I have a job offer but I’m waiting on 2 or 3 more opportunities to see if they pan out. I’ve told my potential employer this when I was interviewing. Does this sound OK?
“Thank you for your offer. As we discussed I have several opportunities I am considering at this time. I will be sure to reply with a decision as soon as possible.”
How long does their offer stand? Did they say? I would find out before saying anything else.
I have 2 weeks to decide
At this point, I don’t think it’s beneficial to be specific about why you aren’t giving them an answer now. Simply say “Thank you for your offer, I’m going to take a little time to consider it and I will give you a response by [specific date].” Don’t leave them wondering when you’re going to respond.
You also need to be prepared for them to not be willing to wait that long, which is their prerogative. They have other candidates who are waiting to hear if they’ll get an answer, so your delay affects more than just the company.
I can think of no easier way to get yourself removed from consideration. I’ve certainly revoked offers for that sort of response before.
Instead, ask a question. Something that will take them a day or two to get back to you on that’s about the work.
But don’t wait too long.
Well I’ve been upfront about the fact that I have other opportunities. That’s why they gave me the 2 weeks.
If there is a 2 week timeframe, I would just thank them for their offer and assure them that you will give them an answer before their deadline.
Well, no need to rub their faces in it by reiterating. You did post the question, which suggests you weren’t 100% sure that this was the right thing to say, n’est-ce pas?
So…
Thank you for the offer. I will respond by XXX date?
Yeah, it’s not ideal for them - they want a ‘when do I start?’ response but if they’ve offered you 2 weeks to decide you can use it. But mentioning that you’re waiting on other offers is a non-starter. No one wants to think they’re second fiddle.
Employment offers typically consist of things like health insurance, vacation, changes to the commute, etc that do require consideration in addition to the salary. It’s not unheard of to need time to process the offer, discuss with family members, etc.
I had a job offer once that looked great until you realized that a 10K salary increase was going to result in me getting paid 6K less per year because they didn’t contribute to the health insurance (which was about 16K per year in premiums for my family)
So, thank them for the offer, let them know you’re considering it and will respond “soon” but don’t make any hard commitments.
It’s also not unheard of to let other prospective offer-givers know that you’re on a clock. “Hi there, I really enjoyed interviewing with you and your staff, and really like x, y and z that you described about the opportunity. I would love to be considering an offer from your company along with another I recently received, and I have until X to return my response to the other company. If you could let me know the status of my application with you, it would be much appreciated!”
I’ll caveat all of this by saying that if a company rescinds an offer because they don’t want you to hear from other companies, then you probably didn’t want to work for them anyhow (unless you’re desperate and just need employment.) Having multiple job offers during a time of low unemployment is something that most companies should expect, and professional companies shouldn’t react negatively to it.
Two things: first, it’s not necessarily that they rescind the offer because you are looking at other opportunities; as you say, everyone knows this. But coming out and saying it explicitly after receiving an offer would make me question the judgment of the person. It’s already understood, so it comes across as a little jerkish to say it again.
Second, as much as I might understand that candidates have multiple offers, waiting two weeks for an answer might not work for my company. The OP is lucky that they were given a generous timeframe. We interview multiple candidates at once, and if I put my second choice on hold for that long while waiting for an answer from the first, they might not still be available. And it’s not a great way to treat the other candidates.
Great bits of advice here. Are you *sure *you have all the information you need from them? Any lingering questions about benefits or something? Two weeks is a pretty generous amount of time to let you respond, in my experience.