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5 Reasons Counter Offers Can Ruin You – Part 2
In a previous blog post Titled 5 Reasons Counter Offers Can Ruin You, I shared a tail of a friend of mine name Wendall. It was back in November 2009 that Wendall consulted me about a great opportunity at hand. He had been passively looking to make a career move (80% of people actually are looking by the way) and received an offer. In my opinion it was a very good offer that he should take. Wendall agreed however when he put in notice to leave…dun dun dunnnn…the counter offer came creeping back on his desk. Just when he thought he had made a great choice by landing an exciting career move, he was back in the same boat having to make a decision on what to do.
So what would any friend of the Interview Guru do? He asked my opinion, which he chose to do the opposite, accepted the counter offer from his current employer and now fast forward almost 8 months later and we have an update. Two of the 5 points that I shared with him were clearly answered…
- The vast majority of accepted counteroffers do not work out well. Statistics show that 85% of those who accept a counteroffer end up leaving, voluntarily or involuntarily, within one year.
- Entertaining a counteroffer after accepting another job can appear threatening. The hiring company may feel their back is against a wall and a level of trust breaks down.
Wendall violated an implied level of trust 8 months ago. The employer was never able to expose Wendall to proprietary things and this led to continued stress on behalf of my friend. The excitement of the increased salary only lasted long. The same frustrations continued in his day to day. Lesson to be learned: Money does not satisfy.
- Wendall is no longer employed by the same employer
- A significant amount of undue stress was placed in his life, especially while looking for a job in today’s economy
- His previous employer has now hired 2 people to replace Wendall
- Wendall took a new job for less money
Another lesson to be learned: DO NOT ACCEPT a counter offer.
Much Success.
Darrin – The Interview Guru
The Video Resume
That is the question in today’s trending and ever changing market. Are video resumes the real wave of the future. I have seen some significant pros and equally significant cons. Lets take a look over a series of posts to some of the aspects and angles on why the video resume is either going to sink or swim. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
There is no question that video in general is the NOT the wave of the future…it is the present. Video is here and that point is inarguable. Sites like the giant youtube.com and hulu.com wouldn’t be leading the statistic charts in traffic. How about youtube’s estimated value at $803 MM, over 366 MM pageviews and making over $1.1MM per DAY in ad revenue. Oh, I almost forgot to say that it is the #3 most trafficked site behind Google and Facebook. Video is here.
True that the below data is from 2009, (provided by Training Marketer) but in this year, the mentality of advertisers switched to predominately online video. Why? Because online videos is w
here you and I are. The American population is watching TV online, shopping online, watching and more importantly making video online. This series in video resumes will argue the point on if this medium is valuable.
Before we talk about details behind video resumes such as how to make them, and tips on getting it into the hands of prospective hiring authorities we need to look at it from multiple angles. The person looking for the job or making the video. The company perspective and what their outlook on this would be as well as the video resume from a recruiters perspective.
Personally, as an interview guru, I look forward to learning more about if this is going to take off or not. If it were specifically my opinion, I would say that video resumes will be a very very big hit. Mark my words. I have interviewed over 26,000 people over the years and must say that we continue as a population to master the paper resume. Thousands upon thousands of articles, resume writers, websites on helping people do their resume right. I feel that the real evolution of the resume is just ahead of us.
Again, what are your thoughts?
Until the next update…Much success!
Darrin Grella, the Interview Guru
Resignation Letter – Is it right?
This site has samples of different types of employment transactional correspondences. The more I observe people to people interaction, the more I am realizing that we all have quite significant communication issues.
As people our firm is working with get different careers, many of them have to do the dreaded putting in of their two week notice. I want to highlight a sample download for a resignation letter. To see the actual post, go here. Putting in your notice the right way will make the difference not in the immediate emotions of the situation but in the long term.
