Counter offers...

I've done that and when I have, the prospective new paper upped their offer.

 

Keep in mind, OL, that there's a hell of a chance that those telling you not to go back to the bigger paper and see if you can get more money are management types. In their minds, the more employees accept the notion we should just accept whatever crumbs they deign to hand out, the less the chance they'll actually utilize their leverage on the rare times they actually have it.

Make the absolute best deal you can make for yourself (including all factors, not just money) and don't apologize to anyone for it.

 

Not even close.

I'm telling him to stand by his word. You accept a job, you accept it on the terms it was offered. If you don't want that job, fine. Don't take it. But don't go back saying "Oh, well, that was good enough LAST week but it's not good enough now."

The question is why he didn't go back to his current job BEFORE accepting the new job? THAT'S when you negotiate.

 

Not management either. The question is why did you accept an offer before going back to your current gig. You should have had a couple of days to mull it over. Hopefully you didn't accept it on the spot.

 

Then we agree to disagree, buck. If I'm an SE and make an offer, someone accepts it, and then comes back? I may not pull the offer back, because that might not be my call as SE...but I will tell you I won't trust that person as far as I can throw them for as long as they work for me.

 

Oh, he might be burning a bridge all right.

But this is business. It's not personal. I wouldn't begrudge anybody for trying to get the best offer they could, even if that means going back on their "word."

If I'm a hiring SE right now, ain't no way I can look somebody straight in the face and tell them they'll have a job in a year anyway. My "word" don't mean shit, in that regard. He's got to look out for himself.

 

Which is fair. But I guess I don't get it. He's going to go back to them and say he's got an offer that's not even as much as the offer they've already put out there and he's accepted?

If the other offer was higher, I suppose I maybe could see your point. But he wants them to pay more when they're already paying more?

 

Yeah, that part doesn't make much sense -- unless he's prepared to take the lower offer to stay where he's at. Which he very well might be.

But he's using his best leverage: That his current place made a counter-offer and he's seriously considering it. If the new place wants him, they might go up to entice him more. It's happened before, as others have said on this thread.

It's worth a shot, at least. He might be back at square one if the new place doesn't budge. But at least he knows where both places stand, and he can make the best decision then.

 

Fair enough. Agree to disagree.

 

Ehh, we're not that far off. I'd agree with you if the current climate wasn't what it was. As it is, people are getting hammered left and right -- we both know quite a few of them.

Sure, he fucked up by accepting first, rather than letting the current place woo him to stay. But if he wants to go back on his word and play the game to squeeze a few more dollars out of them, even though he's already accepted ... I think he can sleep OK at night. Being loyal to his word isn't going to help him keep his job (no matter if he stays or goes) when the publisher comes calling.

Besides, plenty of people have backed out of jobs after accepting. Look at Billy Donovan.

 

It depends on what's more important -- money or being a man of your word.

If I hired you, only to have you stick a counter offer in my face, I wouldn't reneg on the offer, because I'm a man of my word. But I'd have lost some of the enthusiasm and goodwill I usually have for the new guy.

It's not easy sometimes. Three years ago, I left my job for a new challenge that paid about $8,000 a year less. On my second day, my old boss called with a $10,000 raise on my old salary -- an $18,000 difference. I didn't do it. (And had I done it, by the way, I'd have lost my job in a restructuring six months later, so that actually worked out.)