Both of these are typical UK graduate offers. Both look reasonable on paper. Below is what OfferWise does with them — scored by the same calculation the live tool uses, so nothing here is illustrative.
Fairbrook pays £3,000 more. That is the number most people compare, and on its own it looks decisive.
But the commute into London costs £4,255 a year, paid out of take-home pay. The Guildford role costs £552. That difference alone is larger than the salary gap.
Then the pension. Fairbrook's employer puts in £900 a year. Halden's puts in £2,160. That is real money going into your name every year you stay, and it is the part of an offer people are least likely to read.
Add the two together and Halden is ahead by roughly £1,963 a year, before counting the enhanced sick pay or the season ticket loan.
Every offer is scored out of 100 across salary, pension, commute cost, annual leave and benefits. Salary is judged against the published median for the career level rather than a single fixed figure, so a graduate offer and a senior offer are each measured against their own market.
Both offers above are set to graduate / entry level, benchmarked against £24,000 — median full-time pay, age 18-21. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 (April 2025 data).
Add as many as you are weighing up. Free, and it takes a couple of minutes.
Score your offer — freeFairbrook Group and Halden & Co are invented employers used to illustrate the comparison. The figures are typical of UK graduate offers but do not describe any real vacancy. OfferWise is an information tool and does not provide regulated financial advice.