How To Choose Between Multiple Job Offers
General Criteria to Consider 🔗
Compensation package
- Salary
- Stocks / options: yes/no
- Vacations: 20/25/30, paid/unpaid
- Public holidays: paid/unpaid
- Sick leave: 0/5/10 days, paid/unpaid
- Relocation package
- Signing bonus
- Medical insurance: no/cheap/good
- Conferences, Education, Sport compensation: no/yes
Working conditions
- Remote: yes/partly/no
- Schedule: flexible/rigid
- Time tracker (screen recording): yes/no
- Office Location: 30m/1h/1h30m
- Overtimes: no/sometimes/yes, paid/unpaid
- Laptop/tools: no/average/best
Company
- Company Reputation
- Industry / impact of the project
- Career growth: slow/normal/fast
- Team size: small/medium/large
- Bureaucracy: no/bearable/unbearable
- Team spirit, team buildings, corporate parties: never/sometimes/often
- Reviews about company (e.g. on dou, glassdoor)
- Team average age: 10 years younger/your age/10 years older
- Management location: at the same office as you / abroad
- Contract duration: no obligations/1 year/2 years
IT Specific Criteria to Consider 🔗
- Team professionalism: juniors/middles/seniors
- Project: ongoing/new/legacy
- Project type: startup/product/outsource
- Project Complexity: easy/moderate/complex
- Tech Stack: modern, outdated
- Development processes: poor/ok/good
- Test coverage: 0-100%
- Deployment process: manual/automated
- Code reviews: yes/no
- Night shift/duty: yes/no
Chances are that some facts will be hidden from you during the interview process.
Pro tip: get in touch with current or previous employees and ask questions. You are not losing anything if you ask.
Maths. Decision Theory. 🔗
When there are multiple options (offers), and the decision has to be made based on some criteria, the scientific way to solve this problem is to use Decision Theory.
Criteria Assessment 🔗
Obviously, all criteria have different importance (weight). Moreover, the importance may differ for each individual.
So to compare criteria of different importance a simple calculation has to be performed:
criteria grade (CG) = importance * value
The optimal options for importance and value are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
For instance, Career Growth has critical importance (4) for a candidate and company provides excellent growth opportunities (5), then:
criteria grade (CG) = 4 * 5 = 20
Evaluation of 1 offer 🔗
After all criteria grades are being calculated it’s time to evaluate each offer:
offer grade (OG) = SUM(CG) / N
where SUM(CG) is the sum of all criteria grades (CG) and N is the total count of criteria considered.
Comparing Offers 🔗
The last step is just to sort offer grades in descending order and the top offer will be the first on the list.
A simple example table with formulas can be found here.
Conclusion 🔗
I suggest you make a thorough research on the companies that you are considering as the next workplace.
We spend half of our conscious life at work, so it’s better to spend a few extra days analyzing options and making sure it’s the right decision.
The right decision at the right time upon your choice can make your life like flowers; otherwise, it will be as thorns. The first one you will enjoy, and the other one you have to bear. © Ehsan Sehgal