Entertaining multiple job offers.

bloodyroarxx · September 2008

So I have an interview for a job tommorow but I am waiting for a guaranteed callback from another and better offer sometime this week.

Do I tell this interview that I am entertaining another opportunity? If they hire me on the spot I don't want to then get the better job and callback. Do I just say that ill let them know by the end of the week depending on my other opportunity?

Daenris · September 2008

If they offer you the job on the spot, you tell them you'll let them know in a reasonable time frame (couple of days, whatever). There's not really any reason to come right out and tell them you're looking at other jobs. I think it's pretty well understood that if you're looking for a job you're probably looking at multiple places.

By no means do you ever want to say anything like "I'll let you know after I hear whether this other job turned me down."

The Crowing One · September 2008

You need to be careful, here. I've gotten job offers and done exactly as Daenris has suggested only to find that they filled their position the moment I got off the phone/out of the room with them.

What's the job(s)?

Daenris · September 2008

If they offer you the job on the spot, and then agree to give you a few days to respond, and then just hand the job to someone else before that time is up, I personally would not want to work for them anyway.

Obviously it's a different situation if you ask if you can let them know in a few days and they say they need to know now. In that case you really just need to decide whether this guaranteed job is better than some other potential job that you may not get.

shutz · September 2008

What's so bad about starting a new job and then quitting a short while later because you've found something better? They would do the same to you if they somehow found someone better than you, and since you would have just started out, it's not like they can't get rid of you for no reason.

One exception to this is if you work in a mostly "incestuous" industry. For instance, if you work in the video games industry, in a town with multiple development studios, people tend to get shuffled around regularly, and everybody knows everybody, in which case you don't want to get a bad rep as a "mercenary" who'll leave at the worst time because you've been offered something better.

There may also be the question of non-compete clauses, if both jobs are in the same industry, but then again, those are rarely enforced (usually only when the person leaving was particularly valuable or critical to the "losing" party.)

One way you could present it is as follows, but only if they offer you a job on the spot: "I've been offered other posts, and I have to decide. I really like you, but I need a few more days to decide."

If they won't let you have those 2-3 days, and insist that it's now or never, they're being a little too pushy (although there are some rare good reasons for this sort of thing...) Like others have said, at that point you need to decide if you prefer to take a guaranteed job, or take a chance at something potentially better. If you can afford the risk, go for it, but most of us would probably take the first job.

Actually, I'd go back to my first point: if they insist that you need to decide now, take the job, and if the other place offers you the better post, quit the first job for the other one. It's their fault that they put you on the spot when you requested a little more time to think.

lizard eats flies · September 2008

shutz wrote: »

What's so bad about starting a new job and then quitting a short while later because you've found something better? They would do the same to you if they somehow found someone better than you, and since you would have just started out, it's not like they can't get rid of you for no reason.

The problem with this is its a black mark on your resume. If I'm looking at hiring someone, and I see they took a job for a few weeks and then moved to another one that says to me they might do it again. And hiring someone is expensive for a company to do, so I'm not going to be likely to hire you and waste money if I think you'll be leaving shortly.

The right answer is to get an offer in writing and tell them you'll get back to them by an agreed upon date. A verbal offer on the spot would scare me anyway, I would ALWAYS take a day or two to think it over and get back to them, even if I was sure that was the job I wanted. Plus if its juts a verbal on the spot offer, I doubt it holds much weight and you set yourself up for being screwed over.

World as Myth · September 2008

lizard eats flies wrote: »

shutz wrote: »

What's so bad about starting a new job and then quitting a short while later because you've found something better? They would do the same to you if they somehow found someone better than you, and since you would have just started out, it's not like they can't get rid of you for no reason.

The problem with this is its a black mark on your resume. If I'm looking at hiring someone, and I see they took a job for a few weeks and then moved to another one that says to me they might do it again. And hiring someone is expensive for a company to do, so I'm not going to be likely to hire you and waste money if I think you'll be leaving shortly.

anyone who would list a job they kept for a few weeks on their resume is a fool.

stawk · September 2008

World as Myth wrote: »

lizard eats flies wrote: »

shutz wrote: »

What's so bad about starting a new job and then quitting a short while later because you've found something better? They would do the same to you if they somehow found someone better than you, and since you would have just started out, it's not like they can't get rid of you for no reason.

The problem with this is its a black mark on your resume. If I'm looking at hiring someone, and I see they took a job for a few weeks and then moved to another one that says to me they might do it again. And hiring someone is expensive for a company to do, so I'm not going to be likely to hire you and waste money if I think you'll be leaving shortly.

anyone who would list a job they kept for a few weeks on their resume is a fool.

there are allot of fools in the world. saw an application at work the other day were someone put their reason for leaving their last job was that they got caught stealing....

Æthelred · September 2008

I'm in a similar situation. Delay acceptance on every offer you can - you need to have as many offers in front of you as possible, so you can make the most informed decision. If you're pressured to take up a job on the spot then the business is shady to start with. Everywhere reasonable will give you at the very least a few days to consider - after all, usually you don't hear the salary details until near the end of the process.

PirateJon · October 2008

god no, don't tell them. You'll look like someone who will jump ship the first time an extra $ comes along.

Remember this line:
"I will consider your offer." Add "when do you need to have a response?" if he doesn't supply one.

If he has a problem with that, consider yourself lucky cause red flags are usually harder to spot.

shutz · October 2008

I've been offered two jobs on the spot. In one case, a friend (who'd worked there before, knew our future boss, and was being re-hired on the spot too) vouched for me and the manager in question saw that my resumé was overkill for a videogame testing job.

The second time, I'd come in for a second interview, and I was just really happy to leave a phone tech support (for a major cable ISP) for a job that paid about twice as much.

In both cases, I was somewhat desperate, and was not pressured into deciding then and there: there just was no point in delaying my response, as the first time I was going from unemployed to employed, and the second time, I was leaving a shit job I'd taken because no other interviews had led to an actual job.

So I guess this thread has provided some form of consensus.

OP: let us know how it goes.

Penny Arcade

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