My Employer Is Offering Me A Buyout – Should I Take The Money And Run?

iStock | ChrisGorgio

During your professional life, you are likely to encounter circumstances that are beyond your control. Even at times of personal achievement and success, such as positive performance reviews, promotions, and compensation increases, you may be caught up in a sudden upheaval.

Buyouts, mergers, acquisitions, economic recessions, rising competition, corporate mismanagement, new technologies, shifting consumer behaviors, business reorganizations/restructuring, and new laws are just a few forces that make up the “invisible hand” (that THAT, Adam Smith!) that affect the labor market and, consequently, you.

Regardless of the exact reasons, sometimes the hammer is going to come down and there is little you can do about it. If your job is being eliminated or is at risk of being eliminated shortly a handful of scenarios are likely to play out:

1. You are offered a buyout. This is a corporate-speak for a severance package. If you’re directly approached and offered a buyout, you’re vulnerable. While perhaps not true 100% of the time, it is likely your position is targeted for elimination and you may not have a choice unless some kind of malfeasance is at play (more on that later). If you’ve been wiped off the org chart, you may need to downshift into “Maximize Mode” instead of “Adapt Mode.”

2. Company-wide buyouts are offered. In this scenario, a company may ask employees to volunteer to quit in exchange for an exit package. This is typically a sign the company culture is entering a period of dramatic change. Even if you don’t volunteer, your long-term job security is not guaranteed, your job role may change, and you may have less leverage in your day-to-day duties as well as during any future cuts. A general offer may soon become an individual offer but the severance package may not be as robust.

3. Your future with your employer is uncertain. Worse that knowing an upheaval is on the way, is not knowing what the future may bring. Right now, for example, United Airlines is asking pilots to volunteer for unpaid leave due to delays in receiving new planes from Boeing - that’s writing on the wall. If you don’t volunteer,  your work schedule may change and company morale is probably not at an all-time high. If you do volunteer, there may be no guarantee how long the “time off” will last or that you be back on the payroll in the same way as before. The uncertainty may make you question whether or not it’s time to move on.

4. Your company announces layoffs are imminent but no buy-out offers have been made to you or anyone else. There are laws requiring employers to announce major staffing changes so you may know cuts are coming but are unsure whether or not you will be affected. You may want to have a candid discussion with your manager and/or human resources so you can make an informed decision about what action you take. You may want to wait and see where the chips fall. You may want to get the hell out of Dodge and skip the severance process altogether.

What do you do if you’re faced with a buyout offer?

<<<<IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER>>>> Insider Career Strategies is not a law firm, and any recommendations are not to be considered legal advice.

Buy-out offers are always accompanied by a legal separation agreement your company will ask you to sign in exchange. If you are ready and willing to sign, it is always a good idea to have an employment attorney review any legal agreement before you do. If you don’t want to sign the agreement because you believe your company is in breach of labor laws or includes provisions with which you are not comfortable (e.g., non-compete clauses) immediately consult an employment attorney before making any moves.

1.     Assess the landscape. Are you facing a corporate restructuring or has your company been bought by a private equity group that will most likely gut the place? Are you merging with another company and your role is duplicative? Does your boss hate you? Try and make an honest assessment of the calculus behind whatever upheaval is on the way and your place in it.

2.     Adapt mode. If you’re faced with uncertainty like the United Airlines pilots, know layoffs are imminent but do not know if you will be one of them, or a general offer is made but you’re not one of the initial people who accept it, you can take a wait-and-see posture while preparing for the worst. For example, sometimes a company makes rolling cuts. You may be one of the first people out the door. You may survive a round of layoffs in the spring but get your pink slip in the fall. Or your position may be kept in the end and you can adapt to the “new” company. If you decide to stick it out, be ready with all your job-seeking tools. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile. Line up referrals and tap your network. Don’t wait for the hammer to fall.

3.     Maximize mode. If a buyout offer is made directly to you, or you believe you will most likely be terminated soon, it’s time to figure out how to make a graceful exit with as large of a severance package as possible. The softer you land the better. Believe it or not, most companies will lead with their most generous offer to trim the “low-hanging fruit” as quickly and as painlessly as possible. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some wiggle room but don’t dig in and “hold out.”

4.     Determine your leverage. Do you have any? If you do, what is it, and do you want to use it? Leverage can be many things -- a great relationship with your boss or ownership, specialized knowledge, work on sensitive company projects, or knowing where the bodies are buried (uh… metaphorically speaking of course). If you have an employment contract, it may have provisions that detail what you are entitled to in the case of non-performance-based terminations and your leverage is to ensure they are enforced.  

