a week break in-between benefit your morale?
You could even ask your prospective employer if there is an opportunity for you to go on a short break between roles. Most roles will have the desired starting date but most employers will also be aware of the stress of moving jobs so may give you some leniency.
Culture
When you visited the prospective role’s offices, how did you perceive yourself fitting in culturally? You spend over 50% of your waking hours during the week at your place of work so a cultural fit will be key to your happiness in work.
Does your current job have a more laid-back dress code compared to the formal new role? Are you happy with this?
Every company has its own individual ‘personality’, the dream scenario is where your personality matches that of the company. Is a ‘traditional business’ more suited for you or is a more ‘dynamic business’ one that would align for you better?
Training
The opportunity to develop your skills and learn new ones should appeal to every ambitious person, irrespective of what stage of their career they are at.
Does your new company have an internal Learning & Development team that will help you on a day-to-day basis? Will your new company pay for you to go on courses that will help you do your job?
Most companies will actively encourage employees to partake in training courses that will benefit your role. Ask your new hiring manager whether this is an occurrence in your role and if not, is it possible for the future?
Job Title and Reporting Relationship
Your CV will be your foot into companies as you go through your life, therefore ensure that your job title shows progression in your career and not constant side stepping, which highlights a lack of ambition.
Clarify your job title and ensure you know whom you would be reporting into within the organisation. Ideally, this would be someone you have already met and therefore you can gauge whether this relationship can be grown into a mutually beneficial one.
Holiday
As a dedicated and hard working employee, your holiday allowance should reflect this and you should be able to enjoy these days off that you’ve earned. Larger organisations may be able to offer a larger salary but are more likely to offer a lower holiday quota, whereas a smaller organisation may have fewer funds to play with in terms of salary but can provide a larger holiday offering.
Make sure you know where you stand with regards to bank holidays and other holiday periods such as the festive period too.
Salary
Does your pay reflect the role you’re going to be working? A recent study by CityAM stated that 81.9% would take a pay cut for that dream job (http://www.cityam.com/245950/many-us-would-take-pay-cut-our-dream-job), so money should most definitely not be the be all and end all.
However, make sure you are aware of any bonus plans, when performance & salary reviews occur and the schedule of your pay.
Benefits
Is there a pension scheme in place with your new role? Workplace pensions should now be a standard when joining a company (https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/about-workplace-pensions) but definitely, ask what the process is at the moment.
Also, are there any perks such as private healthcare, gym membership, discounts or incentive schemes that the company is part of? These could be big selling points to yourself depending on your lifestyle.
Reputation
An individual company’s reputation with current and past employees will give you a great insight into how the company operates and how employees feel they are valued.
Sites such as Glassdoor (https://www.glassdoor.co.uk) & Careerbuilder (www.careerbuilder.co.uk) should allow you to evaluate the reviews left by employees. There will always be a mix on these sites of bad vs. good but they should provide a sound analysis of some of the key aspects of your experience as an employee.
Commute/Travel
The start of your day and the end of your day is sometimes the worse part of it, so make sure you know how far you will be travelling every day. Are there multiple offices that you may have to visit during the week that will make your commute longer?
Try to figure out if a change of job actually benefits you or if a longer commute is going to hamper your work/life balance significantly.
Career Progression
Your career path within the prospective company should be roughly laid out. Is there an opportunity to move to a management area? Is there the opportunity to become a director?
A holiday trip would not normally be taken without an overview of the trip logistics, so why should this be any different for your working life, try to have an indication of where you can progress within the company.
All of these topics can be developed into questions that are perfect for the interview process as it shows an active interest in the prospective role. Do not let quantifiable things such as salaries and gym access directly affect your decision too much, enjoying your job is priceless. Before accepting or indeed declining an offer of employment, review the above and make sure the next move is the best move.
Before planning your next career move, make sure you’ve signed up the Annapurna Recruitment website for job updates and connected with one of our consultants.
