Two good offers and no clear answer. Before you compare the jobs, put in order what you actually want from one.
Try it now
Eight things a job can give you. Put them in your own order.
Option 2 of 8 · Which matters more to you?
vs
No account, nothing is saved, and these options cannot be changed.
That was PickChill
The same thing you just did, with your own list instead of ours.
- Add your own options, not our eight - up to 32
- It orders what you said matters. It never reads the offers or picks the job
- Nobody sees your order, and nothing is scored or judged
Why two good offers are harder than one
One offer is a small question. You either want the job or you do not, and you usually know.
Two good offers is a different problem. Each part of them makes a different job look better. One pays more. One is twenty minutes closer. One has people you liked and work you are less sure about. To compare them properly you would have to hold eight things in your head about the first job and the same eight about the second, and weigh all sixteen at once. Nobody can do that.
So you go round the same argument for a week, decide on a feeling, and then spend a month wondering whether you got it right.
Do not compare the jobs. Compare what you want.
This is the part that makes it answerable, and it is why the example at the top of this page is salary and travel time rather than “Offer A” and “Offer B”.
You are stuck because you are trying to answer two questions at the same time: what matters to me, and which job gives me more of it. Only the second one is about the jobs. Answer the first one on its own, first.
“Does salary matter more to me than what I will learn?” is a question you can answer, and you do not need either offer in front of you to answer it. Answer enough small questions like that and you have an order - your order, not a company’s. Reading the offers against it afterwards is a much smaller job.
Do it before the offers arrive
This is the part almost nobody does, and it matters more than the method.
Once a real offer is in front of you, you start changing your order to fit it, without noticing. If the exciting job pays less, you will find yourself deciding that money matters less than you thought. If the safe job pays more, security suddenly moves up the list. That is not a decision. It is a reason you invented afterwards.
So build the order while you are still applying, or at least before you open the numbers. Then the order is honest, and each offer has to meet it - instead of you changing the order to approve whatever arrived.
Every large career site answers this question with a weighted scoring table, and a table has the same problem in a worse form: when the total disagrees with you, you change the weights until it agrees. Why a scoring table settles nothing is written out on another page.
Some things are not preferences
Before you rank anything, take out the things that are not preferences at all. A salary you need in order to pay rent is not a preference. Neither is a visa, nor a notice period you cannot get out of.
| A requirement | A preference |
|---|---|
| It has to be true, or the job is not possible | It makes the job better or worse |
| The salary you need to live on | A higher salary |
| A journey you physically cannot make | A shorter journey |
| Check it first, and rule the offer out | Put it in the order |
Check the requirements first and remove any offer that fails one. Then rank what is left. Putting a requirement into a preference list is how people end up accepting a job that does not actually work.
Why an order, and not a single answer
It would be quicker to ask which one thing matters most and stop there. For a job that is not enough.
A real offer trades one thing for another. More money for a longer journey. A better title for less learning. Flexible hours for less security. To know whether a trade is good for you, you have to know what is second and third, not only what is first.
So this one gives you the whole order rather than one winner. Eight things take 13 to 17 questions. It is a range, not a number, because it depends on your answers.
What to do with the order
Take the top three. Write down, in one line each, what every offer gives you on those three things and ignore everything else for a moment.
Most of the time the answer is obvious once the list is that short. When it is not, you have still gained something real: you now know exactly what the trade is, in your own words, which is also the list of things worth asking for before you accept.
What it is good for, and what it is not
Good for: two offers you cannot separate. Deciding whether to leave a job at all. Working out what to ask for in a negotiation, which is usually your top three.
Not for: telling you which job to take. PickChill knows nothing about companies, salaries or the job market. It holds no data about any employer and it never will. It orders what you said matters to you; it does not read the offers.
Every position is yours. Nothing is scored, nothing is judged, and no part of this is a recommendation. It is the biggest decision any of these guides is about, and it stays entirely yours - the order only makes it easier to see what you already think.
Questions
›Why not just compare the two offers directly?
You can, and it is usually what got you stuck. Comparing two jobs across eight things is sixteen judgements held at once. Ordering what you want is one small question at a time, and you only have to know yourself, not the companies.
›What if the order says money matters most, and I do not like that?
Then it has been useful. An honest order that surprises you is worth far more than a polite one that does not. Nobody else sees it, nothing is scored, and nothing here judges the answer.
›Can I put the actual offers in instead?
Yes, in the app, up to 32 options. It works best as a second run rather than a replacement: order what matters first, then order the offers if you still need to. The example on this page is fixed, so it cannot take new options.
›How many questions will it take?
13 to 17 for eight things. It is a range, not a number, because it depends on your answers. Adding a ninth thing costs only about one more question.
›Can somebody else help me decide?
Not inside a ranking - it is your own order, and only you answer it. If you want somebody else’s view, that works on a decision: you share a link and one pick comes back with a name on it. For a job, though, the order really should be yours.