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Hi everyone,

Today we're diving deep on counter offers. We'd love to hear from you! Have you accepted one? What happened? Send me a note.

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~Somer

Counter Offers

The topic of counter offers has been a big conversation on LinkedIn due to the “great resignation”. Thank you to Steve Davis for sharing this post from the WSJ on the topic of what to do when getting another job offer. This article inspired us to dig deeper.

There’s lots of advice and opinions out there from recruiters, and with good reason. In our experience most candidates do get counter offers when they resign, and this isn’t something new. Here at Distinguished Search we recently posted about this. 

From our research, we have found great opinions on both sides of the table:

Pros:
According to HBR, “In a recent national survey conducted about best practices in resignation, nearly 40% of senior executives and HR leaders alike agreed that accepting a counteroffer from a current employer will adversely affect one’s career. Nevertheless, some 78% of senior executives and 80% of HR leaders indicated that it is sometimes acceptable to embrace a counteroffer.” Conclusively from our research, the best practice to handle a counter offer is to not let it come to that. If you see the benefit in staying at your firm, recommendations are to have a “pre-quit discussion” with your boss. An honest conversation about the pros and cons of a possible career move. Your boss should be someone you can trust and be honest with  and one who has your best interest at heart. How that conversations goes should help determine your next steps properly.
 

Cons:
Ask most recruiters and they will give you a laundry list of cons, citing that 80% of employees that accept a counteroffer leave within six months and 90% within a year, though some recruiters have been taking to LinkedIn to debunk these percentages. People have cited that one's loyalty may be put into question which can hinder professional growth, along with having higher expectations from the employer. Higher compensation and staying in a comfortable position may seem attractive at the moment, but it doesn’t solve the other circumstances that may be affecting a person's long term happiness at the firm. 

Our take:

A good executive search professional listens to candidates and understands their goals and concerns. They help candidates get the information they need to make the right decision, and this should be done long before there is an offer in hand. 

A Book in the Making

Two Distinguished Minutes

This week on Two Distinguished Minutes Somer Hackley, CEO of Distinguished Search, is joined by Henrique Francisco, CTO at PineBridge Investments.

Hear Henrique’s “why” and how his curiosity from a young age has led him to finding his passion in technology.

About Henrique Francisco:
Henrique joined PineBridge Investments in 2019 as Chief Technology Officer, based in New York. Prior to that, he was a Senior Vice President and Head of Distribution, Marketing, Transfer Agency and Digital Technology at OppenheimerFunds Inc. Prior to OppenheimerFunds, Henrique was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he worked for 17 years and held multiple positions including Head of Client Technology at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, responsible for its client facing digital channels. Before that, he was Head of Alternative Investments, Managed Futures, Insurance and Annuities Technology during the Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney Wealth Management integration. Henrique was also previously Head of Technology for Morgan Stanley Fund Services and responsible for Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities client facing platform. He holds an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil.