How to Compare Job Offers: Score Five Factors

To compare two job offers properly, list the five things that change your daily life — pay, growth, stability, team and hours — give each a weight that reflects your situation right now, score each offer from 1 to 5 on every factor, then multiply and add. The higher total is your starting point, not your verdict. If the winner feels wrong, one of your weights is wrong, and that is worth knowing before you sign anything. This guide shows you how to compare job offers with a scorecard you can build in an afternoon.

A weighted scorecard beats gut feeling because it forces you to name what you value before the deadline pressure arrives. It also gives you something to look at in six months, when the reasons you chose are easy to misremember.

The short answer: score five factors, weight them, then decide once

The method fits on an index card:

1. List the factors: pay, growth, stability, team, hours.
2. Weight each one so the weights add up to a single whole, reflecting your life now, not your ambitions for a decade from now.
3. Score each offer 1 to 5 per factor, using written evidence rather than impressions.
4. Multiply score by weight and add the totals.
5. Check the result against your gut before you commit.

The score is a thinking tool, not an oracle. If you score two offers and the arithmetic picks one your instinct rejects, do not overrule the arithmetic or your instinct — go back and ask which weight you set dishonestly. People often give pay the largest weight because it sounds serious, when the real driver is a two-hour commute.

What to compare beyond salary: the five factors that actually change your life

Base salary is the easiest number to see and the least complete. Here is what to gather for each factor.

Pay means total compensation: bonus structure and how realistic the target is, pension or retirement match, equity and when it vests, overtime or on-call pay, and commuting cost. A higher base with a long commute can leave you with less each month than a lower base you can walk to.

Growth means who you would report to, what the next role looks like, whether the team has promoted from within recently, and what you would actually learn in the first year. Ask what the last person in the role went on to do.

Stability means how long the team has existed, whether there have been recent reorganisations, the funding or contract type, and what happens to your role if a project is cancelled.

Team means who you would work with day to day and whether you would learn from them. You can read a lot from how the interviewers talked about each other.

Hours means on-call or shift patterns, expected travel, and whether the schedule is fixed or "as needed". "As needed" is a fact about the job, not a formality.

If you are still preparing for further interviews while you decide, the way you talk about your work matters as much as the offer itself; our guide on ownership interview questions covers how to describe responsibility without inflating it.

Build the scorecard: a worked example with two offers

Here is a fictional example. Offer A pays more but comes with a long commute and a small team. Offer B pays less, is remote, and sits on a larger team with a clear promotion path. Weights are shown as relative shares that add up to a whole.

Offer B wins at 39.5 against 33. Now change the weights for a different person: someone with a mortgage who needs the higher total pay might give pay a much larger share and growth a smaller one. Run the same scores through that and Offer A comes out ahead. Neither set of weights is correct in the abstract; they describe different lives.

The honest check comes next. If you are the first person and Offer B wins but you keep thinking about Offer A, ask whether the pay weight was really as large as you set it, or whether you were scoring the commute as a pay problem when it is an hours problem.

How to get the facts you are missing before you score

You cannot score what you do not know, and guessing inflates the offer you already like. Send one short email asking for everything at once, framed as accuracy rather than suspicion:

Thank you for the offer — I am taking it seriously. So that I can compare accurately and give you a clear answer, could you confirm in writing: the bonus target and how it is calculated, any on-call rotation and how it is compensated, probation length, notice period, and how flexible the start date is? I would rather ask now than assume.

Then work through this checklist for each employer:

• Bonus and equity: target percentage, when it pays, and vesting schedule.
• On-call or shifts: how often, how far in advance the rota is published, and whether it is paid.
• Probation and notice: length of probation and the notice period on both sides.
• Start date: how much flexibility there is, and whether it affects anything else.
• Growth evidence: the last two people promoted from this team and where they are now.

Some facts will not be available — how a manager behaves under pressure, for example. Score those conservatively, write "assumed" next to the score, and treat the assumption as a risk rather than a fact.

Weighing the factors when they pull in opposite directions

The hard choices are rarely between good and bad. They are pay now versus growth later, stability versus learning speed, a short commute versus a bigger team. Name the trade-off out loud — "I am choosing between earning more this year and learning faster for the next three" — because naming it stops you pretending one offer is better on every axis.

Before you score anything, apply the deal-breaker rule: cross off any offer that fails a non-negotiable, such as a shift pattern you cannot work or a travel load your family cannot absorb. Scoring a deal-breaker offer wastes time and makes you rationalise.