5.     Decide whether to negotiate. Your company has a separation agreement it wants you to sign because it wants to protect itself from any future legal action regarding your termination. You want to walk out the door with as much as you can carry. Let the games begin! Remember, firing people isn’t easy for anyone, and reasonable arguments may find a sympathetic ear if they are made professionally and framed as a win-win. If you believe you have the necessary leverage to get your employer to sweeten the pot, indicate that you are ready to sign the agreement (after an attorney reviews it) if you can agree on mutually agreeable terms. When the time comes to make your pitch, know exactly what you want. For example, if they offer you six months’ salary, don’t just say you deserve more. Ask for a specific number of months and explain why you’ve earned it, if you negotiate in good faith.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Are All These Job Postings I See Online Actually Real?

iStock | anyaberkut

Applying for a new job can be a labor-intensive process that seemingly takes place in a vacuum. No matter how organized you are, no matter what personal goals you set and meet (e.g, five applications a week), no matter how many people in your network you tap, sometimes the response is silence. What’s happening out there in the job void? Are any of these jobs real?

Whether or not you can see the evidence, the first thing to understand is that probably 95% of job postings are legitimate. Here’s why:

• Recruitment is a major expense and posting job openings is part of that budget. The bill from job board vendors like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster may not be excessive on their own, but when added to every other recruiting expense it can add up fast. Most companies aren’t going to record an expense in their general ledger unless it’s necessary.

• Job postings trigger a deluge of resumes, cover letters, phone calls, emails, etc. The administration required to manage this sudden increase draws time and resources away from other work and can be extreme if a business is recruiting for many positions at once.

• A company that employs “phantom” job positions for whatever reason risks irreparable reputational harm. I’m not saying phantom jobs don’t occur, but they’re not the norm.

If the jobs are real, how come you haven’t heard back from anyone? The second thing to understand is that most employers will communicate with you, it may just take longer than you want. It can be frustrating to be put in “hurry up and wait” mode when you need money coming in and you’re being as aggressive as your circumstances warrant. Unfortunately, employers operate on their schedules, and many factors may delay or extend the job process.

• A primary reason companies move quickly or get picky is who has the leverage in the labor market. Leverage moves in cycles. One-year employers have the leverage, the next employees do. Now, in the post-pandemic marketplace, the pendulum has swung back to companies that have the luxury of taking excessive steps to make sure they hire the right person. Nobody wants to invest in a new hire that turns out to be a “quiet quitter.” The process may be longer and more drawn out. There may be more interviews or more staff involved in making the hiring decision. Whatever the case, companies are taking their time.

• Even if companies aren’t deliberately taking extra time, interviews take time! Most recruiters, especially at large desirable companies, manage many open positions at once. Scheduling a single interview with a candidate and applicable staff can be a puzzle with no edge pieces. The higher up the ladder participants reside, the more difficult it is for the recruiter to lock them into a date and time. If they need to drop out for any reason and request a postponement, then recruiters have no choice but to start over. Multiply those realities across many open positions and the sheer workflow guarantees the process moves like a horse and buggy instead of a sports car.

• The opposite can also be true. Instead of recruiting candidates and the staff required to hire them, company recruiters can be flooded with requests from many people who want to get in on the hiring process whether they really should be or not. The math here is basic. The more people involved means the scheduling takes longer and reaching a consensus at every stage takes longer. Consequently, the time it takes for a company to let you know your status takes longer.

• Many companies have recruiting policies that favor internal candidates but also require (or encourage) a certain number of external candidates for consideration. This prolongs the hiring process as companies interview their internal candidate first.  

• A company may extend an offer to their favored candidate only for the recipient to fail the background check. Now the process starts over. That’s why you may suddenly be asked to come in for an interview by a company that you thought you might never hear from again.

• In the same category, but worse, sometimes companies hire somebody and their new hire doesn’t show up on their first day. No-shows may be inconceivable, but it happens, and the hiring process starts over.

• ·      Some jobs are “evergreen jobs” because of their high turnover so their job postings run  24/7/365. For example, movie theaters employ many students (high school and college) on the front lines – box office, taking tickets, ushers, and concession stands. During summer and holidays, there are many applicants and during the months students are in school recruiting is more challenging. Thus, theaters will have rolling open positions.

As a job seeker, there isn’t a lot you can do to make the needle move faster. However, keep these tips in mind.

• Follow up with the recruiter (once) within reason. Be sensitive to the positions described in this post. They are stretched thin and managing many different positions and people. Don’t make their lives more difficult or the gatekeeper will close the gate.

