How to compare two offers

Put both offers in the same units

One company says $90,000 a year. The other says $7,000 a month plus a target bonus. Compared raw, one of them will look wrong. Write both as: pre-tax base times actual pays per year, a realistic bonus from history or a stated payout range, and one-time cash in year one.

If currencies differ, convert with the rate on the day you compare and write the date. Do not use a rate you “roughly remember.” Keep the original currency in one column and the conversion in another.

Do not drop the whole equity grant into year one. Split it by vesting year at a conservative price. For a private company, add a column where the equity is worth zero. Read both: cash if it works, cash if it does not.

Separate year one from the steady year

Year one often includes a signing bonus, moving help, and a partial bonus. That is the right view of the next twelve months of cash. It is the wrong view of ongoing pay.

The steady year drops one-time items and keeps base, a bonus estimated from real payout history, and equity that vests each year. Compare that steady year with a published median, and check whether the median includes bonus.

If they only stress “year-one package,” ask for the steady-year figure. A high first year and a drop in year two is a common structure, not a mistake in your math.

Columns worth putting on one sheet

Suggested columns: base, target bonus, bonus you can actually expect, equity vesting per year, signing bonus and how long you must stay, days in office, commute or remote, leave days, insurance you pay, probation length, next review date.

Use one unit per column. Do not convert extra leave into “feels like a lot of money” unless you would truly give up a cash amount you can calculate for those days.

Mark deal-breakers in their own column: must move to a city, no visa support, a non-compete that covers your whole field. Those are not weighted. They reject the offer.

• Base times pays per year
• Bonus from payouts, not the target
• Equity split by year
• Deal-breakers listed apart

Scope and level beat the title

“Manager” may manage no one. “Senior” may still be execution. Write year-one success criteria under each offer. The side that builds evidence you want gets the point. A nicer title alone does not.

Ask how many people on the team were promoted in the last twelve months against a written standard. “Room to grow” with no standard is not a substitute for cash.

If the level is clearly below your evidence, pay near the median can still lock you into a lower next step. Write that risk down. Do not plan to fix it after you start.

Check the published range

For the same kind of work and place, read annual P25, median, and P75. Steady-year cash under P25 on senior scope means asking whether the level is marked too low. Far above P75 means asking whether unvested equity was counted as pay.

If remote pay follows where you live, use that place’s range, not the headquarters range. The wrong place makes the same offer look too high or too low.

Figures on this site are a reference band. The written terms decide the offer. The published range only shows whether that offer sits low, middle, or high.

When the scores are close

If cash is within a few thousand dollars, look at three things that last: whether a manager has said what you must deliver in quarter one, whether the team was stable last year, and whether the work gives evidence for the level you want in two years.

Visa, relocation, and whether remote work can be revoked go in the risk column. One risk you cannot carry rejects the offer even when the cash is higher. Do not “start and see.”

Set a reply date. Before that date, confirm unclear terms by email. Waiting without a date lets both offers die. Do not sign before the confirmation.

A worked comparison

Illustration in dollars, not a real offer. Offer A: $92,000 base, 10% target bonus paid at about 80% the last two years, no equity, $5,000 signing bonus if you stay a year. Offer B: $86,000 base, 15% target bonus with no payout history, about $8,000 a year of equity on a conservative price, $10,000 moving help in year one. A has higher, checkable steady-year cash. B may show more cash in year one, but bonus and equity are uncertain. If you need predictable cash, A ranks first. Consider B only if you accept the swing and have written the base you can live on if the equity is worth nothing.

Compare yen offers in yen on the same columns. Do not rank a yen figure against a dollar figure by size. Convert, and write the rate date.

Complex equity and cross-border tax need a professional. This article is only the comparison method.