I just had a very odd (at least for me) thing happen. I had been interviewing for a job as a credit manager. I interviewed with H/R, the controller and the general manager over a period of a week. Then I didn’t hear back in a week and a half, which I figured was OK because of the holiday etc.
Then yesterday the H/R lady called and offered me the job. I said “Well I thank you very much and am very interested, may I have the rest of the day to think it over and call you with my final decision tomorrow Friday?”
A bit to my surprise the H/R lady says “No, we need your answer now, you are not the only candidate for this job and if you don’t want it we need to offer it to the next person immediately.”
I hadn’t expected such a reaction and quite frankly it took me back, especially her tone of voice when she said it, as if to say “how incredulous of you NOT to want our job.”
I have done this before and NEVER had a problem with it before. I said “Well in that case, I will decline and thanked her.” I felt very uncomfortable and well I still have my part time job and didn’t think I wanted to work for a company like that.
But is this a common thing I should be aware of in the future. I guess I could, in the future just say yes, THEN later turn it down.
There was no question of money or benefits as on my interview the people said “they have specific pay and benefits for each job and they don’t flex. The pay is what it is.” And the pay was fine, my concern was the commute.
Is there any other reason a company would be so inflexible in not allowing me the rest of the day to think it over then calling them back the next morning?
I’ve done a fair amount of hiring, and I’ve never heard of such a thing. In fact, the “let me think it over/discuss it with my spouse and I’ll call you back tomorrow” response is pretty standard.
I think it’s a big red flag that they won’t give you a few days (much less a few hours!) to think it over. Very odd indeed. I would have done the same thing you did.
How weird and how shady. It’s protocol to afford the candidate time to discuss the offer with a spouse/partner, and negotiate salary, start date, etc.
I would write a letter formally declining the offer and stating that part of the reason was the inflexibility the HR manager showed when you asked for time to consider the offer. Remember, if this is how they treat job candidates, it ain’t going to be any better as an employee.
I agree the H/R lady seemed a bit snippy, but if you have gone through 3 interviews over the period of a week, didn’t that serve as ample time to think over how you would respond if offered the job?
The only times I have heard of people requiring time to think it over is when the offer comes out of the blue.
I’d second this recommendation: based on my own experience, it’s quite possible that the people who wanted to hire you have no idea that the HR manager deals with people this way.
ETA: send the letter to the people who interviewed you, not to HR, obviously.
I have heard that you should ALWAYS ask for a small grace period to think over a job offer. You get caught up in the interview, promises are made, everybody is acting all nicey-nicey - it’s a good idea to take a step back and take a look at the big picture again. You’ve just demonstrated another reason, Rediff - you might find out what the company will act like when you assert your human rights a little bit. I think you made the right call. That company wanted to own you body and soul.
I had a similar situation just yesterday; I interviewed with a job that I thought would be a very good fit for me, and asked for a short period to think it over when they assumed I would start Monday (no job offer was really made). I called back later that afternoon to take the job, and was told that I wouldn’t be allowed to listen to music on headphones while working (the job consisted of spending the entire day typing - having music on while doing that is non-negotiable for me). I had listened to the boss haranguing an admin person while at the company earlier; he went on and on and on after she had already gotten the point. Taking the two things together, I knew that this was not a company that I would fit into - I want to be treated like a human being, not office furniture, so I declined to work there when they grudgingly allowed me to work with headphones on (it was the kind of concession that you know would be rescinded the second you made one mistake).
I think I dodged a bullet by asking for a short grace period, Rediff, and I think you did, too.
Sometimes when you are considering possible situations you play through the “what ifs” but when the situation actually occurs you want a little time to deal with the reality. It may have to do with not considering all the “what ifs” because you don’t want to get your hopes up. Or it may have to do with reality being different for a lot of people.
Its reasonable to ask for time and I’d also write a formal letter declining - to the people you interviewed with and let them know what their HR person’s style is.
Also, “time to think it over” sometimes translates to “time to see if the other places I interviewed with come up with a better offer.” Of course, you can only stall so long.
Yes, you may be interviewing for several jobs. You may also be wanting to go to your current employer and say, “I’ve been offered a job at $X thousand – can you do better than that to keep me?” That’s all part of the job-hunting game, and not at all unethical. However, equally, you can only ask for so much time to “think about it”: I would say that 24 hours is generally reasonable, while for a big move (e.g., to another country), you might ask for up to a week.
In addition to the feeling that the HR person’s response might mimic the companies attitude toward employees, the HR person’s communication also leaves me with the feeling that this company doesn’t see you as any different from the other people on their list. They (or at least HR) don’t really care if they hire you or the next person on the list. You just happen to come first alphabetically (or by luck, or by SSN…)
The irony is that the company may scare off their preferred candidates in order, one at a time, using this ridiculous hard-sell approach. Once they’re down to the bottom of their list, they’ll be forced to give their least-desirable guy less crap because if he declines, they’ve got nobody left to go to. :smack:
My current employer gave me nearly a month between their offer and my acceptance. At the time they made the offer they asked me if I had any other offers or interviews pending; I did, in fact, have an interview on the east coast scheduled about a week and a half from then.
They were very cool with me holding off on giving them an answer until that was dealt with. I talked to the HR person every week or so, keeping them up to date.
As it turned out, the east coast company was slow figuring out whether they wanted to offer me a job or not, despite the fact that they were going to “rush” their decision because I had another offer on the table. After a while I finally realized that I didn’t care - the job here in California was too good to pass up, and I was going to accept it regardless. So I called the east coast people, explained the situation, and withdrew myself from consideration; the HR guy there was understanding. When I called to accept the west coast offer, they still had not started applying pressure to make up my melon.
One year later, I remain convinced it was the right decision - I love my job, and this company treats its employees very well.
However, in medium to large companies, don’t base your decision to take the job on whether the HR person is a twit. You’ll probably never talk to that person again if you take the job and have a decent boss.
Ditto. If they’re that desperate to get someone to jump on it, somethin’ stinks. Either you’ll be plunged into a short-turnaround clusterfuck or someone’s difficult to work with or something! Out of curiosity, what kind of job was it? I could see if you’re on one of those crab boats and they’re shipping out in an hour, but most jobs allow you to discuss it with the husbandal unit, at least.
This is a good point; perhaps the prospective supervisor is not aware that his first picks are being treated this way. Write the controller a thank you letter for the interview, and mention the circumstances behind why you declined the job. You may get a call back.
Until they tell me salary, benefits, etc in writing, I don’t have anything to think things over. I would need time to review the offer letter at least.
When I interviewed for my current job, they made it quite clear they were short-handed and wanted to fill the position immediately. When they made me an offer I accepted it immediately.
My soon-to-be-boss was shocked, and asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to sleep on it.
It’s common courtesy, and if the HR person didn’t want to give you that, screw 'em.
I was at my current job for four months through a temp agency, when they offered me the job for permanent. Even then I said I’d have to think about it and get back to them.