• If you want to “speak to the manager” that is your right. If you don’t know who the hiring manager is, you can use a resource like LinkedIn to find out who they may be and reach out to them to see if you’re in the mix and get a status update. The same anti-stalking rules apply.

• If you have a job offer from your second choice and have already interviewed with your first choice, you can leverage the offer to get an answer (or even another offer) out of them.

• Be proactive. Accept that different job processes have varying time frames and you always risk never hearing back from a company to which you apply in a timely way or at all. Keep moving! Keep applying! Your dream job is out there.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Accounting Careers In Today's Market – High Salaries, Great Job Security, And Little Competition

iStock | AndreyPopov

If you want an occupation with iron-clad job security and salaries rising to historic heights, look no further than accounting – there is a widespread shortage of accountants in the U.S. market.

Over the past twenty-five years, the number of people choosing to become accountants plummeted while demand has greatly increased. The result is a perfect storm that has salaries increasing at a noticeable rate. That puts the job seeker in the driver’s seat and the employers riding in the way back of the family station wagon. What happened?

According to Kevin Suksi, an accounting recruiter (and CPA-certified accountant) and partner at professional search and management consulting firm Orion Solutions Group, the path to becoming a Certified Public Accountant evolved. Around the year 2000, the baseline was a Bachelor’s degree in accounting (30 credit hours), two years with a CPA firm, and passing the CPA exam.

In the past, a first-year CPA could expect a lot of menial grunt work and long hours to learn the foundational skills they would need to tackle more advanced accounting challenges in their professional future. Accounting automation changed that, with new software coming to market that took care of much of that menial grunt work recent graduates were required to do to learn the intricacies of their craft and prepare for the CPA exam. For example, (spoiler alert: accounting lingo to follow) confirming accounts receivable, a process, that once required a great deal of manual time and effort (i.e., work!) could now be mostly accomplished with a couple of clicks. Much of the mundane work that a first-year staff accountant traditionally performed was eliminated.

Automation created efficiencies but resulted in a workforce with less real-world accounting experience to help them develop the necessary skills to move to the next level. And so, for first-year accounts to succeed, it was determined that they would need to arrive at their first job with more advanced skills.  

Hence, the requirements to become a CPA became more difficult, with the resulting barriers to entry. Instead of just a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting (120 credit hours, including 30 credit hours in accounting), newly minted graduates would then need additional education (150 credit hours, including 30 hours in accounting), or the rough equivalent of a master’s degree, a full year at a public or private firm reporting to a CFO or controller, and, of course, passing the CPA exam. Salaries, however, only increased moderately – with potential accounting students who did an ROI calculation trending toward other disciplines.

Meanwhile, the cost of college skyrocketed. If you wanted to be a CPA, you needed the resources to cover 150 credits instead of 120 and starting salaries weren’t (and until recently, hadn’t been) rising with the price of admission. The seeds of the current accountant shortage started to be sown.

Then, in response to corporate accounting malfeasance, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which made it much more difficult for businesses to fudge the numbers.

SOX upended the accounting profession. The law was complex and labor-intensive, with gains from automation quickly erased by increased reporting, while also accompanied by stiff penalties for fraud that made financial professionals liable for the numbers they presented. Companies wanted massive testing to ensure the financials were proper and that required manpower. Technology alone wasn’t going to cut it. Demand and salaries shot up and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act got a nickname – the Auditor Full Employment Act.

High demand? Rising salaries? More elevated status? Perfect, right? Not quite.

• All this extra work and pressure to comply with SOA’s legal requirements meant an accountant could expect rigorous (and very long) work weeks, work-life imbalance, and the increased potential of criminal liabilities.

• College costs continued their year-after-year increase with more and more students going into debt to get once-coveted degrees.

• Technology fields rose to dominate almost every level of the global economy, influencing college students’ career decisions. A future professional who may have chosen the accounting field twenty years ago could now take a job with Google, for example, with a higher starting salary, a forty-hour work week, greater work-life balance, no potential criminal liability, and, let’s face it, a sexier job.

• More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a paradigm shift in the way people think about work and what they’re willing to sacrifice for them. If you were given the choice of creating algorithms for Spotify with a hybrid work schedule or laboring to complete a complex audit in your cubicle at 3:00 am, which would you choose?

That brings us to the present day. The only thing higher than the demand for accountants is the salaries companies are willing to pay to obtain them, and accounting remains a profession with solid job security – great enticements that are hard to match.

While the rigors of the accounting profession and the long work hours make it less attractive to future professionals who have more choices and more demands, for someone willing to put in the time and effort there is job security and a pot of gold at the end of the accounting rainbow.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.