Turning good job offers into great bargains

When the going gets tough, it is a general tendency to accept any job offer that comes your way without weighing it for short and long term gains. Job hunting entails selling yourself based on your value tag. You may display resilience, but making a compromise could well be as good as a self-crushing barter.

Before accepting any job offer, you need to ponder for a while and seek answers to the following questions:

· Are you hard up for money? In case you do not have any pressing problems that warrant an immediate income, you must mull over the offer. But if at all there are problems galore and you are finding it difficult to make both your ends meet, you will have no alternative but to accept any job offered to you.

·  Is the job likely to make you glum?  If you accept a job that is not your cup of tea, sooner or later, you may be out of it. Finding another job then may turn out to be another harrowing experience. Should you be resentful even to a small degree, you should continue with you job hunt.

·  Are you in a position to explain your acceptance?  If the new job entails a step back, you should be able to explain the why of it. If there good reasons, then it is fine otherwise you may not succeed in getting the job in question.

·  What is that holds significance for you?  You may be seeking a particular appointment or designation; in that case if the new job offers you something, you may accept it. But not otherwise.

·  Do you any visualize short and long term advantages?  You should be clear about what you want to seek in the immediate future and some years hence. At the cost of long term objectives, an offer should not be accepted.

· Is there any other option?  To be able to play elastically, you should know how the job market is playing. Are you willing to remain unemployed for some time or do you think that it is better to take up any job? This issue warrants serious consideration for evident reasons.

You will find that job offers will still come to you. But you need not be taken by any surprise. And for that, you need to do your homework well so that you can make best use of your bargaining power. The following tips will help:

· Avoid immediate acceptance: Your thought process should be canny; rather than accept an offer straight away, you must convey your desire to mull over the offer with your folks at home or friends. While companies may not insist on an immediate acceptance, you must seek adequate time for consideration. Asking for a written job offer will facilitate your intentions as oral agreements tend to be forgotten over a period of time.

· Cash on money versus value skills:  You may have a perfect resume and your performance during the interview would have been excellent. Your prospective employer would have gauged your capabilities and assessed your suitability vis-à-vis contributions for organizational growth. Hence, you should be clear about your worth so that you can be emphatic while demanding an appropriate remuneration package. You also need to take advantage of the starting compensation because your income in the ensuing years will be contingent in it.   

· Don’t cave in but confer:  You may have a decade of experience or you may be a greenhorn, but still you should always try to talk things over to your advantage. While your aim should be to not leave any issue to chance or undeliberated, your overall deportment should be polite, respectful and professional. It is all about an intelligent conciliation wherein you and your employer both stand to gain.  

· Reach a deal for the salary package:  The subject of salary should not be brought up by you, more so during the initial stages of the interview process.  Usually, an organisation has a salary structure for different grades of employees and people involved in the hiring process generally do not have the authority to alter the same on your request. You may have to speak to the person concerned who can bring about an increase or wait for a decision. However, it is important to get the offer first and then proceed to catch your pay target. Your expectation should be stated in terms of a range rather than enumerating the minimum for which you will settle.

· Stage-manage offers:  An offer is like a bird in the hand; you may even have two or more of them – with companies that you are keen to join and also those that you are not ardent about. Whatever be the nature of your kitty, you must establish contact with them to make known availability of other offers known. This would result in other offers being made to you for concurrent consideration.

You should remember that compensation packages are not about salary alone. There are other perks like bonuses, medical reimbursement, travel concessions, house rent allowance, executive perquisites, stock options and increments, etc. When all of them are added to the basic salary, the eventual sum could be fantastic.