Friday, September 3, 2010

Can You Afford To Say No?

By : Cheryl Palmer

In a rough job market with more than five job seekers for every opening, is there ever a good reason to turn down a job offer? After all, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is now taking job seekers an average of 34.4 weeks to find new employment.

Given these realities, it makes sense to thoughtfully consider a job offer from every angle before making a decision to decline that offer.

Here are some reasons that can be compelling enough to say thanks but no thanks.

The salary is ridiculously low. Even though many job seekers may have to lower their expectations in terms of salary because of the economic downturn and the glut of workers, if the offer is too low, it's not worth taking. Job seekers need to do salary research to find out what the market will bear in this current environment. That way they will know what is reasonable for their fields.

You should not only check sites like salary.com and payscale.com, but you should also find salary surveys conducted by professional associations to ensure that you have current information about what the going rate is for your field.

The job is a set up for failure. If you are able to determine that the position will not receive the proper support from management (financial or otherwise), that may be a reason to turn the job down. If management does not support the goals of the position that you are being offered, it may not be long before you are searching for another position.

Try to find out as much as you can about the position before you get to the job offer stage so that you will know what kind of situation you are about to get into. If at all possible, actively network to get insider information about the position and what it actually entails.

The company is not financially stable. You should definitely research a company's financial health before accepting an offer. If the company is in trouble financially, it's probably best to decline the offer.

Take advantage of resources like Yahoo Finance and Google Finance to find current information about a company's financial situation.

The pay is 100% commission based. If you are a natural salesperson and you know you can overachieve your sales goals even in a tough economy, you may be able to take a job with 100% commission. However, if you need the financial stability of at least a base salary along with commissions, then an offer for a commission only job may not be worth accepting.

You already have a job, and the job offer would not be an improvement over your current situation. Those who are already employed can afford to be choosy about which jobs they take since they are not desperate. They are in a better position to decide which jobs meet their criteria and which ones do not and then make the appropriate choice.

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