When I get a job offer, what should I say?

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Karen Chopra
Licensed Professional Counselor
www.ChopraCareers.com  
 

Karen James Chopra, LPC, MCC, NCC, has been counseling career clients since 1999 and has helped hundreds of clients change careers, find new jobs and deal more effectively with workplace challenges.

In addition to her private practice, she has worked for two national corporate outplacement firms: Lee Hecht Harrison and Resource Careers. These are the organizations that help people who have experienced a layoff or downsizing to find new jobs, and their programs are usually considered the gold-standard of job search technique.

Ms Chopra is a regular presenter on career issues, having taught career theory at the graduate level, designed and delivered numerous workshops, and served as a regular guest commentator on WMAL’s career radio show “Your Career Life.”

She is a career-changer herself. Before entering the counseling field, she worked for nearly a decade as a trade negotiator for the United States Government, first at the Department of Commerce and then at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Ms. Chopra holds a number of relevant licenses and certifications: licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the District of Columbia; Master Career Counselor (MCC), a designation of the National Career Development Association (NCDA); and National Certified Counselor (NCC), a designation of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).  She belongs to all of the relevant national and local associations involved in career counseling, including the American Counseling Association (ACA),  the National Employment Counselors Association (NECA), the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Career-Life Planning Network (MAC-LPN).

Her B.A. is from the University of Virginia, and she received a masters of science in foreign service from Georgetown University, and a masters in community counseling from George Washington University.

When I get a job offer, what should I say?

 

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Host: When I get a job offer what should I say?

Karen James Chopra: This is a really tough one for a lot of people because you have been waiting for so long for that job offer to come in and the temptation is to say thank you, I will take it and to snatch it right out of their hands. What you want to say when someone calls to offer you a job is all sorts of good thing. Oh, that's wonderful, that's really exciting, I am so excited, that's a terrific news, I am delighted, say everything but yes. Then what you want to say after telling them I am very excited, this is wonderful, is to say can I get that in writing? Can I get your benefits package to review and then ask when do you need to hear back from me? What this is doing is one giving you little bit of time to process all that adrenalin running through your system. Two, giving you the information in black and white so you can review when you are calmer.

I can't tell you how many people actually forgot the number, they were told when somebody called to say, I would like to offer you the job and here is the salary and after the phone call I can't remember it, so get it in black and white, even if it's an email, get in black and white, so you know what the offer is. By saying when do you need to hear back from me, what your signaling is there might be a negotiation here and this puts the person that you are talking to on notice that we are not quite done yet, they have made the offer, you are looking at the offer but there is another stage. So this is sort of setting the ground for a negotiation and helping them to expect that you are going to come back and ask for something else.

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