Understanding Your Offer

Reviewing your job offer can be an exciting but daunting task. It is important to understand the details of your offer before you make a final decision. Consider these key components:

COMPENSATION

BENEFITS

LOCATION

ASSIGNMENT

How to Decide

Employers may request quick offer decisions, potentially requesting a commitment before the upcoming recruiting season. As a UMass Amherst student, you have both a responsibility to understand your options and also the support to make the right decision.

<aside> ⚠️ Do not "renege" on an offer.  It's bad for your professional reputation. You might think the salary increase is worth it, but demonstrating integrity will pay dividends for years to come. Reneges are also problematic for your peers. Employers may think twice about recruiting UMass Amherst students in the future. Reneging may lead to exclusion from CICS Careers services and programs.

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Similar to the job search itself, we believe you should have a systematic and objective approach to deciding between different career options.

It can be useful to talk through this assessment with family, friends, mentors and other people you trust to come to a good decision.

For example, one of our CICS Board Members offered this advice:

"Especially for jobs early in your career, it's good to look for environments where there are people you can learn from, and learn things that matter to you.  This also means that the environment needs to support the kinds of activities that promote learning - mentoring, small teams, assignments that change periodically so as to encounter new people to learn from."