Holding off on a job offer for more than a week

getmore4less

yellow1231231 said:

Deleted User said:

Be honest. Appreciate this is hyperthertical for you at the moment. If you don't want the job end of, say so. (ie Don't settle for second best in first place if you are not buzzing and need to ask the question you have then you do not have the right position) I was offered a Telesales role after second interview on a Thursday at 2pm being called all manor of things 9am the following Monday (very personally I realised the interviewer realised another company was in the mix) and brought the start date forward by a whole month - the kindest thing was as it being offered was to say no way but nope. As it took a further 23 hours to get the job offer I wanted from the company I more saw Christmas 2020 with. The lady claimed my acceptance meant everyone was declined on the Thursday and they would need to run recruitment all over again, being she was a sales woman and clearly eager to start someone, I have no idea how I was going to put her off and learnt a valuable lesson alongside hearing we don't offer the job again to anyone who turns us down - don't want job; don't engage or lead on. It's pretty cruel.

i understand my grammars not great but i have no idea what you are saying.

You must be new here

NaughtiusMaximus

k3lvc said:

For me (and may be an unpopular opinion) but you think overnight, accept and then if one of the others comes to fruition you decline the original offer. Surely they don't need to tell them that you're interviewing elsewhere - they'll know that anyone looking for work should have a number of irons in the fire

Completely agree, I've been in this position twice in my working life where I've been offered a job while waiting to hear back for one I prefer. On one of those occasion I was offered the better job and when I told the company who offered me the first job they were okay about it, disappointed but understanding my situation.

tbh I think the vast majority of people would do the same.

Sandtree

I personally am reluctant to accept an offer and then subsequently decline it when something better comes along. I've had it done once to me when I was the hiring manager which meant we had to restart the whole recruitment process and waste a lot of my time... I wouldnt have had an issue with them just saying they were awaiting to hear back from another role. Ironically about 9 months later the same persons CV came across my desk again... needless to say they didn't get an interview.

It is a hard one to say, you need to avoid giving them the impression they are second best but this generally is manageable as the reality is pay, location, role, company etc all vary and its easy enough to try and say both are good and have different positives but you cannot ultimately make a decision until you know what, if any, offer you get... normally saying the other role was advertised with very wide salary range helps explain the uncertainty.

Exodi

I've had this happen in the past - I tried to do the whole 'could you send me the contract and give me some time to review it' which bought me nearly a week but it was clear the employer was becoming frustrated at the indecisiveness and I was basically forced into declining the role (fortunately it worked out as my best option ended up coming in but it could have been a disaster).

I would say in general it's better to accept an offer, then subsequently decline it in a week or two, than it is to try to buy long periods of time instead (assuming you don't physically start the role). As someone that occassionally recruits staff myself, I appreciate the frustration when someone pulls out of a role and you have to contact people you've rejected but this inconvenience is weighed up against someones financial future and happiness.

I feel like you don't have these options that we talk about in this thread however as I see you mention that you likely won't hear back from the other role for at least several weeks. I think it's out of the question to dither on the contract for this long so you will either have to accept or reject the job (if you accept it, you may be put into a situation where you physically start the role then have to quit depending on start date - again, it will undoubtedly annoy the employer but we have to put ourselves first). Rejecting the job seems needlessly risky given that you are currently unemployed.

I would also be tempted to speak to the preferred employer and outline the situation and see if there's any possibility they could expedite your interviews. They may even appreciate your strong desire to work for them!

TELLIT01

yellow1231231 said:

TELLIT01 said:

Don't tell them you effectively would prefer another job.  Simply ask them to send a copy of the contract of employment as that will buy you a couple of extra days.  You don't say if you are currently employed, but if you are that will give even more time for the results of other interview to come through.

Even if you accept the job you can turn it down at a later date if a better offer comes through.  My wife was in a similar position but only had 2 jobs offers.  Accepted one and then was offered the 2nd about 10 days later.  She contacted the first company, apologised for any problems it may cause and left it at that.

well it depends if you value honoring you commitments in a straight forward way and not acting in a duplicitous way

Who are you accusing of being duplicitous?  I said it was a bad idea to tell a potential employer that they would be your second choice as, even if you took the job in the end, it could always be in the back of their minds that you could be looking to move on at the first opportunity.  That would not help future career progression and may make them less keen to train up to the next level.

Or are you calling my wife duplicitous?