Two offers on the table:
how to compare them honestly

Having two offers is the best problem a job search can produce. It's also where a surprising number of people make the decision they regret most, because the comparison feels finished the moment one number is bigger than the other.

The number matters. It's just one row in a table that has at least six, and the rows people skip are the ones that decide whether they're job hunting again in eighteen months.

This is a way to lay the two offers out so every row gets looked at, in the order that keeps you from fooling yourself.

Step one: make the money comparable

Before you compare anything, convert both offers into the same unit. "Base salary" is not that unit. Two offers with the same base can be thousands apart once everything else is counted, in either direction.

For each offer, write down:

• Base salary. The only part that's guaranteed.
• Bonus. Target percentage, and what it has actually paid out in recent years. Ask. "Target 15%" at a company that paid 60% of target last year is a 9% bonus.
• Equity. Covered below, because it needs its own math.
• Sign-on bonus. Real money, but one-time. Spread it over the years you expect to stay, and check whether it claws back if you leave early.
• Retirement match. A 6% match versus a 3% match on the same salary is a real difference that nobody mentions in the offer call.
• Health and other benefits. Premiums, deductibles, and anything you'd otherwise pay for yourself. This row can swing by thousands per year in some countries and be nearly zero in others.

Add it up as a first-year number and as an average-year number over four years. The second one is usually more honest, because sign-on bonuses and front-loaded vesting make year one look better than the job really pays.

Step two: discount the equity on purpose

Equity is where comparisons go wrong most often, because the offer letter states it in the most flattering unit available.

Public company stock (RSUs) is the simple case. Take the grant value, divide by the vesting years, and you have an annual number. Then remember it moves with the share price in both directions, and that a grant valued at a recent high is worth less than it sounds.

Private company options need much more skepticism. A rough honest process:

1. Get the number of options, the strike price, and the total shares outstanding. Without the last one, the number of options means nothing. Ask for it; a company that won't tell you is telling you something.
2. Work out your percentage of the company. That's the real asset.
3. Ask what the most recent preferred share price was, then assume your common shares are worth meaningfully less than that.
4. Apply a probability. Most private companies don't reach an exit that pays common shareholders well. You don't need a precise figure, but "this is worth zero in most outcomes and a lot in a few" is closer to the truth than the headline value.

A practical rule: compare the two offers with private equity valued at zero first. If the private offer still wins or comes close, the equity is upside. If the equity is the only reason it wins, you're making a bet. Bets are fine. Just know you're placing one.

Step three: the rows that aren't money

Here's the table that matters more than people expect. Score each offer on each row, honestly, with what you actually learned in the process rather than what the recruiter said.

The manager row is the one to weight heaviest. A great manager at a decent company tends to beat a mediocre manager at a famous one, because your day-to-day, your growth, and your next reference all run through that one person.

Step four: deal with the deadline

Offers often arrive with a deadline, and sometimes the two deadlines don't line up. You have more room here than it feels like.

Ask for more time, plainly. "I'm very interested and I'm finishing another process. Could I have until Friday to give you a firm answer?" is a normal request. Most companies would rather wait a few days than have you accept and keep looking.

Tell the slower company where you stand. "I've received an offer with a deadline of the 28th. You're my preferred option. Is there any way to accelerate?" This works more often than people think, because a company that wants you would rather move quickly than lose you.

Treat an exploding offer as information. A short, non-negotiable deadline ("we need an answer in 24 hours") is a pressure tactic. It doesn't automatically disqualify the company, but it tells you something about how decisions get made there.

Step five: negotiate once, with the real comparison

Having a second offer is leverage, and it's legitimate to use it. Do it honestly:

• Name the gap, not a bluff. "The other offer is higher on total compensation, mainly in base. I'd prefer to join you. Is there flexibility?" Never invent or inflate a competing offer. Recruiters talk, and some will ask to see it.
• Ask for what you actually value. If the other offer wins on base, ask about base. If it wins on remote days, ask about remote days. Money isn't the only thing that moves.
• Negotiate once per offer. One clear ask, one answer. Repeated rounds burn goodwill with the people you're about to work with.

Our salary negotiation guide covers the conversation itself in more depth.

The decision

Once the table is filled in, one of two things is usually true.

One offer clearly wins on most rows. Take it. Don't let a single row, usually the headline salary, overrule the rest of the table.

They're close. Then the money is roughly a wash and the decision is about where you'll grow. Pick the better manager and the more interesting work. In two years the salary difference will have mostly disappeared into raises and the next job; what you learned won't.

Whichever you choose, decline the other one quickly and kindly, by phone or a short email, and thank the people who interviewed you. You may want to work with them later, and the way you said no is what they'll remember.

Two offers at the same time usually means two processes ran in parallel. Jobiz helps keep that pipeline full and organized, so when the offers do arrive, they arrive close enough together to compare.