If you have accepted an offer from a new employer and, upon giving notice to your present company, a counter offer is made - you should consider the following:

• Ask yourself if you were worth "X" dollars yesterday, why are they suddenly willing to pay you "Y" dollars today when you were not anticipating a raise for some time?
  
• Consider the fact that your present employer could merely be buying time with this raise until he can locate a replacement. Suppose you were given an annual raise of $3,000 as a counter offer. When they find a replacement for you, in say 60 days, then the actual cost to them is only $500.00
  
• Is just more money going to change everything in your present job? Consider the new opportunity you will be giving up that looked so favorable when you accepted it.
  
• The company will probably feel as though they have been "blackmailed" into giving you a raise when you announced your decision to leave.
  
• Realize that you are now a marked person. The possibility of promotion is extremely limited for someone who has given notice. The company is vulnerable and they know it. They will not risk giving more responsibility to someone who was previously committed to leave.
  
• When economic slow-downs occur, you could be one of the first to go. You indicated your intention to do so once before, so it is only natural that your position would probably be eliminated in a slack period.
  
• You should know that statistics compiled by the National Employment Association confirm the fact that over 80% of those people who elected to accept the counter offer and stayed are no longer with the company six months later.
  
• Finally - carefully review in your mind all the reasons you wanted to make a change in the first place. Does the counter offer really offset these reasons?