Getting an offer is good news. But the headline salary is not enough to tell whether the job is really worth it. Before you answer, take the time to weigh the offer as a whole.
Separate what is contractual from what is promised. A base salary written into the contract and a bonus « usually paid at year end » are not the same thing.
Ask what the fixed part is, month by month, and what depends on results, on the company's performance, or on a decision someone still has to make.
A package presented as a yearly total can hide a large variable share. Ask for the split, a serious employer gives it without hesitating.
Everything that matters to you should end up in writing. What stays verbal disappears when the person who said it leaves.
Health cover, meal and travel allowances, a company phone or car: these are worth real money and are rarely counted.
Paid leave beyond the legal minimum, flexible hours and remote days have a value too, one you only measure once you have lost them.
Training, certification and a genuine budget for it are worth more, over three years, than a few percent on the monthly figure.
Add it all up before comparing two offers. The one that pays less can easily be the one that leaves you more.
A commute of an hour each way is ten hours a week, unpaid, and taken from your life rather than your salary.
Count the travel, the meals out, the childcare that changes, the move you might have to make.
A higher salary that comes with a longer commute and more expenses can leave you with less at the end of the month, and with less time.
Ask what the first six months look like, and what success would mean at the end of them. An employer who cannot answer has not thought the role through.
Find out why the position is open: growth, a departure, a reorganisation. Each answer tells you something different about what awaits you.
Ask how many people have held the role in the past three years. A revolving door is visible from that single question.
A job description that stays general often means the role is not settled, and that it will be shaped around you, not always in your favour.
« We'll see later », « it depends », « that's flexible »: note each one and come back to it before signing.
An employer who avoids a precise question during hiring, when they are trying to convince you, will not answer it better once you have started.
Vagueness is not always bad faith. But it is always something to clarify while you still have the choice.
You will spend more time with this person than with anyone else at work. Their way of working matters more than the company's reputation.
Ask to meet them if you have not. A refusal is an answer in itself.
Ask how they run the team: how decisions are made, how mistakes are handled, how often you would talk.
Listen to how they speak about the person who held the role before you.
Ask what they expect from you in the first weeks. A precise answer is a good sign.
If you can, speak to someone who already works in the team. A serious employer arranges it.
A good job with the wrong manager wears out faster than a dull job with a good one.
It is normal to ask for a few days. An employer who refuses any delay is telling you something about how they work.
Use that time to reread the offer coldly, away from the relief of having received it.
Talk it over with someone who knows you and has nothing to gain from your answer.
Pressure to sign immediately is, in itself, a warning sign.
Reread everything that was promised and check that it is in the offer. Ask for what is missing to be added.
Make sure you understand the trial period, the notice you would owe, and what happens if the job turns out to be different from what was described.
Then decide, knowing that saying no to an offer that does not suit you costs far less than leaving after four months, for you and for the employer alike.
