Ngpf question of the day

COMPARE: Choosing Between Job Offers
To find a job, you’ll probably need to apply to many different companies all at once. Sometimes, you’ll receive multiple offers in a short period of time and you’ll have to make a decision.

Every opportunity is different. Some companies may offer a lot of money, but be no fun to work at. Others might have an excellent culture, but the work isn’t truly what you want to do. When making this decision, it’s important to consider a wide range of factors that will impact whether a job is right for you.

Part I: Review your job offers

You are a recent college graduate who is looking for work. Below are the descriptions of three different jobs that you have been offered. Read each job description fully and keep in mind which factors appeal the most to you and which appeal the least to you.

Factor

Job A

Job B

Job C

Compensation

Salary

$80,000/year

· $40,000/year

· $60,000/year salary

Compensation

Bonus

Up to $20,000 bonus at the end of the year based on your performance

· Profit sharing -- employees split 2% of any profit the company makes

· If company makes $1M in profit, you get an additional $20,000

Up to $5,000 bonus at the end of the year based on your performance

Compensation

Health

insurance

Included

Included

Included

Compensation

401(k)

50% match up to 5% of salary

None

100% match up to 5% of salary

Compensation

Vacation

· 10 paid days/year

· Earn 1 extra day each year of employment

· Max days 20

· Unlimited vacation as long as you’re performing well

· 10 paid days/year

· Earn 2 extra days each year of employment

· Max days 20

Compensation

Other

· Discounted employee cafeteria

· Onsite daycare

· Work from home up to 3 days/week

· Free lunch daily

· Commuter pass for public transit

Responsibilities

· You will learn a few new skills, but for the most part your work will be concentrated on performing those few specific skills repeatedly each day

· Many describe your work as generally “boring”

· This company is small, so you will be getting the chance to lead efforts in a few areas

· You must learn and adapt quickly

· You will be taking on many new responsibilities and setting a vision for the company

· You’ll be placed on a small, established team

· Generally, you’ll be performing similar skills to what you practiced in college but you’ve been told you’ll have the opportunity to try new skills after a few months

Opportunity for Career Advancement

· Fortune 500 company with established veteran management

· Will take at least 10 years to reach management level

· Many people leave after a 2-3 years to pursue opportunities elsewhere

· It is a tiny start-up company, so career advancement possibilities are high… if the company stays in business

· If the company grows, you will move up quickly

· The company prefers to promote from within, but because of it’s small size, that can take time.

· Most people at the company have been there at least 5 years

· Has a strong reputation for promoting the most talented employees, not the ones who have been there longest

Location

· Downtown.

· 15 minutes via bus/train

· 30 minutes driving (heavy traffic)

· Parking included

· Slightly outside downtown

· 30 minutes driving

· 40 minutes via bus/train (must switch once)

· Parking NOT included

· Across town

· 45 minutes driving

· 50 minutes bus/train (must switch once)

· Parking included

Workplace Culture

· Company is well-known for being incredibly successful, but also very demanding of it’s employees

· Average workday is 8 hrs/day in-office and 1-2 hrs at home

· Some weekend work

· Employees must drop everything to complete a task if management asks

· Company prioritizes employee happiness

· Most people work 10+ hrs/day, in-office but often with breaks for games of pool or foosball

· Company organizes bi-weekly social events

· Employees are treated with respect, but people generally keep work separate from their personal lives

· Older management and younger employees tend to socialize separately

· Average workday is 8 hrs/day with few night or weekend expectations

1. Upon initial review, which job appeals to you most? Why?

2. What, if anything, worries you about that specific job offer that otherwise appeals most?

Part II: Analyze the jobs

Let’s compare the offers in a more quantitative fashion. Follow the directions below to determine how important each factor is and how well each job ranks in that factor for you. Based on that, you can “score” each job and identify which one is the best fit for you. You’ll be recording each of your weights and codes in the 3 tables below.

A. Weigh each factor on a scale of 1 to 5 based on how important it is to you, personally, and give it a weight number in the weight column.

a. 5 means the factor is very important to you

b. 4 means the factor is above average importance to you

c. 3 means the factor is of average importance to you

d. 2 means the factor is of below average in importance to you

e. 1 means the factor is of little importance to you

B. Now, review each job offer carefully and use a code to show whether each job is positive (+), neutral (0), or negative (-) with regard to each factor. Base your judgments on the information you have obtained from your research.

a. + I feel excellent about what this company is offering; it makes me want to work there

b. 0 I feel neutral about what this company is offering; it doesn’t affect whether I’d work there

c. -- I feel unhappy about what this company is offering; it makes me less likely to work there

C. Multiply the weight by the code (W x C), and enter the product as the Score. For example: (4 x +) = 4, (3 x 0) = 0 and (2 x -) = -2.

D. Add the Scores to find the TOTAL for that job offer.

E. Copy the TOTAL for each job into the Final Score table to quantitatively compare each job offer.

Job A

Factor

Weight

Code

Score

Compensation

Job Responsibilities

Opportunity for Career Advancement

Location

Culture

TOTAL

Job B

Factor

Weight

Code

Score

Compensation

Job Responsibilities

Opportunity for Career Advancement

Location

Culture

TOTAL

Job C

Factor

Weight

Code

Score

Compensation

Job Responsibilities

Opportunity for Career Advancement

Location

Culture

TOTAL

Final Score

Job A

Job B

Job C

3. Now that you’ve turned each job offer into a “score,” does your “winning job offer” match the job that appealed to you most in question 1? Explain why you think it does/does not match.

4. What other information, not currently provided, would you want to know about each job offer before making a final decision?

5. Compare results on which job you’d ultimately choose with others in your class. Do they match? Why or why not?

www.ngpf.org Last updated: 7/6/18