Choosing Between Two Job Offers
Two offers rarely differ on one dimension. Comparing them properly means valuing the components and being honest about which matter to you.
Total package, not salary
Pension contribution rates differ substantially and compound over a career. A few percentage points of employer contribution is worth more than an equivalent salary difference.
Bonus: whether contractual or discretionary, historically paid at what level, and whether you must be employed and not under notice to receive it.
Leave entitlement, including whether public holidays are additional.
Health cover, life assurance and income protection, which have real value even when rarely used.
Convert everything to an annual figure and compare totals.
The costs of each role
Commuting, in both money and time. An hour extra each way is around ten hours weekly, which is a substantial unpaid commitment.
Whether remote or hybrid working is genuinely available or nominally offered.
Relocation costs if applicable, and whether they are reimbursed.
Any professional subscriptions or equipment you must fund yourself.
The factors that matter more than money
The immediate manager, who has more influence on daily experience than the organisation does. Ask to meet them if you have not, and ask how they describe their management approach.
Whether the role uses skills you want to develop or ones you are trying to move away from.
The trajectory: where people in this role go next, and whether anyone has done what you would want to do.
Stability of the organisation and the team, including whether the role is new, a replacement, or the result of turnover. Asking why the position is open is informative.
Questions worth asking before deciding
What would success look like in the first six months?
What are the biggest challenges facing this team?
How long have people in this team been here?
What happened to the last person in this role?
Hesitation in the answers is itself information.
Negotiating
Both offers give you leverage, and using it is normal rather than presumptuous.
Negotiate on specifics — salary, start date, leave, a review at six months, a training budget — rather than generally.
Get any agreed variation in writing in the contract, since verbal assurances during recruitment are frequently forgotten.
Do not resign from your current role until the new offer is confirmed in writing and any conditions are satisfied.
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