6 pointers to help you choose your next job offer.

Make an informed and confident decision in choosing your next employer.

Changing your employer and looking for better job options is one of the most challenging tasks in everyone’s professional journey. What makes it more daunting is the uncertainty & few unresolved mysteries about the future associated with different options available for your choice. The anxiety and nostalgia of leaving your current organization, the unpredictability of what the future holds for you & the fear of possibly taking a wrong decision might lead to sleepless nights and stressful conditions.

Let us discuss some important practices which will help you make an informed decision and reduce your anxiety about this decision. In order to put things into perspective, the very first task is to introspect & understand your reason of changing your current job. These can vary among one or more of the below points -:

1. In search of a better manager
2. In search of a better company (organization)
3. In search of better work/quality of work
4. In search of better salary/CTC/compensation.
5. In search of a better location
6. In search of a better growth plan / promotional ladder for your role.
7. Or Just because you are bored and want to change job. 😀

Although the number is low, still 10–15% of resignations occur because of no particular or urgent reason which is depicted in the 7th point above. The real problem lies in the fact that there is no scale to measure “better” and we sometimes unknowingly become impatient with our salary, manager, and growth path without any introspection, industry data, or research.

So I would request you to stop here and go to the drawing board again if you are not very sure of the exact reason(s) for changing your current job and give your current employer one more chance.

Once you are sure of the change and have sufficient pointers to back your decision, it becomes vital that you set yourself in the correct state of mind. Below are some ways to collect maximum information to make an informed decision that will be in the best interest of your career perspective -:

1. Talk to your next reporting manager
   Plan a 1–1 meeting with all potential manager(s) and understand their expectations from team members, way of working, preferences, past companies & experiences and check your alignment with all these observations & goals. This is important since you would be spending 60–70% of the time interacting with your manager regarding your tasks, problems, and concerns.
   He / She will set a platform of opportunities for your career growth in the next few years keeping you motivated and passionate about your job. So understanding the manager’s expectations & having a strong connection with their goals, thoughts, and working style is a strong GREEN signal among others.
2. Know about the team structure
   This data point covers the size, structure, hierarchy & distribution of the team in your next role. This will give you a clear idea about the possible growth opportunities, team members & current dynamics within the team.
   This becomes important information for taking the right decision since your future team can make your next professional journey really enjoyable, full of learning, and worthwhile.
3. Understand the career ladder & growth opportunities for the role
   In many cases, a job offer with higher growth opportunities is better than a competitive offer offering a way higher CTC/package but limited ladder & growth opportunities.
   It is always recommended to choose an option that gives you the flexibility, and freedom to grow and trust your abilities to reach the highest ranks in terms of the leadership ladder.
4. Ask for the work/ tech stack/ Initial projects
   The kind of projects, tech stack, product & challenges you will work on in the next couple of years will set your journey for the next decade. Chose the opportunity to learn & solve the tough challenges over higher money at this point in time. This is the best example of investing in today to reap the exponential benefits in the future.
5. Make the most of the CEO/CTO/VP round
   Most product companies have the last round as the culture fit round usually taken by the leadership. Consider this as an opportunity to ask questions about the company’s vision, values & current state of business metrics. This data will give a true sense of your future employer’s growth, stability, and culture, thus enabling you to make a sound choice.
6. Ask for medical insurance and other employee perks
   The employee benefits or perks become another important pointer to closely guess the culture and employee value to the organization. There may be some false negatives and false positives for this pointer, but when considered with other data points, it surely adds on to the confidence in the correct direction.

To the surprise of many, I did not cover a very important point which is the compensation portion of the job offer.

Now, first of all, I am very confident that you will not let the CTC factor go away from your decision-making pointers even though you didn’t read that in the above list, and secondly, it doesn’t really matter in the long run as long as you are getting an amount that is worthy of your experience, skills & effort.

I am no saint and value money as much as every other human being still I always recommend keeping the above-mentioned pointers above monetary gains because money will eventually follow, no matter what.

Connect with me at https://topmate.io/sahil_puri for mock interviews, 1–1 mentoring sessions, coding lessons, SDET role career guidance, or a casual chat on testing !

See you next time
Sahil Puri.(Youtube channel , Linkedin)