How to Decide Your Deal Breakers Before a Job Move
This article is part of the Pay, Package and Work-Life Balance guide.
A deal breaker is a condition that would make you decline a role regardless of how strong everything else is. Every candidate has them. Most candidates have not written them down — which means they are at risk of bending them under pressure.
Why deal breakers need to be explicit
When you are in a live recruitment process — with a recruiter enthusiastic about the role, an employer making a compelling pitch, and the excitement of a potential change in the air — it is easy to rationalise away a concern that would normally be a clear no.
Written deal breakers are harder to rationalise. They exist before the pressure arrives, and they anchor your decision-making when that pressure builds.
How to identify your deal breakers
Work through each major dimension of a role and ask: is there a threshold below which I will not go, regardless of other factors?
- Salary: Is there a minimum below which the move makes no financial sense?
- On-call: Is there a frequency of on-call that is simply not compatible with your life right now?
- Travel: Is there a patch size or commute distance that is genuinely unworkable?
- Hours: Are there shift patterns you will not work?
- Employer type: Are there sectors, employer sizes or business models you will not join?
The answers to these questions are your deal breakers. Write them down. Share them with Optio. Use them as a first filter on every opportunity.
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