Table of contents

Congratulations on your offer(s)! Now let's discuss some final steps you should take.

# Read through the contract

It's an obvious thing to do, but some people don't do it. Read through the contract carefully, as there could be certain interesting points, for example:

• Waiver of contractual obligations in case an employee is absent at work for X days due to personal reasons.
• Penalties for an employee in case they stick their nose where they were not supposed to.

All that must be requested for clarifications. Most likely, you won't be able to do anything about it, as the contract is a typical "take it or leave" thing, but it's still good to be informed.

All in all, you must at least check the most important things to be correctly put:

• the start date,
• the job title,
• the compensation.

# Don't be afraid to negotiate

If there is something in the contract that you don't like, you can always try and negotiate. You can ask for slightly higher compensation, especially when you have more than one offer at your disposal.

Mature people (the ones you want to work with) will respect that, and will respect you for the attempt even more. Immature people will take it personally and start pressing (do you really want to work with such people?).

Don't flinch.

Be bold and clear in your intentions.

# Do extra research

Strictly speaking, this homework should have been done even before commencing to the process with the company, however, in case it wasn't done thorough enough, now it's good time to do it. At this point, you not only can read about the company on Glassdoor, but also find 1-3 actually (or better former) employees on Linkedin and talk to them.

Think about what is better for you, and take into consideration the words of others.

# Current employer makes a counter offer

I am sure you are a valuable employee, so your current employer may try to make a move and offer you certain amends to your current job situation. If a counter offer is good, and some growth opportunities are on the table, then it makes sense to at least consider that.

Ultimately, it's your decision. However, after making some mistakes in the past, I realised the change and new experience usually do better than staying with a little extra on top of the current wadge.

It doesn't make too much sense to stay in one company for more than 3-5 years without clear perspectives for growth. Remember: when staying in one place for too long, you loose money and potential experience. Keep in mind, that an engineer hired two years ago and another one, just like the first one, but hired today will most likely have different wages. They won't even be aware of that, until they disclose it over a couple of beers, and this is where things become interesting.

Bottom line: be bold, and if the decision to leave was made, stay put. Again, don't flinch and don't be like a weather vane, constantly changing directions depending on what people say.

# Recruiters pressing

This is when recruiters start playing devil's advocate. It turns especially harsh when you have more than one offer, and you can't decide which way to go, yet. They call you twice a day, or reach out to you through Linkedin. Their actions are understandable: the offer is given, now it's time to press on the candidate a bit harder and collect the bounty.

You must remember one thing: the recruiters are pretty useless at this time, they've played their part, and now it's mostly between you and your hopefully soon-to-be employer. Think about what is better for you personally, don't flinch.

The only word of wisdom here: don't keep people in the dark. Don't ghost them and don't ignore their calls and messages. They are just people trying to make money for living. For a while you can keep telling them you need more time to make a decision, and they perhaps give you some hints. It's totally okay!

Don't disappear into the blue, be respectful and mature, keep the conversation going.

# Turning other offers down

Sad truth about life: you can't be in multiple places at the same time. Ultimately, you will have to make a life-impacting decision, which means the other opportunities will have to be turned down.

This is always an unpleasant moment, but let me share some advice:

• Write a very personal email to people you had interviews with. Explain your decision, outline things you liked in their company, and mention why you had to decline the offer.
• Be grateful. People have spent their time on you, and their hoped for the best. It's a bummer for them.
• Don't burn bridges. It may happen so that you may hate your new place eventually, and you may still want to have faint chances of making amends.

# Acceptance deadline

Usually an offer has an expiration date. There are multiple reasons for it:

• There are other candidates in the line, waiting (but the company wants you nonetheless).
• The job position is specific, and it must be filled the sooner, the better.
• Since the notice period is up to 3 months (in Germany), the company will have to wait long enough before an employee is able to start.

It's considered polite and appropriate if the offer is accepted within one week.

# Probation is mutual

Always remember, that during the probational period it's not only them looking at you, but also you observing the company. It has happened to me once, that a new place turned out to be not exactly what was promised. After a couple of days after joining I realized a wrong decision was made. I reached out to my manager and asked to terminate the contract. Luckily I had another offer still pending.

Thanks for reading through the whole series of articles about finding a new place. I hope it was useful!

Good luck!