I’m not planning on leaving my current job anytime in the near future, but having resigned from other positions, I’ve been counter-offered better pay, better conditions, or better benefits in attempts to “keep me on board.” I’ve turned down every counter offer in the past and here are my reasons why:
1. At this point, I’ve made my current employer aware of my intentions to find another position. My boss now knew that I was unhappy long enough to search for, apply for, interview for, and accept a new position. I’m sure I didn’t make my frustrations known to him in a way that he took seriously. Now, with egg on his face, because he assumed I would never leave, my boss was in the unenviable position of having to scramble to keep me. If I had chosen to stay, he would have resented me and questioned my loyalty. Not only that, but taking a day off here and there would put me under his suspicion that I was interviewing again. Who wants to work under those conditions?
2. I would burn the bridge with my prospective new employer. If I had accepted the new offer, my new employer was expecting me to show up. My new employer had made announcements about me coming on board, had canceled open job notices and advertisements, and had arranged for training. In other cases, a new employer may have released the person you’re going to replace. If your new employer pulled the rug out from under YOU by rescinding the offer, how would you feel? Don’t pull the rug from under them. It’s like leaving someone at the alter.
3. When the time came to decide who would be considered for a promotion, my current employer would definitely remember who almost went to work elsewhere. Many times, bosses reward blind loyalty more than anything else. Who do YOU think would have gotten the next promotion or assigned the next big project? It wouldn’t have been me!
4. When the economy tanks, chances are that I would have been at the top of the list for personnel cutbacks. He already knew I was unhappy and didn’t really want to be there. Why would he keep me on the payroll when this would be his perfect chance to terminate me and it not look like revenge?
5. If I accepted the counter-offer, I would have been just a little trophy, bought with some pocket change. This would’ve been more than little blow to my pride. You may disagree, but I don’t want to work somewhere that I’m not valued properly.
