Job offer etiquette question

[SaurusX]

I have real world work experience and I know how large corporations operate. They'll propbably give you a week at most to accept or decline their offer. That's not going to be enough time for a round 2 interview with B and then waiting for their potential offer. You've been out of work since December, it's best to play it safe in your situation. My last advice still stands: Accept A, but then politely decline later if B makes a better offer. They do it in college football and they do it in business. This is the way business operates, I thought you just said you realized that.

 

[silverpig]

I have to agree with the people telling you accept offer A, but later decline it if B's offer comes through. Maybe B's offer never comes... In that case you're set. If B's offer obliterate's A's, then I still don't see the problem for you. You'll have a better job at a better place and you won't need A.

Pro-tip: this same logic can be applied to finding a date for prom.

That's a terrible idea.

I've been in this situation and have been honest and up front. I told the first company that I had agreed to an interview with another company and wanted to go through the entire process before I made my decision. I had 3 offers in total and several weeks between the first and the last. Not one offer was rescinded, and even when I turned the two companies down, they were appreciative that I was honest with them and treated them with respect. They both re-iterated their offers and said that if anything changed in my future that I should call them up and I'd be welcome to come over.

If a company has made an offer, it's because they want YOU. If you are flipping burgers at McD's, then yeah, you are replaceable and they'll just go for the next guy, but if you have any sort of marketable skill, they're after that for a reason.

 

[SaurusX]

I know I have a cynical view, but it's a product of what I've personally observed. I've seen job offers rescinded, because of workplace shakeups and do you think the company was worried about how the candidate might view them in the future?

 

[bigrash]

Pro-tip: this same logic can be applied to finding a date for prom.

lol

 

[sze5003]

I've been in a similar situation. I interviewed with company A and but had interviewed with company B previously.

I really wanted either as they are both great companies. Company A took two to three weeks to give me an offer. I also had a week and some change to respond.
Time ran out for me and I picked company A. Two additional weeks later company B got back to me and gave me an offer. Pay was lower and benefits were not as good. When I told them I could not take the offer the manager was upset he was like why not I thought you had said you wanted to work here. I told them I had a better offer and I guess they understood.

I think they were in need of someone quickly but they took so long to get back to me if I had waited company A would expire their offer and I would have been stuck with company B's lower pay and benefits.

Keep asking questions about benefits ask for stuff on paper. Ask for time to consider if they are not in a crunch mode.

 

[Deeko]

Yes, definitely go tell Company A "Hey, I have an interview somewhere else as well. Do you mind waiting whilest I pursue this potentially better offer?" and see how long it takes them to rescind their offer and hire the next schmuck in line. :thumbsup:

Hardly, unless you're interviewing for an assembly line fast food position that anyone can do.

OP, it is reasonable to just request more details about their offer, and tell them you need some time to think about it and weigh all of your options. I was interviewing for new positions last month and did basically that - I was open throughout the process that I was interviewing with more than one company and would be waiting to hear back from all of them before making a decision. I certainly had no offers rescinded for it. If anything it allowed me more leverage in negotiation.

 

[thepd7]

i think either of your suggestions are fine. the 2nd one is something i would definitely do. no way i would just go into a job without knowing the whole package, not just salary.

When is your follow up interview with the other company? And yes I've never accepted a job offer without getting detailed information on their benefits package.

Agreed, get all the info.

Accepting an offer and then backing out of it is a dickish move. Company A is a huge employer, I have no intention of burning any bridges with them regardless of whether I take their offer.

I have to wonder how much real world experience the people who are telling me to back out of accepting an offer have. Believe it or not your word/reputation does have some slight value. Also, if I have the option to delay for a few days why would I give a dishonest acceptance if I can just tell them I need to think about it?

This. I would say I'm surprised so many people don't have common decency but honestly I'm not. This is why I'm a 27 year old sales manager: it's not hard to outshine someone who has no qualms about breaking commitments.

Yes, definitely go tell Company A "Hey, I have an interview somewhere else as well. Do you mind waiting whilest I pursue this potentially better offer?" and see how long it takes them to rescind their offer and hire the next schmuck in line. :thumbsup:

I'll echo all the other people noting I've done this. Door was still wide open.

Dicking over who? Unless someone can speak up with experience, you're acting as if HR makes a profile with your name that says "DONT HIRE THIS GUY!"

Christ, quit being a pussy and do whats best for you. Clearly you're the one always playing catcher and life. The only question is if you give a reach arround to go with it.

Why are you rolling your eyes? Have you heard of the internet? Have you heard of a database? Any company larger than 50 people knows who they have interviewed before and if you broke a commitment I'd be shocked if they agreed to interview you again.

