This is the Playbook for Men Podcast, short answers to the big questions about being a man
This episode’s short answer is to the big question of should you take that new job?
You know the situation, you’ve got a job and you’re pretty happy with it when suddenly you get a message on LinkedIn from a recruiter. And the next thing you know you’ve got a job offer. Now you’ve got to figure out should you take it
How do you know what to do? Do you take a chance with a new job or do you stay with the known quantity, the job that you’ve had and you know how to do it and everything’s going really really well for you.
These kinds of decisions are when you wish there was a systematic way, a process that you could work through to help you evaluate this new job and whether you should take it or not. I’ve got one for you. You break the decision down into three categories; personal, professional, and pay.
Personal
- Are you happy in your current job? Do you like your coworkers? Do you like your boss? Are you fulfilled? Do you get to do work you think is making a difference in the world?
- Are you bored at your current job? It’s just not much of a challenge because you’ve been doing it for so long that it just is really gotten to be routine
- How would the new job impact your quality of life? Things like family time. What would your hours be? Would you be traveling a lot? Would you have the freedom to be able to attend your kids sporting events.
Professional
- Are there going to be opportunities for promotions where you are or are you kind of tapped out? The people in the job that you’d like to have are still a long way away from retirement so you’re boxed in.
- Maybe you’re considering changing industries or careers. I’ve done that a few times myself and that can be a scary prospect.
- How stable is your current company? Wiith Covid you never know about some companies. Are they going to be able to make it?
- How stable is the new company? Are they a startup of an established company.
Pay
- Is the salary offer a raise? If so, how much? The general rule of thumb is it needs to be 25% increase to make it worth moving.
- What about benefits? How much do you have to pay for health insurance? Is there 401(k) matching? What about vacation time?
- Is there a chance to get equity?
- Is there a bonus program?
After you work through the list and just when you think you’ve made a decision, I want you to STOP and sleep on it. If you wake the next morning and still feel good about your decision, for it!
Don’t look back. Don’t second guess yourself. Be confident you’ve done all you could to make a good decision. If it works out, great and if doesn’t, don’t worry about it. Just take these list rinse, repeat.
You can listen to the audio version by clicking here.