Stalling for time after a successful interview

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Deleted member 651465

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Deleted member 651465

We've all been there... you cast your net out wide and secure interviews for multiple roles (great success!). If you're lucky you may get multiple firm offers.

However, let's assume you get an offer from interview 1 but you're holding out for an offer from interview 2 or 3... what is a reasonable length of time to stall before giving an employer an answer?

I may be in this particular situation soon and wouldn't like to torpedo my own chances by holding out for other offers. However, the other offers may likely be more lucrative and NOT holding out could be costly too.

Thoughts?
 

Approach to 'stalling' on a job offer?

Hypothetical scenario, if you are made an offer for job A but are still going through the process for job B, and you feel like job B might ultimately be your preferred option pending the conclusion of discussions, how do you go about delaying a decision on job A until the position with job B is...
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Can't remember how long exactly I stalled for, I think it was about 8 days. Had I waited for the other process to complete it would have been over 2 weeks.

My situation was a bit different however in that I knew the second company would offer me less money than the first, it's just it was a more interesting job / company. In your case it sounds like the second/third companies will offer more money so you need to wait for them to show their hand before committing.
 
I'm an employer and I would say honesty is the best policy. Hold out for a week at most but if you want to extend just explain that you applied for a few roles and are waiting to see them all through in fairness to those companies. It would show me honesty and respect. If anything, when you go to accept it should give you more leverage.

Any employer who thinks you've only applied for their role is either naïve or you've been poached/it's a niche role.
 
Honesty is the best policy but i would respond within 1 week. If there sre other good candidates then expect an ultimatum of a couple of days so the company don't risk loosing multiple good candidates.
 
Yeah it's worth considering whether they have other options available themselves. The company I joined, I knew they were hiring multiple people and looking to grow rapidly so it was unlikely they would simply hire someone else and reject me, they would just hire both of us and treat them as separate requisitions. It also wasn't the sort of role you could easily fill from a huge candidate pool, without sounding arrogant it wouldn't be like they'd be receiving dozens of applicants of equal calibre.

It was funny the internal recruiter did bring up there being a 'deadline' for acceptance after a couple of days but then very quickly backed away from it saying it wasn't an absolute deadline but was more around their weekly contract processing cycle or some nonsense. I think they realised the risk/reward didn't stack up there, in that it taking slightly longer to hire me would be a lot better than having to go through the whole recruitment process again. It probably helped I had a very short notice period so even delaying a week I'd still join quicker than most.

So for the OP, think about how unique a proposition you are, are you the unicorn they need or are you just one of an array of potential workers they could pluck off the shelf? The less competition you have, the more leverage you should have for stalling.
 
Depends on the context, industry etc... you can try to nudge the other employers too if they know you've got an offer but you're still keen to get a decision, second or further round with them then they could make sure to make a decision and try to schedule your next round ASAP.

Be wary of and try not to feel pressured by exploding offers; "must have an answer by Friday" etc.. is nonsense if you've been open with them and they already know you're interviewing elsewhere and absolutely should be pushed back on.

Is there a good reason why the other employers can't complete their interview process within a reasonable time? Could some of that be pre-empted some large firms have very fixed processes and so might be inflexible but that might also be known in advance - if you've just started talking to a [big US tech firm] recruiter last week and their process might take 2 months or so for an offer but the small tech startup you interviewed with two days ago has just made you one then you probs can't speed along the big firm or reasonably ask the startup to wait that long.

I guess maybe beyond two weeks it could get a bit awkward?
 
If there is a deadline just accept the offer.. then when the others get back to you, just leave, depending on if you have actually physically started.

I once had a job for a week then handed in my resignation as another better offer I was waiting for finally came through.
 
A2Z said:
If there is a deadline just accept the offer.. then when the others get back to you, just leave, depending on if you have actually physically started.

I once had a job for a week then handed in my resignation as another better offer I was waiting for finally came through.
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Worth pointing out that there are risks doing this (industry dependent) but in light of the other thread in here recently re: background checks it could be risky to do this in finance or in other areas requiring comprehensive background checks unless you're prepared to be completely open and up front about the fact you did it.

