I talked with a client this week who was recently laid off from her last job. The good news is, she had already been looking for a new position and had been on first and even second round interviews with several potential employers. Two of these had expressed genuine interest in her but she didn’t have any offers from them yet.
She did, however, have 1 job offer on the table for a position that was below her acceptable salary requirement and beneath her skill level. The day we spoke, they were expecting her response by the end of the day.
BUT JUDY I NEED A JOB! She felt compelled, by fear of lack of income, to grab the offer on the table. I get that. I’ve been there. I’ve been motivated to jump from the frying pan into the fire on numerous occasions, and the result has never been good.
I am not one to “tell” my clients what to do – my job is to help my clients decide what is in their best interest by pointing out the various potential consequences of their decisions. Call me Sigmund Freud (I was, after all, a Psych major a million years ago).
While there were no guarantees, chances were good that the client was going to receive offers from the other 2 better paying positions that were more suited to her career goals. By taking the offer on the table, she would be shutting the door on those potential offers, as well as others; she would barely be making enough money to live in NYC; she would be unhappy with the low level of work she was doing; and she would find herself looking for another job sooner than later. On top of that, the lower level position would be a setback in her career and a blemish on her resume.
She decided to decline the offer and thanked me for validating what her gut was already telling her. These decisions aren’t easy. They require a lot of thought, analysis and risk assessment; and sometimes, a leap of faith.
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