What to Consider Before You Accept
A counter-offer can feel like validation. Your employer suddenly finds the money, the title, or the flexibility you had been asking for, right at the moment you were ready to walk away. It is genuinely tempting to stay.
Quick answer: Counter-offers rarely solve the actual reasons someone started looking for a new role in the first place. A higher salary does not usually fix a lack of career progression, a values mismatch, or a strained relationship with your manager. Before accepting one, it is worth understanding what has really changed, and what has not.
Why Counter-Offers Are More Common Right Now
In a tight hiring market, employers move faster to hold onto good people, and counter-offers become more common as a retention tool. At Alex Correa Executive, we are seeing strong candidates regularly receive multiple offers, and in several cases, their current employer countering to try to keep them.
We would flag that specific figures on job market movement (such as platform-reported vacancy growth by month or industry) change constantly and vary by source. If you want to quote a specific statistic on legal job market growth in published copy, it is worth pulling the current figure directly from a named, dated source such as SEEK's own employment reporting, rather than relying on a figure that may already be out of date.
The Widely Cited Counter-Offer Statistic, and Why We'd Verify It
You may have seen the claim that a large majority of people who accept a counter-offer leave within six to eighteen months anyway. This statistic circulates widely across recruitment content, but we have not been able to trace it to a single, verifiable primary source, and different versions of the number appear across different articles.
We would treat it as a commonly repeated industry observation rather than a precise, citable figure, and recommend verifying the exact percentage from a credible, named source before including it in published copy. What we can say with more confidence, based on our own experience placing candidates across Brisbane and Queensland, is that accepting a counter-offer only rarely resolves the underlying reasons someone started looking in the first place.
With that context in mind, here is what is worth thinking through before you decide.
Revisit Why You Started Looking
Go back to the actual reasons you began exploring a move, and compare them honestly to your current situation.
- What has genuinely changed, beyond the number on your payslip?
- Why didn't your employer offer more money, a different project, or better conditions when you first raised it?
- If the counter-offer is purely financial, what about the other things that pushed you to look, your relationship with your boss, your sense of progression, the development or training you're being invested in, or whether the firm's values actually align with yours?
A higher number rarely changes any of that. It is worth being honest with yourself about whether the underlying reasons have actually shifted, or simply been temporarily papered over.
Consider Why It Took a Resignation
It is worth asking why your value was not recognised until you were prepared to leave. If genuine appreciation and investment only appear once resignation is on the table, that pattern is unlikely to disappear once you agree to stay.
Think About It From Your Employer's Side
A counter-offer is not always about you specifically. Sometimes it is about avoiding the cost, disruption and delay of recruiting and training a replacement, or simply buying time to get a project across the line.
It is also worth being realistic about how a resignation, even a withdrawn one, can quietly change a working relationship. Trust can be harder to rebuild than it looks, and it is not uncommon for people who accept a counter-offer to find themselves overlooked for future opportunities, promotions or special projects, or to sense a shift in how colleagues perceive them.
Never Accept a Counter-Offer After Accepting Another Role
There is one clear line worth drawing. Once you have formally accepted an offer from a new employer, going back on that to accept a counter-offer from your current one is a different situation entirely, and one we would strongly caution against.
By that point, the new employer has invested time interviewing you, made you an offer, likely told the rest of the business you are joining, and quite possibly turned down other candidates for the role. Reversing that decision can cause real damage to your reputation, and the legal market in Brisbane and Queensland is smaller than it feels. That kind of decision tends to be remembered.
Trust the Decision You Already Made
Choosing to explore a new role was not a decision made lightly. Once you have gone through that process and reached a conclusion, it is usually worth trusting it, rather than retreating to the comfort of a counter-offer that solves the immediate discomfort without addressing what actually led you here.
Frequently Asked Questions About Counter-Offers
Should I ever accept a counter-offer?
It depends on whether the offer genuinely addresses the reasons you started looking, beyond salary alone. In most cases, the underlying issues, progression, culture, or fit, remain unchanged even after a pay increase.
Is it true that most people who accept a counter-offer leave within a year?
This is a commonly repeated claim in recruitment content, but we have not been able to verify a single, reliable primary source for the exact figures often quoted. Treat it as an informal industry observation rather than a confirmed statistic, and check current, credible sources if you plan to cite a specific number.
Is it unethical to accept a counter-offer after accepting a new job?
Once you have formally accepted another offer, reversing that decision to stay with your current employer can damage your professional reputation and your relationship with the new employer, particularly in a smaller market like Brisbane's legal sector. We would strongly advise against it.
What should I focus on instead of the counter-offer?
Revisit the actual reasons you began your search: career progression, culture, values alignment, and your relationship with leadership. If those reasons still hold, a counter-offer is unlikely to resolve them.
Considering a Move, or Weighing Up a Counter-Offer?
If you are navigating this exact situation, we are happy to talk it through confidentially. Use the contact form to get in touch, and we will help you think clearly about your market value and what is genuinely on offer across the Brisbane legal market.
