You have been ready to leave your current job in the construction, engineering, or environmental field for a while because you feel underpaid, stagnant, and/or unappreciated. Showing up at a workplace is something you have been doing due to obligations and even those barely get you out of bed and put to work. Recently, he has spent the necessary time looking for a job, going on interviews and handing in his resignation only to have his boss come up with a counter offer, so he won’t walk away. It doesn’t matter how flattering the counteroffer is when he submits his resignation. He should not accept it for the following reasons.

1. Accepting a counter offer is a short-term solution to the problem. There is an underlying reason why you want to leave your job in the environmental, engineering, or construction industries. It could be a lack of opportunities for advancement, a general feeling that the career you’re in isn’t going to give you the results you want, miserable working conditions, poor management, and/or burnout. Even if the counteroffer includes remedies for the problems you’re experiencing, it may only be a matter of time before your negative feelings return.

2. You should have been doing what you’re worth without the company being afraid of losing you. The fact is that they didn’t value you as an employee if they weren’t willing to pay you what you’re worth. The company that offers you a raise as part of their counter offer indicates that they are only thinking short-term about the risks and costs involved in hiring your replacement. Once they figure out how to replace you without it being a problem, you’ll be gone.

3. Counter offers are always more beneficial for the employer. Often, if the boss feels that the timing of his resignation is not convenient for him, he will want to wait until it is in his best interest to fire him. So, if the company is heading into the holidays, peak season, or you’re working on a big project, they’ll want to offer you a promotion, more money, and/or other benefits because they don’t want to spend time and money interviewing and hiring your replacement at that time. Once the vacation, busy period or project is over, the company will no longer have a reason to retain you.

4. They’re just buying time to find their replacement, who they’ll probably train. Instead of waiting for you to submit another resignation, the company will often ask you to train your replacement. The company would have no reason to keep you on your job once your replacement is trained.

5. The boss may only retain you to keep company morale high and/or to look good with upper management. They may also want to look good for the person or company they’re doing engineering, construction, or environmental work for, and having one of their employees quit during the project doesn’t look good for the company. As soon as this is no longer a problem, they will have no problem firing you.

6. Management will no longer trust you because you have shown a lack of loyalty to the company. Management will pass you up for promotions and you will be the first to be fired because they know you are not committed to the job. They’ll let you go through long-term assignments and projects because they won’t be sure you’ll be around to complete them.

7. Ninety percent of the people who accept the counteroffer will be jobless in a year and a half. Most employees leave a job or are fired within six months of accepting a counter offer.