The Job Rating Game

It's a great time to change jobs -- maybe too great. Talented people are in such demand that companies treat them like stars -- and promise them the moon. Big signing bonuses? Not a problem. Generous stock-option packages? Certainly. Gourmet meals in the cafeteria? But of course. And that's just for starters.

"People are getting all kinds of special considerations," says Eric Lane, 45, who recently left his position as director of worldwide staffing for Silicon Graphics Inc., the Silicon Valley computer manufacturer, to become vice president of business development for Icarian, a Web startup. "I know recruiters who collect stories about offbeat deals. One man convinced a company to relocate a freezer he owned with 15 sides of beef in it. Another man persuaded his new company to rent a van for him, so he could drive his Irish setter around while he looked for a house. Believe it or not, these deals are becoming standard practice."

Believe it. Not so long ago, the toughest part of job hunting was getting a decent offer. You'd send out countless résumés, hope to hear from a few respectable companies, and take the first good offer that came along. Today people with talent get a flood of offers. The new challenge is to sort through all of the choices and find the one that's best for you.

Paul Berry, 22, is a case in point. Though still young, Berry has amassed unimpeachable credentials as a Web designer, many of them before graduating from college. While still at New York University, he created a showcase site for his father's Eugene, Oregon-based company, Palo Alto Software. Shortly after graduating, he posted his résumé on the Web and quickly received 30 inquiries -- 30! -- from companies eager to hire him. Big, well-known outfits courted him with extremely attractive offers, some with starting salaries in excess of $60,000. "I was amazed," Berry says. "We're living in a bizarre time when a 22-year-old kid can get access to the executive suites of giant companies. It was thrilling, but it was also very overwhelming."

Annmarie Cunningham, 31, felt similarly overwhelmed. After eight years at Solomon Smith Barney, she decided it was time for something new -- to move from selling into public relations. "I woke up one day and was ready to change jobs," she says. "But I couldn't search for a new job while sitting at my old desk. So I quit."

She left on a Friday morning, worked the phones that afternoon, and lined up a full 11 interviews for the following Monday. The big challenge wasn't turning those interviews into offers; it was figuring out which offers to pursue, let alone which one to accept. The process took months. Cunningham built a network of personal contacts to help her investigate prospective employers. She browsed the Web sites of the firms she was considering. She explored the Web sites of the firms' clients, to see for herself the quality of their work. And she spent plenty of time visiting the companies -- not just to be interviewed, but to evaluate them at close range.

Cunningham surprised herself by joining CMA, a 15-person Manhattan marketing agency, a smaller company than she'd expected to work for. "It had come down to three companies," says Cunningham. "The other two had great environments, savvy people - everything I wanted. But there was something about CMA. My final decision boiled down to a combination of what my research showed they'd done for their clients and what I thought of the people I'd be working with."

Call it "job-offer overload." It's a nice problem to have, but it is a problem. There are so many questions to ask when considering which offer to accept. What are each company's prospects in the marketplace? What are my prospects for growth? How much power will I have? How much support will I get? These are questions that, unlike surface issues such as salary and stock options, don't lend themselves to answers that are easy to quantify and compare. Which is why so many people choose -- wrongly -- not to ask the questions in the first place. There's a big difference between choosing the best job and selling yourself to the highest bidder.

"Don't get enamored of short-term dollars, one-time perks, and year-end bonuses," urges Dan Walsh, 32, president of SEEK Consulting Group Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in human-capital management and whose clients include AT&T, Compaq, and Fidelity Investments. "Think of your job as an investment. A job that exposes you to great mentors is much more valuable than a job that pays you a few thousand dollars more. Make your decisions based on three things: where you are, where you want to be, and how you plan to get there."