13.1   Assessing The Offers

More jobs are offered to job applicants and new college graduates during the spring than at any other time of the year. This is when employers fill new positions and cultivate new employees. Many candidates are in the enviable, but difficult position of selecting between competing offers and figuring out who they will allow to employ them.

As exciting as it is to get more than one offer it is a stressful time because there are so many opportunities and so many decisions to make. Where will you start your career or your next career job? Where will you start your life or move your life? Who will be part of your life? You are going to spend more of your waking time with the people you work with than the people you choose to marry. Think about it... You will definitely want to decide who you want to work with.

I have coached many individuals through this process over the years, and as exciting as it is to be wanted by many companies, it is also nerve racking. You have to worry that you might make the wrong decision.

I worked with one individual who was deciding between multiple offers in multiple locations. He was concerned he might make the wrong decision. He wanted to know if I had ever seen a person who later regretted the decision that they had made.

In my experience, the biggest regret that people have in this situation is leaving a loved one behind, assuming they just need a job, forgetting that they are starting a life. I have received frantic calls from individuals who have said, “I left my girl-friend or boy-friend back in California, and now I miss them so much, I realize that I don’t want a life without them.”

Another regret is moving to the wrong location. People mistakenly think that they can live anywhere if they just have a job, forgetting that they also need a life. One individual called from Hobbs, New Mexico. He was making tons of money wildcatting for Schlumberger, a major supplier of technology to the oil and gas industry. He was driving around with a crew of guys drilling for oil in the desert. When he called, he said, “Get me out of Hobbs, New Mexico. There are no women here!”

Deciding which offer to take is a two-step process. The first step requires personal reflection and introspection as to what you want in life. This is your self- assessment. The second step requires a careful analysis of the options.