When considering a new job offer, you may want to give your current employer a chance to make a counter offer.  If your employer want to keep you as an employee and you still want to keep working with the employer, using the salary negotiation you will have a chance to improve your compensation.

There are advantages of a counter offer. Because hiring a new employee can be quite expensive, you may have a strong position in any renegotiation of your compensation package.

For most employers, it is cheaper to keep you on than find a replacement. You need no training, and there is no learning curve as a new hire takes over your projects. There is an entire list of reasons that it benefits a company to keep the personnel it already has. If you give your current employer a chance to provide you with a counter offer, you can negotiate to get a very good deal.

There are downsides to accepting counter offers, however. If you have been looking for a new job, there is often a reason that you aren’t happy with your current position. More money may not be enough to deal with those issues. Furthermore, many counter offers are based on any raise or promotion the company already had planned for you. You might just be getting your yearly raise a little early — with no added bump later on.

Even if you accept a counter offer, you have no guarantee that your employer will not fire you a few months down the road. In fact, according to statistics from the National Business Employment Weekly, four out of five people who accept counter offers and stay with their current employer will leave within a year. Some are fired, because employers assume that they are disloyal and will continue looking for new opportunities, but many will quit, because the underlying issues that originally drove them to look for new jobs were not addressed by increased compensation.

When considering a new job offer, be sure that you are comfortable taking this new job before you inform your current employer. Many employers will consider that as an informal resignation. The mere fact that you have been looking for a different job can be enough to get you fired from your current one.

Are you interested in the idea of changing career? If so, you may question whether changing careers is a viable option. “Is the career path right for me?” As there are a number of reasons you might contemplate a career change read on to find whether a second career is worth your while.

If you are interested in changing careers you are not alone. Every year the number of adults in the workforce who have changed careers rises dramatically. The average worker will change careers three times over the course of their life, and that number may grow even more.

If you are unable to advance further in your current career you may want to switch positions to one that allow you to grow further. Your interests and abilities may have developed beyond the point where a specific field is able to hold your attention.

Once you have decided that you need a complete change of career path, your next step must be deciding on your new career.

The easiest way to do so is to list jobs you have an interest in and begin eliminating them. Eliminate particular jobs by considering the experience and education necessary, the opportunities available in that field and your long-term goals. Also, remember to consider seeking out opportunities to try out a new field — on a temporary or volunteer basis — to see if you actually enjoy the work.

No matter what field you decide to explore, you will need to decide what skills you have that will help you in a new position and which you will need to acquire. You will need to create a new resume and you may need to prepare yourself to work in a position with less responsibility than your last, at least in the short term.

In short, changing careers can be a great deal of work but for those workers who are willing to put the necessary work into the process, it can be well worthwhile.