A counteroffer is a ruthless and potentially hazardous renegotiation of your salary with your current employer, which occurs when you threaten to leave for employment with a competitor. Although the counteroffer is almost always a lose- lose proposition for the job seeking candidate and the employer, we see candidates entertain the notion all the time.

When you accept a counteroffer from your present employer think about the impact on your current situation and the long-term future with that employer.
Also consider whether you are truly the winner in this employment strategy. Many employees who give their 2-week or 30 day notice are receiving counteroffers from their current employer as an incentive to stay. Before going any farther, think about the horse that pulls the cart struggling to reach the tasty carrot day in and day out. Trust me the horse has it better than you in this situation. Don't be a fool and don't be the horse!

These counteroffers and proposals can include an increase in salary, a direct promotion or added responsibility to your job functions, or an often-empty promise of a future raise, promotion or other incentive within the organization.

Honestly, if you are good at what you do, your employer will try to convince you to stay because it is in their best interest. Their reasons are financially obvious because finding and training your replacement will be expensive and time consuming. Operationally there may be profit lost as a result of the work you performed in the past not getting completed and other peer employees may also be influenced by your success to look for another position.

If you entertain the counteroffer for even a second, you will be thrust into the temptation to discard a careful decision you have made for your best interest and using objective reasoning.

An attractive counteroffer has three primary reasons existing to lead you down the wrong career path. First there are your emotions, which are already shot to hell and stressed out. You will be leaving peers, friends and co-workers, which might be weighing on you. Second, there is the fear of change, which all humans are programmed to hate since birth. Lastly there is the fact that your current employer seemingly wants you to stay and this fuels your ego. As a result they feed you all the crap you can eat and try to tighten the noose for good this time.

If you listen to, entertain for an instant, look at, hear of or really consider the counteroffer you will likely succumb to it, but know this…it's not your fault. You are a programmed human, who will always go back to something you have already experienced, rather than branching out and evolving into your true self.

The decision is yours and yours alone! Take a step back and trust your instincts that led you into your new career search in the first place.

To be continued in: The Counteroffer Strikes Back