Then ask one question and write the answer down: which offer would I regret turning down in two years, and why? The reason matters more than the answer. If the regret is about money, your weights were off. If it is about the people, that is a real signal.

Should you use one offer to negotiate the other?

Yes, honestly — but not by inventing a number. Tell each employer what would make their offer work for you, and be specific: a later start date, a sign-on payment to offset unvested equity, a title that reflects the scope, or a written review at six months.

I am glad to have the offer. The role is the right fit, and the one thing standing between me and a yes is the start date — I could commit today if we could move it by three weeks. Is that possible?

If the answer is no, you can still accept as it stands: "Thank you for checking. I understand the constraints, and I am happy to accept as offered." That is a complete sentence and it costs you nothing.

What does cost you is bluffing about an offer you do not have. Recruiters in the same industry talk to each other, and a claim that collapses under one follow-up question turns a warm negotiation into a trust problem. If you have one offer, say so; if you have two, say that too, without disclosing the other employer's numbers.

How to decline the offer you turn down — and keep the relationship

Decline quickly, warmly and without a comparison. The recruiter usually has a second-choice candidate waiting, so speed is a kindness.

Thank you for the offer and for the time your team gave me. After careful thought I have decided to accept another role that is a closer fit for where I want to focus next. I appreciated how straightforward the process was, and I would welcome the chance to stay in touch.

Do not list the other offer's details, and do not criticise the team, the pay or the process. Reasons invite debate; a decision does not. Keep the recruiter's contact details — people move organisations, and a good conversation is worth more than a clean break.

The one-page decision record: write it down before you accept

Before you reply to either employer, write a single page containing:

• The five factors and the weight you gave each.
• Each offer's scores, with the evidence behind them.
• Every assumption you made and marked as such.
• The deal-breakers you checked.
• The final choice, with two sentences of reasoning.

Writing it down makes the decision reviewable. When doubt arrives at month three — and it usually does — you can see whether your assumptions held rather than reconstructing a decision from memory. Keep it private, and revisit it at the six-month mark: was the growth real, was the on-call as described, was the commute worth it?

Common mistakes when choosing between two offers

Comparing base salary only. Bonus, equity, pension and commute can swing the total in either direction. Score total compensation and cost together.

Letting the deadline decide for you. If the facts are not in, ask politely for an extension rather than choosing under pressure. Most employers would rather wait a few days than lose a candidate who is thinking carefully.

Choosing to avoid a difficult conversation. Skipping the on-call question because it feels awkward is not a decision; it is a decision to find out later, at the worst moment. Ask now, in writing.

Treating the scorecard as final. The score is a prompt for one more honest conversation with yourself, not a verdict. If it produces an answer you cannot accept, revisit the weights.

Before you accept

The scorecard earns its keep by making you ask better questions while you still have leverage. Write your one-page record today, before the deadline narrows your thinking, and send the clarification email to whichever employer you know least about. If you want to rehearse how you will discuss the decision with a manager or recruiter, our guide on sounding natural with talking points is a practical place to start.

Frequently asked questions

How long can I ask an employer to hold an offer while I decide?

Ask for a specific extension rather than an open-ended one: "Could we extend to Friday the 14th so I can give you a considered answer?" A few working days is a common request and usually granted. If the answer is no, ask what the latest possible response date is, and plan your comparison around that date rather than hoping it moves.

What if one offer expires before I hear back from the other?

Contact the slower employer first and explain the timing plainly — they can often accelerate a decision if they know a deadline exists. If they cannot, you are choosing between a certain offer and an uncertain one. Score the certain offer on its facts and treat the other as a possibility, not a contender, until it is real.

Should I tell each employer that I have another offer?

You can say you are comparing offers without naming the other company or its numbers. It signals that your time matters and that a clear answer is coming. What you should not do is imply a competing offer you do not have, because it is easy to check and hard to walk back.

How do I compare equity or stock options when the companies are different sizes?

Compare what you can verify: the number of shares or units, the vesting schedule, and any stated valuation or strike price in the offer documents. Beyond that, score the uncertainty itself — a private company's equity is worth less to you today than cash, so score it conservatively and note the assumption in your record.

Is it ever worth taking the lower-paying offer?

Often, yes. If the lower-paying role offers faster growth, a manager you would learn from, or hours that fit your life, the scorecard will usually show it once those factors are weighted honestly. The test is whether you can explain the gap in two sentences you still believe in a year.

Practise the calls and conversations that follow an offer before you make them.