You wore the navy blue suit, got a haircut, made sure your résumé was edited, and you wowed them in the interview process. Now you’ve got what you were working for: the job offer. Maybe you even have offers from a couple places. Congratulations!

Quick! What was included in the offer? If you’re like most people, especially young people, you can name the title of the job and the salary, but very little else. That’s not enough. Don’t get us wrong - job title and salary are good. And a big salary is better than a small salary. (You won’t catch us turning down any raises.) But you should be looking at a lot more than that when you make your decision to accept or reject an offer.

There are a lot of factors that can make a job a good one or a bad one. As with any other big decision, make a checklist beforehand of the things you want and need. We can’t say which factors will be the most important or valuable to you, but we’ve listed some of the more common ones below. Use our list to start yours.

Non-Financial Factors

• Type and variety of work: Does the work use your skills? Are the tasks of the job varied and interesting? Will the work be challenging?
• Advancement potential: Are there opportunities for advancement within the organization? Will the job look good on your résumé? Are there training opportunities, either on-the-job or formal?
• Environment: Is the company’s environment one you would feel comfortable in? Do the people you’ve met in the interview process seem to like their work and the company?
• Perquisites: How are the company’s vacation policies? Does the position involve travel? Is there on-site daycare?

Financial Factors

• Commissions, bonuses, and stock options: Sometimes these performance-based rewards will give you a good bit of extra income. How much can you realistically expect from them? Are you willing and able to accept the risk that you will get less, or even none at all?
• Health insurance: Will you pay insurance premiums? How much? Do you already have good insurance through a spouse? Does the insurance cover those things that you are most likely to need? Do you have children? If you have a baby, for example, the first year of well-baby visits and immunizations can be expensive if your insurance doesn’t cover them.
• Dental insurance: Are you likely to use it? Does it have a spending limit?
• Vision insurance: Ditto. If you wear contacts, and contacts are covered by the insurance, for example, you’re going to value this more than someone who has never needed glasses.
• Gym membership or other membership: Will you use it? Really? How much would a comparable membership cost?
• Paid educational expenses: Are all classes covered, or just those related to your present job? Are you planning to continue your studies?
• Company car or mileage reimbursement: This is especially important if you will be driving a lot for your job.
• Life insurance: How much is it worth? Are you already adequately covered? See our section on life insurance for more information.
• Disability insurance: Is both short-term and long-term disability offered? Will you have to pay for any part of it? Disability insurance is especially important if it is part of the company’s family leave policy and you are planning on having children soon. 
• Pension plan or 401(k) matching contributions: How much is the company setting aside for you? Can you choose how the money is invested? Will you be at the company long enough to reap the benefits of the investment? You don’t necessarily have to retire from the company, but many companies won’t let you take all or part of the money they’ve invested if you haven’t worked for them for a specific length of time.
• Family-related benefits: If you’re planning on starting a family soon, paid parental leave would be a valuable benefit, for example. Or adoption benefits may be something you are interested in.

Use the chart below to build your own list and compare offers.