Personally, I always feel that what's best for me is having integrity. It's worked out well for me.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

you need all the info before you can decide on option A. reply back to them asking for all the rest of the details. once you get that, tell them you would like X days to review and that you will reply then. dont drag it on too long.

try to speed up the process on option B in teh meantime.

 

[ichy]

Hardly, unless you're interviewing for an assembly line fast food position that anyone can do.

Bingo. I have no illusions that I'm some indispensable genius but at the same time I do have skills and experience with real world value. I don't expect employers to to treat me like a rockstar but I'm not just a disposable widget either.

 

[edro]

Definitely tell both companies that you have another offer on the table.
In my experience, this ALWAYS benefits you.
I have had both sides sweeten the deal greatly when they were informed I had another offer.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Bingo. I have no illusions that I'm some indispensable genius but at the same time I do have skills and experience with real world value. I don't expect employers to to treat me like a rockstar but I'm not just a disposable widget either.

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

 

[Smoblikat]

or just accept offer a, then go interview with b and if you get the job with b, then tell a (thinking you won't start for a few weeks that is).

sure it sucks for company a but it's not their life/career.

PLEASE PLEASE dont do this, I work in IT for dell and when this happens we scramble around talking to managers and getting equipment, setting it up, imaging it and then when the people take another job we have to either take it all down or hope someone takes their seat. Its such a pain in the ass and a complete waste of time/energy, a very evil thing to do.

 

[sze5003]

Definitely tell both companies that you have another offer on the table.
In my experience, this ALWAYS benefits you.
I have had both sides sweeten the deal greatly when they were informed I had another offer.

That's what I should have done with my company B if I had known they would have gave me an offer. Both of these were large companies but often if you let one know you have an option right now that you can take it may help.

I say may because depending how stuck up they are or how they see things they could think that you are wasting their time or milking them..but that's very rare.

Two things that could happen. Company A says well what offer did you receive we can try to match or give you better. Or they can say we will give you x amount of days to consider. You can play the same with company B.

 

[Deeko]

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

Keep your eyes rolling, that doesn't mean you're right. At my last position we had a mid-level position open for over a year and weren't able to hire someone - and this was in 2009, a lot of people were out of work - sure, we had a ton of applicants, but very few of them were really qualified. And even if there were multiple qualified applicants, the company typically didn't just draw a name out of a hat - they chose the person they thought was the best fit.

What it comes down to, is that it is certainly reasonable to ask for more details (such as benefits) and to ask for more time. And frankly if a company isn't willing to wait a week to hear my response, and I think I have better offers, well, I'll happily move on anyway.

 

[Argo]

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

It really depends on what field you're in. There are a number of fields where number of openings dwarfs number of qualified people. If you're in one of those fields most companies will give you quite a bit of leeway with the interview process.

I was in the same boat as Deeko, I was upfront and honest with both companies and they gave me time to think.

 

[hans007]

i'd probably go through with both interviews and accept the first, and decline it if b is better.

they will understand in the end. companies have made the world a no loyalty place and its understandable.

 

[ichy]

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

Lol, someone sounds bitter because he's still flipping burgers or bagging groceries.

 

[silverpig]

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

Hiring and training someone costs a lot of money. The new person is essentially useless for a week or so while they learn the job. You have to pay them for that time. You may also have to pay to have them move. You also pay 100% salary for the first month on the job when they are operating at 20%-90% efficiency while they learn.

If you want to get rid of someone, you have to pay for the downtime, the search, interview time, and perhaps severance.

And you have to make sure you hire the right person the second time or else you'll have to do it all over again.

So yeah, if you find the right person with the right skills, they aren't easily replaceable.

 

[sourceninja]

I recently accepted a job offer, drove up to the city where I would have to move and spent the weekend there. The realities of the city where much different then my research had made me believe so I rescinded my acceptance. No one seemed to mind at all.

 

[Zargon]

You know, we always hear about people this stupid. Oh, I'm not a grocer at the grocery store - so these companies aren't about to replace me! I'm truly one of a kind.

Oh lawdy, is this the kind of shit you tell yourself daily in order to tell yourself that you're needed? You're more of a disposable widget than a widget itself.

Unless you're a former CEO for a HUGE corporation, you are more than god damn replaceable. You are more replaceable than a grocer clerk. Why? Because in 'Merica people are too good to be a grocer clerk. The main competition in jobs IS in the white collar world. But keep fooling yourselves. You're one of a kind. You weren't interviewed along with 50 others. Your resume wasn't submitted along with 5000 others

except that you are the best of what they could find.

period.

so you are more special than the 499 slubs they nixed by choosing you :whiste: