No matter how excited you feel about your new job offer, you must carefully review it before saying yes. Accepting a job is a big responsibility that impacts your entire life. Your personal life, relationships, hobbies, and everything else are impacted by your professional life. So, you have to objectively and thoroughly review your job offer to be sure it’s right for you. The goal of evaluating your job offer is to establish with certainty that this job is right for you. The following 7 tips will help you achieve just that.
Evaluate if you are underappreciated in the offer
The first step in evaluating your job offer is to objectively recognize your value in the economy. Don’t come up with a random figure in your head about how much you should get–research the market. Learn what most businesses pay employees with comparable talent and skills. Be as in-depth as you can with your research.
Naturally, you’ll compare your research’s findings about the right salary for you and what you’re actually offered. Ideally, you should be at least as well-compensated as the industry average. Also, consider your salary in the context of the company’s overall compensation policies. For example, what kind of raises do they give, and how much could your salary increase over time?
Analyze finer parts of the offer
Your salary isn’t the only compensation a company provides to you. They’ll also offer perks and benefits, including help with your retirement and providing you with vacation time. So, examine all the benefits and perks they provide to decide whether it’s worth working for them. You’ll also have to decide what you personally value the most from your employer.
For instance, are you willing to accept a lower salary if the work is remote and flexible? The lower salary could be worth it if you save a lot on transportation expenses. Also, what kind of retirement plan does the company offer, and will they offer you other bonuses and incentives?
Research the organization as a whole
Let’s say you’re satisfied with your compensation, great! Now, we have to figure out if the company can realistically afford you long-term. You don’t want to sign-up with a company that offers great compensation but goes bankrupt after a few years. No, you want to work for a firm that’s likely to stay healthy long-term.
So, research the organization and learn about its history and current trajectory. Also, gather information on its leadership and understand the firm as much as possible. If possible, speak to people who already work there. The goal is to get an accurate overall picture of the organization and its place in the industry.
Figure out travel and other expenses
No job is free. You’ll likely have to pay for travel and other expenses to work. If your position is on-site, you’ll have to travel every day to the office, which can cost a good chunk of your salary. You might also face traffic during your commute or even move to a new location.
If your job is permanently remote, you’ll evade most of these costs, but you’ll likely face others. For example, 78% of remote workers across 90 countries reported they paid their own internet bills. There are no federal laws in the United States requiring employers to pay their remote workers’ internet bills, so you’ll most likely pay yours too.
Try to find out any potential personality clash with your boss and co-workers
At this stage, you want to examine the organization’s culture, especially its management style. A good boss could be your ticket to a great career, but a bad one could ruin your entire stay with the company. The organization’s management style has a direct effect on your career.
Ideally, you want to work for a company with a positive work environment with a productive management style. You can learn about the company’s culture by checking reviews by former employees on Glassdoor.com. Social media is also a good source to learn from former employees.
Evaluate your time cost
Ultimately, the highest cost of any job is your time. If you’re paid by the hour, longer hours may not be bad, but if you’re salaried, that could be a nightmare. So, thoroughly understand your job description to know your workload and how much time, including commute time, you’ll invest in the company.
Your goal is to get the most from every hour you work. So, long stretches of unpaid overtime are the worst possible thing. Ideally, you want to work for an organization that properly compensates you for your time and does not demand unpaid overtime.
Impact on future opportunities and career path
Getting a job now may be your immediate priority, but you should also consider the long-term effects. Specifically, you want to avoid working for companies you can’t stay with long-term. Future employers take short job experiences in your resume negatively and might not hire you.
So, place this job in your overall career framework. Will this job benefit your long-term career? Will it help you achieve your long-term career goals? And will the experiences it provides the benefit you?
Making the final decision
In the end, whether a job offer is worth accepting depends on you–there’s no standardized way to judge whether a job offer is good enough. A job is worth accepting if it meets your requirements and fits in your long-term plan. It’s not worth it if the job doesn’t give you what you want and you can afford other options. It’s about what you want in the context of what you can afford.
Ultimately, a job offer is only good if it meets your needs. You can find that out by calculating your value in your industry and calculating the time and financial costs of the job. But, in the end, it’s entirely your choice whether a job matches your needs enough that you should accept it.