An old coworker-turned-good-friend was recently looking for a job. She’d been at her job for a few years, but it had turned very toxic. To the point she would feel despair every morning before going in. None of her coworkers were happy either, it was that type of environment. She applied to hundreds of places for about 6 months. She applied to different industries too, some places she had direct experience, other places she would be doing completely different things. She got two offers, one in her industry and the other one at a place she didn’t have much experience in but was very interested in. There was a $10K difference between offers, amongst other things:

• Offer 1: 5K more than she earned
• Offer 2: 5K less than she earned
• Offer 1: current industry, lots of experience.
• Offer 2: new industry, build her way up.
• Offer 1: wearing many hats, really stressful
• Offer 2: clarified focus and direction
• Offer 1: current employee told her it was a toxic environment
• Offer 2: She liked everyone she met through her interviews

Want to guess which offer she took? Offer 2 was the winner.

This got me thinking about what people really care about when comparing jobs, pay rates and benefits. My friend clearly sees a healthy work environment as a top priority in her case, which is why she was happy with offer 2.

What would you do in this case? #paycut #earnings #joboffer #advice #jobsearch #whatwouldyoudo