How to juggle multiple job opportunities/offers

It’s a candidate's best outcome – multiple job offers all arriving at once! Isn't it?

All the hiring managers want you as part of their team, they have promised you the world, a clear career path to CEO and more perks than you can poke a stick at. But now is the hard bit – which role to choose? Part of the challenge is that you will have multiple considerations, with many people in your ear trying to convince you that their role is by far the best option in the market and for your career. So where do you start?

Grab a pen and paper

Firstly, remind yourself again why you are looking for a new role and write it down. What is it that made you start the search? Was it location? Lack of flexibility? Was it a single instance that set you on this path or a longer period of time? That’s a really important starting point. As an example, if you are leaving your current role because of location, that should factor very heavily into why you would choose one role over another.

Here are a couple of key reasons to consider for your list …

• Location: How accessible is it? Close to public transport? If you are working from home 3 days a week, does distance matter that much? What happens if the client changes their policy on WFH arrangements? Would that be a deal breaker?

• Salary: If the starting salary is higher than the market, could that mean you are at the top of their budget and unlikely you will see a pay rise anytime soon? When are pay rises? If there are bonuses, how are they calculated? Who got bonuses last year, and how much of the bonus did they get? No point in having a headline 20% bonus if no one achieves it.

• Flexibility: Are the company's WFH arrangements an actual policy or is it a bit vague, and ultimately, discretionary?

• Career: If career growth is important, what are the options after 2-3 years in this role? Does the role report to someone that has been in the job for 15 years and looks like they are going nowhere anytime soon?

• What was the Interviewing process like? This is important! A slow, poorly communicated process is often a sign of how the business operates. A faster, organised process suggests a well-run and efficient business.

• Bright lights: Sure it’s a business that everyone has heard of, and they run very slick TV advertisements, but what’s the culture actually like under the bonnet? Don’t be fooled by the strong branding of a potential employer. Smaller, lesser-known companies often have to work harder to attract and retain staff because they don’t have a well-oiled PR machine. Bright lights aren’t always what they seem.

• Manager: Here’s the thing, you will spend more time with your Manager than you will with your own partner, so you might want to make sure they are someone you can respect and learn from. Having a good manager is often the single key reason that employees hang around.

• Have you all the facts? Has the interviewing process answered all the questions that you had? If not, make sure you have all the loose ends tied up. You don’t want to start your new role having wrongly assumed a couple of key things that might have seen you make a different decision.

When you have done this for each role, write a ‘for’ and an ‘against’ in two columns then step back. If one of the roles has more ‘against’ it than for it, maybe it’s not the right role for you.

Take out the emotion

Secondly, (and this is hard) don’t let emotion-triggering actions like an overly enthusiastic hiring manager pressure you into making a decision in their favour. In the heat of the battle, a lot of promises are made, but may not be delivered on when it all settles down. Which is why you should …

Talk to someone neutral

Got a mentor? Someone, you trust that you can talk over your conundrum with? Ask them for their advice. Give them all the pros and cons and see what they would do. But be careful not to influence their advice with your feelings.

And finally …

Once you have carefully made your decision, stick with it.

Recruiters and Hiring Managers will forgive you for not choosing their role, but even the most mild-mannered individual will find it hard to respect you if you accept a role and then change your mind. It doesn't give a great impression to your prospective employers or to your recruitment partner.

Weighing up all of the pros and cons of an offer and talking it through with someone you trust can help you avoid any awkward backtracking, and maintain relationships for the future, as you never know who you will cross paths with again in your future career.

Being offered multiple jobs at the same time can be a stressful experience and one where your decision may grate on you for some time after. If you need some assistance with your decision or need some advice on the Sydney accounting market, contact one of our recruitment experts on 02 8324 5640.