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Evaluating your offer

Ann Hackett -- You can get caught up in the excitement. Take the time to evaluate your job offer to truly make the right decision.

After months of searching for a new job, you finally have a job offer! Your work is done, right? Not quite. How many Fs do you see in the paragraph below?

Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of many years.

Three? Try again. Take your time to review the paragraph more closely to see what you missed. Do you now see all six Fs? Things aren't always what they appear to be initially. This holds true for job offers. All too often, you can get caught up in the excitement of. This is especially true if you have been looking for a new job for a long time. Take the time to evaluate your offer to truly make the right decision for you.

First, determine your reason for wanting to find a new job.

1. Lack of Money. The easiest of the five. Plain and simple, the desire to make more money.
2. No Job Satisfaction or Potential for Advancement. This includes lack of recognition, dead end jobs, and boring jobs.
3. Too much Stress. This includes hours worked, amount of travel required, bad bosses, and work schedules that conflict with family needs.
4. Not Fitting in with the Company's Culture. This includes factors like whether the company is family-friendly and whether the company's values match your own.
5. The Company Itself is Lacking. This includes factors like working for an under-performing or failing company and your interest in the company's industry.

Which of these areas fit your situation? Or do you fall into more than one category?

Ann Hackett is the president of Quest, an online career transition assistance company.

(c) 2002 CareerBuilder.com

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