What to do when Prospective Company offers but Current Company wants to counter and you have no time? [duplicate]

Question

So prospective company has given me an offer of employment and they have given me one week to decide. I just got a call today (3 days later) by the recruiter because she wanted to see how things were going and if I had any questions (I did not pick up - I just wasn't ready to talk).

I've expressed my dissatisfaction with my current company multiple times for them to change their tune. Since current company still have not changed how they behave, I've decided to leave and made it known to my managers today.

When they learned I had received an offer, they asked if I was expecting a counter offer. I let them know that if they decided to counter I would be happy to consider it but my mind has been made up that the right decision is to leave. So current company would have to make it worth my while. My overall issue over this whole situation is that current company is too slow to make decisions and changes. I'm worried that they will take too long to respond with a counter and I will have used up all my time to respond to prospective company.

How can I handle this in a professional manner such that I can hear from both companies before making my decision? I want my current company to tell me as soon as possible if they think they can meet my salary requirements and fast. I don't like to keep people waiting especially since I promised I would have an answer ready within the week. What do I do now?

Answer 1

I've expressed my dissatisfaction with my current company multiple times for them to change their tune. Since current company still have not changed how they behave, I've decided to leave and made it known to my managers today.

When they learned I had received an offer, they asked if I was expecting a counter offer. I let them know that if they decided to counter I would be happy to consider it but my mind has been made up that the right decision is to leave.

If your mind is really made up for leaving, there is no reason in playing with the fire and risking your perspective employer to doubt your commitment.

If, as you say, it's the company tune that motivates you to leave, it is not an higher salary that will accommodate that. You are wasting time (yours, your current manager's, your future manager's) just to fiddle. If this comes to surface it won't praise your attitude.

Answer 2

Here's what is commonly recommended in this group: You find a new job, check your notice period, sign the contract making sure that you can give the required notice, then you give notice. And you don't accept a counter offer, because (a) you will be a marked man, and (b) a counter offer means you were knowingly underpaid all the time.

Telling your company that you are leaving before you have a signed contract is a tactical mistake, because having a new offer doesn't mean you will actually get the job. Things can go wrong. But what's done is done, so don't worry, just don't do it again.

I strongly recommend you keep quiet from now on towards your old company, if they make a counter offer you say "I'll think about it", you do what you can do get the new job with a signed contract, and only if the new offer falls through you accept the counter offer. (Although the rule is not to accept the counter offer, you accept it if the choice is between counter offer and no job). After accepting the counter offer, assume that your days at the company are numbered.

Answer 3

You can of course contact your prospective new employer and try to play for time, but lying to them is a very bad idea, and telling them you're waiting for your current employer to make a counter-offer equally so.

So it seems you need to be blunt with your current employer - you've already gone for the nuclear option by handing in your notice, and there may be no real way back from that, but it's much less risky to push your soon-to-be-former employer than your future one. Burning bridges is usually not recommended, but if you have to, it's obviously better to burn the ones behind you than the ones in front.

It's probably also unlikely that your current employer is going to change their ways - your problems with them seem to go beyond just your salary - so while I'm not going to tell you what to do, it seems to me that staying with your current employer would be a bad idea in any event.

Generally speaking*, counter-offers are seen as band-aid solution by one or both sides. Even if they do make a "better" counter-offer, your current employer now knows you're half-way out the door, and it's entirely possible they'd just be keeping you long enough to replace you with someone who actually wants to be there.

*exceptions exist, of course, depending on a lot of factors.

Answer 4

The professional way to handle the situation is to stick to your commitment to answer in a week; add a delay with a weak reason and the new employer will know you are not able to plan your own decision making or you lied about you current workplace.

Waiting for a counter offer is worse than a weak reason. Why anyone would wait for a counter offer from a nightmarish workplace?