Sometimes you hand in your resignation and your employer tries to keep you in your current job by offering you better pay or conditions, or a better job within the company.
You may be certain you don't want to accept. If there is no doubt in your mind, and it's not likely that you'll regret your decision in the future, thank your employer and refuse the offer firmly.
But if you have any doubts at all, ask for time to consider the offer carefully. It's hard to make a decision on the spot, especially in your supervisor's presence.
When you're thinking about the offer, consider the following things.
- What are they offering you - a higher salary, different job role, a promotion, better conditions?
- Whatever the offer, is this what you really want? Has the offer addressed the reasons you decided to resign in the first place?
- As a result of you looking elsewhere, will your employer doubt your commitment to the organisation? If your job search might be used against you in the future, perhaps you should move on.
- If you accept the counter offer, how will your integrity with your would-be employer be affected? How much do they need you, and did you give them any reason to doubt that you might come on board? If you stay with your current employer, it might look as if you went through the whole job application process just to extract better conditions from your boss; that's not a good look.