5 aspects to consider when you have multiple offers

When a bride picks out her wedding dress, she stops shopping, and so should you once you find the ideal practice opportunity!

Here are five factors to help you identify the right choice when considering multiple offers:

1. Did you make a verbal or written commitment?

Once you have made a final decision on a job opportunity, stop answering calls from recruiters and stop going on job board websites. Do not tempt yourself. This will only make you doubt your decision, which was a great decision at one point, and it will possibly put you in a place where you will burn a bridge that can last a lifetime. Changing your mind at this point rarely works out.

Having more than one job offer is excellent and terrible at the same time. First, you do not want to lose out on one job while considering another. Maybe there are great things about each opportunity, but not one of them has everything you want in that dream job. Is your concern that one or the other has uncertainty about the bonus structure, call coverage, working with advanced practice providers or vacation time?

2. Develop a decision chart.

Weigh your pros and cons. This is one of those obvious things to do, but go a little bit further and place importance on what matters most to you. Make a scale of the importance of salary vs. vacation time, and then place a number on what each position has to offer based on that scale. Here is where you can determine what is most important to you and which job offers you the best opportunity.

3. Consider with care.

It is OK to tell the place you are considering that you have more than one job offer. It is OK to ask for more time to decide, but do not wait too long. You don’t want to risk an organization deciding to hire another candidate. Try not to make the mistake of thinking they will not. What someone says in the interview while you are in front of them in that emotional moment is different from what happens a few days after the interview. Besides, the person who promised you could wait may not have the authority to make that kind of decision.

Learn more about asking for more time in the PracticeLink Magazine article “3 common job-search questions from physicians.”

4. Negotiate your offer, but only once.

You can negotiate the offer given to you, but only do it once, and only when you are ready to sign on the dotted line after negotiations are over. Don’t negotiate your offer, agree on the new offer and then say you need a few days to think about it. This is frowned upon in the industry and is generally in poor taste. However, if you overlook something and it was an honest error, you can use your best judgment. For example: saying, “Thank you for making those changes. I appreciate it; I would ask you one more question that I did not see the first time.” That is different from saying, “Thank you for increasing my salary by $10,000. Do you think we could add $5,000 more?” It may seem ridiculous to read this, but it happens all the time.

5. Picture yourself at the job.

Take a trip in your mind and consider what it would be like there. Would you like it? Can you see yourself in the community hanging out with your spouse and family? What about the people you met? What is the doctors’ lounge or the cafeteria like? What is the entire company culture like?

These steps will help you when you have multiple job opportunities to consider, and remember: Your happiness and your family’s happiness are what’s most important. Remember always to love what you do.