Job Offers

Getting a job offer is exciting. But saying yes too fast can cost you more than you think. I’ve seen professionals accept higher salaries only to find themselves in roles that drain them, stall their growth, or leave them burned out within months. Before you say yes, ask these five questions: 1. What will my day-to-day actually look like? A fancy title means nothing if you’re stuck doing work that doesn’t light you up or develop you. 2. What does success look like in this role and how will it be measured? If the answer is vague, inconsistent, or unclear, you’re setting yourself up for frustration and surprise performance reviews. 3. Who will I be reporting to and what’s their leadership style? You’re not just accepting a job. You’re accepting a manager. Ask about expectations, feedback, and how they handle conflict. 4. Is there room to grow or is this a ceiling disguised as a promotion? Upward movement, stretch opportunities, cross-functional exposure—clarify what’s possible beyond the first year. 5. Do the company’s values align with mine in practice, not just on paper? Look at how they treat people, not what they put on their careers page. Ask about turnover, work-life balance, and internal mobility. The offer isn’t just about the salary. It’s about the full experience. Because if the role burns you out, undermines your value, or limits your growth that paycheck won’t feel as good three months in. Slow down. Ask better questions. Make sure the offer works for you, not just your resume.

I once left consulting for a role with more money. Bigger paycheck. Better title. More prestige. Or so I thought. Once I started, I massively regretted it: →Employee turnover was high. →The role wasn’t what was promised. →The senior leadership were sub-standard. And worst of all. I saw even less of my kids than before. Money matters. But so does everything else. Before you jump at a job offer, here’s how to avoid making the same mistake: 1️⃣ Get clear on your non-negotiables ↳What truly matters? Balance, growth, culture? ↳Weigh every opportunity against them. 2️⃣ Investigate the culture of the company ↳Talk to current and former employees. ↳Ask the hard questions about leadership, vision, and values. 3️⃣ Assess the future potential of the role ↳Does the role align with your long-term goals? ↳Is there a runway for your growth? 4️⃣ Consider the life Impact ↳Will you have time for family, health etc.? ↳Will the stress spill over into your personal life? 5️⃣ Trust your gut (but verify) ↳If something feels off, don’t ignore it. ↳Does the opportunity excite you or just feel “safe”? A great salary should support your life not consume it. Before your next move: ✔ Know yourself. ✔ Do your due diligence. Ask yourself and others the hard questions. Do you think money makes us blind-sighted? ----- ♻️ Repost to help your network with their career approach. ➕ Need help thinking through your next move? Send me a message with the word "CAREER" or book a career consultation. 

How do companies end up with a 7 month, 10-step interview process?! It happens more easily than you might think! 1. Hiring teams are risk averse. The costs of a bad hire can delay a project for months while you have to exit them and start a whole new process, can lead to the loss of high performers who don't want to work with a difficult manager, etc. Hiring poorly can also lead a manager to lose their job if the team doesn't perform. This means that hiring teams may feel like they need more and more information to make a decision leading to extended processes leading to more interviews. And they want input from lots of people to help them feel more confident in the decision. And it can lead them to look for perfection and reject people along the way who could be great. 2. Hiring teams don't always know exactly what they want when they first open a role. This is especially true for more niche roles. They likely know the profile for a customer support or sales rep or recruiter role, and they know the process that helps them make good hires. But for your own digital advertising manager or director of finance, that you're hiring for the first time in a few years (or ever!)? The early interviews are often a benchmarking process: what skills are on the market? What are people in this kind of role doing at companies like ours? What profiles did our job posting attract? When a job is a backfill, an executive or leader may also be getting more exposure to the ins and outs of a role and team while covering the vacancy. This might lead them to realize something different is needed, or an internal candidate is actually ready to step up, or the role isn't scoped properly. And even as interviews progress, they may realize they aren't hearing enough about XYZ and decide to toss in another stage, or adapt the profile yet again. 3. Hiring Managers can be misaligned with job market trends and skills. We often forget that most people aren't hanging out on LinkedIn all day, and when they do, it's mostly to connect with colleagues and peers. Most aren't experts on the job market, they have no idea what conversations are happening around jobseekers, or if their asks are realistic. They may not realize that people are pushing back on lengthy projects and processes. They may not realize that cover letters have been getting a lot of backlash and simply request one because that's how hiring has always been done. **** So what can we recruiters do to help evolve these things? 1. It's our job to know the market and share insights around profiles, levels, talent availability, etc. 2. We can advise on ways to trim down a process and ensure there are rubrics that can help hiring teams feel more confident in their decisions. 3. We can be transparent with candidates around what to expect, when things may be ambiguous, why processes are changing - and filter that feedback back up to hiring teams. I've seen candidate feedback change processes many times!

