Accepting counter offers when being headhunted can be very tempting. I’ve seen lots of clients recently see a role that was almost perfect for them, but decided to take attractive counter offers, only to be disappointed less than a year into their role. For us as recruiters, it can get quite frustrating seeing clients weigh up their options for a role that we believe doesn’t suit them, but has perks that exceed their current offer.

While this might sound “salty”, as if I’m annoyed that clients are moving onto a different role, it’s a strong indicator of the kind of organisation that you’re going into, if they need to up the ante to secure talent. The truest measure of an organisation’s appeal is if they can secure talent on the sole prospect of working for them without the perks. Perks are really just a pricing manipulation, designed to help you make a decision, not keep you at the company.

As Biggie Smalls would have us believe, if a counter offer decides to offer a higher salary that can seem like a very attractive offer at first. Who doesn’t want more money for doing the same role? But in truth it isn’t the same role a lot of the time. What happens in counter offers is a role is redefined by an organisation to allocate more budget to it, in effect creating a greater than 1 FTE (full time employee) role. I’ve seen this happen time and time again, where a company will take two roles and make them into one, in order to give a candidate more money. This of course really just becomes a glorified overtime pay.

If you are in fact accepting a role that is combined from two full time employees, you will find your work-life balance shift from barely there to non-existent. I’ve seen clients go from 40 hour weeks to 80 hour weeks just to keep their spot, and end up burning themselves out because the organisation couldn’t offer them the same level of support. Sure, you get paid more, but it probably isn’t worth it.

If you’re taking on a counter offer, prepare yourself for the shock of finding out that you’re doing more work than was first offered. Your salary and bonus come with the expectations of performance, and if you’re not ready to jump in the deep end be prepared to sink of swim.

Counter offers will often come with managers pulling strings to secure candidates. Candidates will often get special treatment, which can lead to being singled out by long term employees and other seasoned veterans. One classic example I’ve seen recently is of a sales manager who had achieved stellar numbers in the past, who was offered a salary above the current sales managers at an organisation as well as a different bonus structure. As much as I’d love to say she enjoyed the role, she left 6 months later due to the pressure of the role, which came from having the different bonus structure and lack of support from her peers. Peers can get jealous of new people, and she found that she was often thrown under the bus the most by the other managers.

Counter offers are all well and good, but bare in mind that you may find yourself dangerously overextended if you accept a higher salary for the same work. Remember to do due diligence, and to keep your wits about you.