There are some other niggles with it re: losing out on the ability to leverage competing offers, some possible awkwardness with joining date/notice period and just in general risk re: people talking/burning bridges.
 
A2Z said:
If there is a deadline just accept the offer.. then when the others get back to you, just leave, depending on if you have actually physically started.

I once had a job for a week then handed in my resignation as another better offer I was waiting for finally came through.
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What absolutely terrible advice.
 
So... as an update...

Job 1 - did an "informal chat" with HR which went nowhere
Job 2 - had an interview last Friday
Job 3 - booked an interview this Thursday

Job 2 have already come back and given great feedback. They've also outright told me they need to get approval for the final hire before an offer, which sounds promising. Although the guy they need to speak to is on annual leave for a week, which gives me at least another 2 working weeks.

Job 3 is a gov dept so there's no guarantees they'll be quick. In fact I think they'll be slow, although I'll be keen to nail them down to a timescale in the interview.

I definitely won't be accepting a role just to quit a week later... that would fill me with dread and I think I'd die from shame. Hell, I handed in my notice after 6 months in a new role and I felt scummy :p
 
EVH said:
I definitely won't be accepting a role just to quit a week later... that would fill me with dread and I think I'd die from shame. Hell, I handed in my notice after 6 months in a new role and I felt scummy :p
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I handed mine in once after 6 weeks, so I wouldn't worry about it. But its something you dont want to keep on doing.:D
 
You could tell them you are unhappy with something in the contract and ask if they can review it (could be something like number of holidays, pension contribution %, particular clauses etc)

This will likely eat up a few days and buy you some additional time.
 
An update... I had one firm offer from job 2 and one verbal offer from job 3, pending a security check.

I was upfront with job 2 recruiter about wanting to give the job 3 employer an opportunity to present their firm offer and advised it would be at least a week, possibly longer. Anyway, job 2 recruiter rang today to push for an answer and I simply reiterated that I'm still waiting and in the interest of not wanting to give them the runaround, they may want to wait or proceed with another candidate. I was very clear I wouldn't be signing on the dotted line until I had both firm offers and he spent 45 mins trying to talk me out of the other job.

In fact, he told me that the other offer seemed like a poor career decision and that I may come to regret considering turning down his firm offer :eek:
 
LOL recruiters are such BSers. They get super worried if you're not prepared to accept their offer right away, they love to claim their incentives are aligned with yours too, in reality they just want to close the sale, they don't care if they're not pushing for the optimum salary etc.. for you.
 
This happened to me earlier in the year, had 2 interviews in a week. The first said they thought i did well and would come back, the 2nd offered me a job and during this my current work didn't want me to leave. I see interviews as a 2 way thing, they're hiring you and you're joining them. It's commonly ok to know they are interviewing many people, but some places hate the idea you are applying to multiple places - those company's i auto reject.

In this instance when i told all 3 parties what my situation was, they were all understanding to it - I told them all I would have an answer by the end of next week (like 9 days away) based on whatever offers had come through by then and a discussion with my partner as it's a big move. In the end 3 offers came in, i discussed it with my partner and accepted the one that seemed best for me and that was that.

If I were to walk out of an interview because i heard they were interviewing another person, i think everyone would laugh at me - why should it not be the same in reverse? :)

In your recent info of the 'poor career decision' guy, i'd auto reject him. You are going to work for these people for years/longer, they have to 'feel' right, and that kind of dealing isn't 'right' to me especially if you need their help later on - a quick emergency holiday, some bereavement, a pay rise request etc, you gotta get into a good relationship, not a shifty pushy one.
 
Miganto said:
I told them all I would have an answer by the end of next week (like 9 days away) based on whatever offers had come through by then and a discussion with my partner as it's a big move. In the end 3 offers came in, i discussed it with my partner and accepted the one that seemed best for me and that was that.
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So was that a counter offer from your current employer (at the time) or one of the two new employers you interviewed at?
 
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