Pauline, how to see and compare the whole salary package that’s offered by a potential employer? 🧐 After I posted about average increments in salary negotiations, someone on my LinkedIn asked me about this. So today, let’s go a bit technical ya? Usually, I use an excel spreadsheet to list everything down for my candidates. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟏: 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞 In the spreadsheet, I usually create a column for the current package and another for the new offer. You can start by listing the basic salary as this is the core part of any package. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟐: 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Remember, basic salary is not everything. Add any other fixed allowance like transport, handphone, meal, or any other fixed allowances for both the current salary and new offer. These can make a different in the total pacakge. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟑: 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐏𝐅 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐫 Take note of guaranteed bonus (13-month salary / contractual bonus) and the EPF contributions from the employer. Some employer contribute more than the standard rate, which is important to consider as it’s part of your guaranteed income. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟒: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 After listing all the components, total them up to get the Guaranteed Income for both the current package and the new offer. This will give you a clear idea of what you’re guaranteed to receive. You can also calculate the percentage of increment here. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟓: 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Performance bonus is important too. Some companies’ average performance bonuses pay out is 3-4 months, some 2-3 months, and others average 1 month. So, you may want to take this into consideration. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟔: 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 Remember to include additional benefits such as annual leave, insurance, outpatient benefits, etc. These non-monetary benefits are important to understand the full value of the offer This is the formula for Percentrage of Increment:
 [(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 (𝑅𝑀) - 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑘𝑔𝑒 (𝑅𝑀)) / 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑎𝑔𝑒 (𝑅𝑀)] 𝑥 100% You’ll see the differences between the current and new packages clearly displayed in the final column, and this will help you make an informed decision based on the Total Gross Annual Income and other benefits offered. It may look a bit leceh to put it all down, but trust me, once you see the numbers, it’ll be easier to decide if the offer is really worth it. Happy analyzing! Remember, the numbers speak, and they can make all the difference in your next career move! 🤗 🌟 Pauline Cheang from Carli Resources #salarynegotiation #careertips #joboffer #careeradvice #negotiationtips

Negotiated the salary, the role looks good on paper, the team seems sharp, and still, something doesn’t sit right. 🤔 You feel “I just don’t know if this is the right place for me.” And when you think about it more, it’s clear that what you’re struggling with isn’t the role or the pay. It’s the culture. But here’s the tricky part: we ask “How’s the culture at this company?” as if it’s universal. It’s not. Culture is personal. → What one person finds inspiring, another might find suffocating. → What looks like “ownership” to someone might feel like a lack of support to someone else. → What feels like “fast-paced” for one person might be chaotic for another. So when you ask someone, “How’s the culture?” the answer you get is about them, not you. That’s why the better question is: Do the values and ways of working here match how I want to work and live? And to find that out, you need to ask deeper, more personal questions when you’re evaluating an offer: → Can I be myself here without pretending or performing every day? → How do people handle stress or failure? Do they talk about it? → What kind of people get rewarded here, and for what kind of behaviour? → What kind of conversations happen in meetings? Is it safe to disagree? These aren’t things you’ll find in a Glassdoor review or a recruiter’s pitch. 😶 →You find it by asking current employees how they feel on a rough day at work. →You find it by paying attention to what’s not being said in interviews. →You find it by checking in with how you feel after each conversation. It’s not always a clean, logical process; sometimes it’s just a quiet “this doesn’t feel right.” And that’s valid. That’s enough. 💯 If you’re in that stage right now, wondering whether to say yes, don’t just look at the offer letter. → Look at how it makes you feel. → Look at what your day-to-day might feel like six months in. And trust that it’s okay to walk away from a good-on-paper offer if it doesn’t feel like home. Because culture isn’t a line in the JD. It’s what shows up when things go wrong. And you deserve to be in a place where, even on your worst days, you feel safe. It’s okay to take your time. You don’t need to justify that feeling to anyone. ✨

How to tell if a job offer is actually a good one (Beyond just salary) So, you have an offer on the table. The recruiter is throwing around big numbers, and you’re this close to saying yes. But before you pop the champagne, let’s take a moment to check if this offer is actually as good as it sounds, or if it’s just a shiny trap with a paycheck. Here’s what you really need to consider before signing on the dotted line: 💼 Flexibility vs. handcuffs: Does the role offer genuine work-life balance, or will they be tracking your Slack status like a hawk? If “hybrid” means two days at home but 10-hour days at the office, run. 📈 Growth opportunities (aka, will you be stuck in the same role forever?): If the company hasn’t promoted anyone in the last five years, you might as well bring your own cobweb duster. 🙅♀️ Culture: toxic or terrific? Check Glassdoor, stalk LinkedIn employees, and for the love of job satisfaction, trust your gut in interviews. If the hiring manager throws in a “we’re like a family” line, probe deeper a little, families can be dysfunctional. 🎯 Aligned values or just a salary? If you care about purpose, but the company’s biggest value is “hustle hard,” you might not be a match made in career heaven. 💰 Salary vs. total package: That number might look amazing, but how does it compare when you factor in benefits, bonuses, and… oh yeah, annual leave? Because unlimited leave policies often mean “take less leave or feel guilty forever.” A job is more than just a salary, it’s where you spend most of your waking hours. Make sure it’s actually a good one before you jump in. So, how do you navigate this like a pro? ✔ Ask the right questions in the interview – “Can you tell me about the team’s work-life balance?” and “What does success in this role look like in 6-12 months?” will reveal a LOT. ✔ Negotiate like you mean it – Salary, benefits, flexibility, da verything’s up for discussion. ✔ Talk to current (or former) employees – A quick LinkedIn message can give you real insights. ✔ Trust your gut – If something feels off, it probably is. Ever taken a job that looked great on paper but turned out to be a disaster? Share your lessons below 👇🏼 #CareerMove #JobOffers #KnowYourWorth #DoYourResearch #CareerCoaching

