Choosing between job offers is a conflicting experience. On the one hand, a great feeling as your skills and experiences are so desired that there is competition for you. On the other hand, it has its stresses. What if you make the wrong decision? There are a number of tools on this site aimed at helping you find the role for you. However, sometimes it helps to approach career decisions in a cold and calculated way. Take the emotion out of it. Treat the decision of choosing between job offers as if it was a cold product purchase. Career Number aims to do this in a very simple and top-line way.

How to Use Choosing Between Job Offers: A Logical Approach

Before you begin, we have created a download template for this. You can access this below by completing the short form. As well as enabling you to download the accompanying form, this will also register you with us for future articles and tips.

Simply list the offers in the left column. We have provided an example of four just roles to show how this works. However, you will typically have 2 or 3 in this column. Please also note that we have included a ‘stay in your current role’ as a comparison. This will provide you with a benchmark to assess the other roles against when choosing between job offers. Now rate each role, given your current knowledge, out of 10.  Then total each row to give an index score and divide by 3 for an average index score. The example below is taken from a Management Information Analyst looking for a different career.

For clearer results, try to score towards the extremes of the scale. Score as follows:

10 =      full knowledge & experience, competence and absolute desire.

5   =      some knowledge and experience (though may have been in different roles/settings), some skill and competence (again, may have come from other settings), and some desire though limited.

0   =      No knowledge/experience, no skill or competence in this area, and practically no desire for the role.

 

Potential Jobs	Knowledge & Experience	Competence	Desire	Sub-totals	Index Average
Project Manager	8	6	7	21	7
Support Team Leader	10	3	4	17	5.66
Risk Analyst	6	10	9	25	8.33
HR Advisor	9	4	2	15	5
Stay in present role	6	7	1	14	4.66

From the Career Numbers analysis above, it seems clear that our Management Information Analyst should find out a little more about the Risk Analyst and Project Manager roles. The other roles listed seem to have far less utility for this person.

This is the simplest tool for choosing between job offers. However, you will find a more complex tool which is based on your likely happiness and satisfaction in the role by using your subconscious here.