How to choose between two job offers

Most people compare base salary. Almost nobody compares the whole thing, and the gap between the two comparisons is frequently larger than the gap between the offers.

                                        OFFER A        OFFER B
Base salary (annual)                   ________       ________
Housing allowance                      ________       ________
Transport allowance                    ________       ________
Other fixed allowances                 ________       ________
Bonus — and is it guaranteed?          ________       ________
Joining payment (one-off)              ________       ________
Annual flights                         ________       ________
Schooling support                      ________       ________
Medical cover — who is covered?        ________       ________
Other benefits with a real value       ________       ________
                                       --------       --------
ANNUAL TOTAL, FIRST YEAR               ________       ________
ANNUAL TOTAL, ONGOING (no one-offs)    ________       ________

Then subtract what each one costs you:
Commute (time and money)               ________       ________
Relocation or housing change           ________       ________
Anything you give up by leaving now    ________       ________

Copy the block — nothing to download and no email required.

Two totals, not one. A joining payment makes year one look different from year three, and people accept offers on the year-one number and live in the year-three one.

"Is the bonus guaranteed?" is the question that changes most comparisons. A discretionary bonus is not income until it arrives, and comparing a guaranteed base against a maximum possible bonus is comparing a fact with a hope.

Package is one row of seven. The other six decide more.

1 — The work itself. What you will spend Tuesday doing. Not the job description; the actual hours.

2 — The manager. The single strongest predictor of whether you will be happy and whether you will grow, and the one people assess on twenty minutes of interview politeness.

3 — Scope, and what it makes you next. Does this role widen you or narrow you? What is the obvious next role from each one, and which of those do you want?

4 — The organisation's direction. Growing, stable, contracting, restructuring. A good role in a shrinking function is a worse bet than an average role in a growing one.

5 — Total package. As normalised above.

6 — Risk. Is the role new or established? Is the funding for it real? Who was in it before, and why did they leave? A newly created role with an unclear mandate is a different risk from a replacement hire.

7 — Life. Commute, hours, travel, location, and what each does to the parts of your life that are not work.

Weights first, before you score anything. Assign a weight from 1 to 5 to each dimension, based on what matters to you now — not on what should matter, and not on what mattered five years ago.

Fill the weights before you look at the offers. Weighting after you have scored is how people produce arithmetic that agrees with a decision they had already made.

Now the part that matters, and the part most advice leaves out.

Look at the total. If the matrix says A and something in you says B, the matrix is wrong — not your instinct.

Go back and change the weights until the total says B. Then look at exactly what you changed. That is what you actually value, and it is information you could not have got any other way. A weighted matrix is not a machine for producing answers. It is a device for surfacing weights you could not otherwise see.

If the matrix and your instinct agree, you have your answer and you can stop.

Most people decide on the information they happen to have. You can get more, and asking is normal.

• [ ] Ask to speak to the person who would be your manager again, informally, for twenty minutes
• [ ] Ask to meet one or two people who would be your peers
• [ ] Ask who was in this role before and why the role is open
• [ ] Ask what success at twelve months looks like, specifically
• [ ] Ask how the team's work is expected to change over the next two years
• [ ] Ask for the offer in full, in writing, with every allowance itemised
• [ ] Check what the reporting line actually is, not what the title implies

"Why is the role open?" is the highest-yield question on that list and almost nobody asks it. A replacement, a growth hire, a reorganisation and a person who left in difficult circumstances are four different jobs.

When the totals are close, these three do more than another round of scoring.

Which one would you regret not taking? Regret is a better instrument than anticipation, because it engages a different and more honest part of the judgement.

Which has the better downside? Assume each goes badly. Which bad version is more survivable, and which leaves you more employable?

Which gives you more options in two years? Not which is better now. Careers are built out of what each step makes possible next.

Choosing the title. Titles are not standardised between organisations, and a bigger title in a smaller scope is a worse position in every way that matters later.

Choosing the higher number when it is barely higher after normalisation. Do step 1 before this feels obvious.

Treating your current job as zero. If staying is genuinely an option, it belongs in the matrix as a third column. Most people leave it out and then compare two alternatives to nothing.

Calling avoidance prudence. Choosing the safer offer is a legitimate decision. Choosing it because you are frightened of the other one and then explaining it as prudence is a different thing, and it is worth knowing which you did.

Deciding alone and fast. Two days and one conversation with someone who knows your work is usually enough to change the quality of the decision.

Letting a deadline make the choice. If you need more time, ask for it — see below.

It happens, and it is not a failure.

If both offers score badly against the weights you just wrote down, the finding is that neither role is what you want, and accepting one because it is in front of you is how people end up doing this again in fourteen months.

You can ask for time. "I am weighing two offers seriously and I want to make the right decision — could I come back to you by Tuesday?" is a normal request and is almost always granted. A vague delay is not.

You can say you have another offer, if you have one. Honestly, without figures, and without turning it into an auction. Employers are not surprised that a good candidate has options. What damages you is inventing one.

Either offer may still move. Before you decide, decide whether you want to negotiate: how to negotiate a job offer.

Normalise before you compare. Packages here are componentised, and two offers with the same base can be very different once allowances, medical cover, flights and schooling are counted. Step 1 exists for this.

Check the notice period on both sides. Yours, and what each new employer expects. A start date you cannot meet becomes a problem in week one: what to check in a job offer letter.

Public sector and private sector are not two versions of the same job. Structure, pace, decision rights and security differ, and comparing them on package alone misses most of the decision: government to private sector.

Family logistics are part of the decision, not a footnote. Schooling, spouse employment, distance from family and the cost of a city change are real and belong in the "life" row.

Get both offers in writing before comparing anything. A verbal figure is not an offer.

How long can I take to decide?

Ask for what you need with a specific date. Several days is normal; two weeks usually needs a reason.

Should I tell each employer about the other?

You can, honestly, without figures. Do not manufacture an auction, and never invent an offer.

What if one offer expires before the other arrives?

Ask the first for an extension with a reason, and ask the second whether their timeline can move. One of the two is often flexible, and neither question is unreasonable.

The money is clearly better in one and the work clearly better in the other.

Then the matrix will be close and the stomach test will decide it. Notice which one you keep re-reading — that is data.

Can I accept one and keep interviewing?

You can, and accepting an offer you intend to abandon costs you a relationship in a market where those matter. If you are not ready to commit, ask for time instead.

Both offers are worse than staying.

Then staying is the answer, and it should be a decision rather than a default: should I resign or stay.

Write the seven weights before you look at either offer. Most people find that two of their weights are not what they would have said out loud — and that is the decision, already made, before any scoring begins.

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