- UNLIMITED VACATION. In theory, this sounds great. In reality it sucks for the employee. Employees who take more than the average are going to be carefully scrutinized. There is peer pressure not to take too much vacation. Also, most states consider vacation to be money earned. When you leave, if you have vacation on the books, they have to pay you out for it. If it's “unlimited” then they owe you nothing when you leave.
- SIGNING BONUSES. If you plan to stay in a job more than a couple of years, you're much better off taking additional money than a signing bonus, even if the additional money is a bit less. That's because your raises are only calculated on your salary. One time payments like bonuses don't count. Over time, you lose to compounding. For example, if you get hired for $50,000 and get a 3% raise per year, with compounding your salary will be $67,195 after 10 years ($68,195 if you add 10% of a 10K signing bonus). If you get hired for $55,000 and get a 3% raise per year, with compounding your salary will be $73,915 after 10 years. You're making about 5x the signing bonus over the by getting an extra $5K up front instead of a $10K signing bonus.