The One Time I Told a Candidate to Take the Counter Offer

Every recruiter will tell you the same thing.

Never take the counter offer.

There are stats, scripts, and entire training programs built around this belief. You'll hear things like "98% of people who accept counter offers are gone within a year." You'll hear that the counter offer is just a Band-Aid. That your employer is only doing it to protect themselves. That the reasons you were looking haven't gone away — they've just been buried under a raise.

Most of the time, that's true.

I've been on the other side of this. I've watched candidates take counter offers and get walked out the door three months later. The company protected themselves, bought time to find a replacement, and moved on. The candidate lost the new opportunity and the job they thought they were keeping.

But this story is different.

I was working a retained C-level search for a venture capital backed company building a new wireline division. The compensation was strong. The opportunity was significant. And I had found the perfect candidate — one of the sharpest, most capable people I've placed in 20 years. He would have crushed that role.

The problem was US Silica valued him too.

When they found out he was entertaining a move, they came back with a counter offer. Not a panic move. Not a number thrown at the wall. A real, thoughtful counter offer that said clearly — we see you, we value you, and we want you to stay.

I sat with that for a while.

Then I did something I had never done before in my career.

I told him to stay.

I walked away from a retained search fee. I told my candidate that the counter offer was real, that the company around him was strong, that the people were good, and that this wasn't the right move — not because the new opportunity wasn't great, but because what he already had was genuinely better for him at that moment in his life.

He stayed. And I have zero regrets.

He became a great friend — one that has lasted over 15 years and counting. And to boot, he has done extremely well. He's now at a very high level, making far more than he ever would have made had he jumped. He has a great family, a great career, and he deserves every bit of it.

That outcome didn't happen because he chased money or a title. It happened because he knew his value, trusted the people around him, and made the right decision for the right reasons.

Here's what I want you to take from this:

Don't jump for money. Don't jump for a title. Don't jump because a recruiter — including me — is excited about a role.

Jump when you know deep down it's the right move. And if a counter offer comes back that genuinely shows your value, that reflects a company that truly sees you, don't ignore it just because someone told you the statistics.

Know your value. Know your people. And trust your gut.

That's the only career advice that ever really holds up.

Philip Lamb is Managing Partner of PRL International — a retained executive search firm with 30+ years of experience placing leadership talent in manufacturing, energy, aerospace, technology, and financial services.

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