As noted in this blog’s past articles, the market has been swinging back in the favor of candidates.  I’ve seen this manifest itself recently by significantly increased incidences of multiple suitors for a given candidate, resulting in multiple offers.  With all things being equal (which is never the case), candidates typically accept the offer with the highest base salary and total compensation at plan.

This week, however, I witnessed a candidate accept an offer that did not boast of the highest salary and total comp.  Why did he do this?  Because he’s smart.  He did his due diligence on the companies, got introspective to assess his career aspirations and looked well beyond the shiny penny of cash compensation.

When putting aside the money, there is a bevy of variables to consider in assessing opportunities.  It is for this reason that no two opportunities could ever be equal.  Let’s take a…