Bridges burned = ruined relationships. Let me give you an example of two different scenarios. Both of the which happened last week. Two individuals put in notice both in the same type of career discipline. The one was able to leave on quite impressive terms because they put in notice with the sample resignation letter in this post, was taken out to lunch by his peers, the department had a little going away party, the CEO of the firm gave him a personal and professional reference and is now content and at peace with himself. The other individual, who happened to be a more successful employee at his company did not use The Interview Guru recommended Resignation letter…received a counter offer from his employer (which if you are not familiar with counter offers then you should read this…CAREER SUICIDE), he did entertained the counter offer for a few days, pissed off a handful of people, no little party, no reference letter and now a burned bridge. Actually kind of like Lebron James. Because this person did not accept the counter offer, which I would agree with, he ended up ending a 5 year friendship with the CEO. The two have a vested interest together in a small company on the side and are both acting like little kids, not talking to each other, blaming one another for issues, etc.
Do it right. Use the resignation letter in this post. It does a good job of taking the personal and emotional aspect out of your decision. Feel free to share this nugget with friends going through the dreaded resignation process.
Keep you character in tact. Much success.
Darrin, The Interview Guru
Is this job right for me?
How does someone know if the position they are about to accept is the right position for them?
After my years of listening to thousands of individuals about why they want to change positions and only a few short months later, hundreds of those same people express their disgust, I have noticed there seems to be some commonalities. For the most part, people look at work as just that, work. Let’s dive into this a little:
- PERSPECTIVE: Do we view work as work? Do we view the thing we do as a job or as an opportunity? Yes rhetorical questions however I’d something for sure to think about. Also wrapped up in that perspective is why you took the position. Many people today are accepting a position just to get paid. Extremely valid reason. We need to do what it takes to find steady pay. While money is an obvious perspective to accept a position, it is proven NOT to be a thirst quencher and make one happy. In a study by the Herman Group they found that money is the last reason why people change employment. However, it tends to be the first in accepting a position if one is unemployed.
- FORMULA: A friend of mine, marketing executive for Goodyear Tires, shared with me a pretty intuitive formula that is completely relevant to determining our long term success in a position.
(K+A)*M = Effect/Result
- (Knowledge + Ability)*Motivation = Effect/Results or effective results. Run the new opportunity through this formula. Are the skills required and responsibilities of this position in line with my Knowledge? How about my Ability to do the tasks and duties to complete this position with excellence? Multiplied by the amount of motivation to do the position will determine the “effective result” or how impactful you can be. If you have to take a position outside of your skill set, say delivering pizza. As a professional, knowledge to do it, yeah maybe, ability? sure you can drive multiplied by motivation, absolutely not motivated to do it will equal you not being satisfied with your effect and as a result, you will quit as soon as something better comes available.
3 Ways to Land a Job via Twitter
The topic of use of social networks to land a job are in much debate. Does it work? Does it not? Either way, how does one do it?
I will be the first to admit it is easily understood and frankly can be overwhelming. I recently read an article, via twitter, (thanks to @RosettaCareers) that was written by and intern, Allison Janney, directed toward new grads on how to land their next gig. Pretty pertinent information and credible as she has landed her past two internships via twitter.
With constant, real time information, reading and marinating on twitter feeds can be about as much fun as getting your toe nails removed. A quick highlight of her thoughts are below but feel free to check out her short article here.
Step 1: Know whom to follow
Strategically follow professionals at every level are on Twitter, especially in the PR and marketing industry. Use this to your advantage and find Tweeps who work at companies that interest you. Twitter’s “List” feature is one of the best ways to identify folks at specific organizations.
Step 2: Engage politely
Always remember that professionals are busy. You want to appear persistent without being annoying. The key to this concept is reaching out without asking something of them. Retweeting or commenting on a professional’s tweet is a natural way to get attention without making them uncomfortable.
Step 3: Time your outreach
Networking on Twitter takes patience. Practice regularly monitoring your leads in order to present yourself at an appropriate time. They may tweet about job openings or announce a new client. This information will ensure you are aware of potential opportunities that are not posted on their website.
Much Success!
(be sure to follow Darrin, the interview guru, at @darringrella)
