Today we live in an era when not only the marketplace is a competitive arena but the jobs market as well is a highly competitive battlefield. While there could be many who would have successfully faced the challenge of finding a suitable job and succeeded in finding one of their choice, there would still be many more out there in search of a job and finding it very difficult to get one. 

You could possibly be one of those who could have experienced the diverse shades of stresses and pulls when battling the challenge of finding one. But when finally a job offer comes your way, it could be a mighty relief, more so if you have been out of job for long.

So the battle has been won and has been successful. For that, Congratulations! It could be time for you to celebrate and cut a cake or something like that.

Hold on, the battle isn’t exactly over by any means, for now comes another challenge; the challenge of deciding whether the said job that has been offered to you fits your profile and whether it offers the kind of ingredients that you look for in a job. You need to weigh in all the options and not let your judgment be clouded by short-term gains but instead be influenced by long-term gains. 

There could be some factors that could easily sway your mind like for instance the money that will come with the job could be good enough to pay your grocery and utilities bills and others like entertainment bills, etc. But in the long run, you need to weigh in factors like whether such a job would provide you total personal satisfaction or enable you to learn new skills and provide you with new opportunities or make you feel like a valued contributor to the company’s growth. 
  
So, give it a careful consideration before deciding to ink the job-contract. To find out whether such a job-offer is a good fit for your career, personally and professionally, you need to seek answers to some tough questions. Know that if you blindly sign on the dotted line just because you are desperate or something like that, you could end up finding out later that the job is a misfit for your career and not the right place for you. In the end, you could push yourself into a corner.

Questions You Need to Ask Yourself

Here are some factors that you need to take into account and make out whether they are positive and beneficial for your professional growth as well as personal growth. If not, it’s better to start job-hunting all over again and get a new job.

• Does The Job Offer Sound Career Development Opportunities: A job should be interesting with challenges and opportunities for that way one gets to not only acquire new skills but also build up a strong inner-spirit and a sense of positive optimism. Take a look at the varied responsibilities, challenges and opportunities that the job-offer provides for. Does the job allow you to learn new skills? Will it offer you the chance to attend workshops and conferences? Overall, the job offered to you should be exciting enough to get you going and help elevate your career profile.
• Does The Job Provide For Any Benefits That Cannot Be Had Elsewhere:  After a look at what kind of work opportunities and challenges the job provides for, look at the job remuneration, that is, salary, perks, package options, retirement benefits, and any other kind of benefits like say, insurance, bonus program, employee reward program, etc, that would appeal to you and consolidates your financial chest.
• Will The Job Further Your Career Growth Or Help You Achieve A Goal: Find out whether the job helps further your career goals, enriches your experience and above all, provides the right path to shape your future career growth. Make sure that it serves as a stepping stone for your career growth rather than as a stumbling block.
• Does The Job Entail On You To Sacrifice Any Of Your Goals: Find out whether the job requires you to actually give up one or more of your goals in order to accept it. The best workout in this situation would be to find out where exactly your goals overlap or falls short of the job. By sacrifices, it is meant shifting to a new place or working more hours than what you would prefer. Whatever it is, know that as long as such a job helps your career move forward on the right path and furthers your career profile, then such a job is worth it to be accepted.
• Does The Job Offer Flexi-Timings Or Work-From-Home Option: Today we live in an age where heavy traffic and long travelling-distance have become the norm.  Just find out whether the job provides for work timings of your convenience. If that is provided for, then it’s great for it will make things easy for you while allowing you to contribute more and in better ways to the company’s growth and fortunes. In case it offers the option of working from home, then it’s still better, for you could work more comfortably and fresher from home and also save up precious money which would otherwise be spent on conveyance and such likes.  
• To Whom Would You Report To: Some companies have managers or superiors who could be devious and scheming to break your work happiness and harm your career-growth. That is why it’s also important to know as who would be your superior in the company to whom you would report to and whether you see yourself getting along well with him/her or not. Make sure to check your superior’s track record and personality and also the team structure just in case. A relaxed workplace and working culture is important to help you settle down, do your work, learn new things and above all, make new friends and feel at home.
• Is The Job-Offer Given In Writing: It’s important that the job-offer is made in writing for mere verbal agreement can be misleading or much less binding when the time comes to make the next move. So before you accept the job-offer, make sure that the offer is made in writing with your job designation, work-nature, details of your salary and benefits, and other factors like future increments. Review them carefully before signing the dotted line.

How to Confirm Final Acceptance of the Job-Offer?

Once you get the job-offer in writing, then the next thing is to seek answers to the following questions:

• By what date should the acceptance of the job-offer be communicated? Make sure that at-least a couple of days are offered to allow you to weigh in the answers to your questions and whether they are to your expectations and satisfaction. This way, you can also signal your intentions that you may want to discuss the offer again and tweak it further to make it more acceptable and beneficial in your favour.
• Once you have analyzed the questions and answers, call the person who extended the offer and speak what you have to say or seek an appointment to meet in person again. Whether over phone or in person, ask your questions – the work nature of the job or work benefits or salary package re-framework or working time or whatever you have in mind relevant to the job-offer. Always keep in mind to never communicate your reply in e mail or through another person for they come off as more demanding and would put off the employer OR HR In-Charge.
• By what date should you report your work to the company? Many employers often ask you to join immediately ASAP. But resist the same for it’s always better to give two weeks’ notice to your current employer, clear your pending works and dues from your existing company before taking a week’s leave in between so as to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the rigors of the job and then report for work.

What You Need to do for Your Job-Hunt?

• Reframe your CV as per prevalent market trends, make it more interesting, appealing and diverse touching upon relevant areas that counts for a lot and which will project your capabilities and expertise to your prospective employers.
• Update your CV in all the social networking sites. Before that, make sure that the whole of the CV is in order and filled with all of the relevant good points.
• Engage yourself in volunteering for companies that matter to your career growth. This way you will get good exposure to not only learn new things but also showcase your capabilities. This in turn will help you get noted by recruitment companies and also independent recruiters.
• Work as an internee for a good company even if they don’t pay you anything. This will provide you valuable work experience and expand your knowledge bank. In case you succeed in completing your internship successfully, then you could stand a greater chance of getting hired in the same company.
• Build a good network of contacts, with people who matter and who count a lot. Show your talent to such people and impress them enough to be recommended to their own contacts.

Conclusion:
Remember the golden words – don’t leave the existing job unless and until any new job-offer that comes to you meets all of your expectations and is worthy enough to help your career progress further. 

Note: If the market environment is in recession or in a recession in the making, you’re well-advised to stick to the existing job. Look around you, there could be scores struggling to get a job or even where the jobs are there the company’s position may not be good. So hang on to your existing job, unless and until you get a job-offer from a company that is stable and doing well and provides for all of the expectations that you look for.