You’ve been in conversations for a Chief Operating Officer role for months. Endless rounds of discussions, presentations to the board, and silence in between. You start wondering — Have they moved on? Did I miss something? Then, out of nowhere, the phone rings: “We’d like to move forward with you. Can you join in six weeks?” What changed? Nothing — and everything. At the executive level, hiring works in rhythms that are invisible to the candidate. Delays happen because decisions pass through multiple hands: the board, investors, the CEO, sometimes even global HQ. But when alignment finally clicks — or a market urgency appears — decisions move at lightning speed. This newsletter unpacks why executive hiring feels like a marathon until it suddenly becomes a sprint. More importantly, it will show you how to stay prepared, both emotionally and strategically, so that when the offer lands, you’re not just waiting — you’re ready.

You can't negotiate what you don't understand. Whether you're hiring or getting hired, these 12 compensation terms matter: 1. Total Compensation Everything an employee receives...salary, bonuses, equity, benefits, perks. This is what actually matters when comparing offers, not just the base number. 2. Base Salary Fixed pay for regular work hours. Excludes overtime, bonuses, and variable pay. The foundation everything else builds on. 3. Variable Pay Compensation that changes based on performance, sales targets, or company results. Commissions, bonuses, profit-sharing all fall here. 4. Benefits Package Non-wage compensation...health insurance, retirement plans, PTO. Often worth 20-30% of base salary but rarely calculated properly. 5. Salary Range The minimum and maximum pay for a specific role. Essential for internal equity and external competitiveness. 6. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Wage increases to offset inflation and maintain purchasing power. Different from merit-based raises. 7. Deferred Compensation Pay earned now but received later. Retirement contributions, stock vesting schedules, sabbatical programs. 8. Equity Compensation Ownership stake through stock or stock options. Can be worth nothing or everything depending on company performance. 9. Performance-Based Pay Direct tie between individual or company results and compensation. Bonuses, profit-sharing, commission structures. 10. Paid Time Off (PTO) Bank of hours for vacation, personal days, sick leave. Can be accrued, front-loaded, or unlimited. 11. Fringe Benefits Perks beyond standard benefits...company cars, gym memberships, childcare assistance. Nice-to-haves that can influence decisions. 12. Compensation Benchmarking Comparing your pay rates to market standards. Critical for staying competitive and maintaining internal fairness. TAKEAWAY: Compensation is more complex than most people realize. Understanding these terms helps you design better packages, negotiate more effectively, and avoid costly mistakes. Whether you're hiring, being hired, or managing a team...this vocabulary matters.

Don’t accept an offer letter simply because you’re relieved one finally came through. An offer should move your life forward — not introduce new problems. Before you sign, pause and look beyond the salary figure. Consider the full package, the expectations tied to the role, the culture you’re stepping into, and whether there’s real room to grow. Think about the hours, the balance you’ll have, and the cost — in time and energy — of the commute and location. It also matters who you’re joining. Stability, leadership, and how former employees speak about their experience often tell you more than any job description ever will. A job offer is a commitment. Ask questions. Seek clarity. Take your time. It’s better to delay than to start a role you’ll regret weeks later. — William Mutavi Recruitment Partner | HR & Talent Support

I recently rejected a job offer worth 20k per month. Indeed, the offer came with an official car, fuel, and full insurance for myself and my immediate family. On paper, it looked good but I turned it down anyway. Why? The role would have taken most of my time leaving little to no room for me to pursue my passion of coaching and mentoring young professionals. It also meant I would have to pause my work supporting SMEs with tax and accounting, something I am intentionally building as part of my long-term vision. Right away, I knew, deep down, that I would probably resign within a year if I accepted the offer. And that wouldn’t be fair to the employer, to my team members and to my own career. I have come to understand that at this level I am not just choosing jobs anymore but I am choosing alignment, impact, and direction. From that experience, here are a few lessons I want to share: 1. Not every good offer is a good opportunity. Money can look attractive, but misalignment is expensive. 2. Time is your most valuable asset. If a role consumes most of your time, it must be worth your life not just your monthly bills. 3. Be honest with yourself before saying yes. If you already know you won’t stay, don’t take the role. 4. Protect your unique contribution. For me, it’s coaching, mentoring, and building people. Those are my passion. That’s non-negotiable. 5. Know your value and act accordingly. I know many of us have been there… You get an offer. Deep down, you know it’s not right. But you take it anyway because of the money, pressure, or fear of missing out. And months later… you regret it. Please don’t do that to yourself. Be honest with yourself before you say yes. Always remember that career decisions are not just about money; they are more about who you are becoming and alignment. Choose wisely. #CareerStrategy #Leadership #KnowYourWorth #CareerGrowth #PersonalBranding