In an ideal world, it would be great for offers to come in
thick and fast and at the same time, thus allowing you options and choice when
making a decision as to whether a particular job is the right one for you. Whilst this does sometimes happen, it’s
largely unpredictable and all you can do is make your decision based on
whatever offer or offers you have at the time.
It is often the case that you’ll receive an offer from one company
whilst still waiting for a second interview the following week and whilst it
seems entirely reasonable to you and I to hold offer 1 whilst you wait to see
how interview 2 goes, clients can often demonstrate a lack of patience in such
situations. I recently had an offer for
a senior level role in an agency and it reminded me how important communication
is in such situations.
Agency A made an offer to the candidate, put the offer in
writing and expectantly waited for a response.
What we had was silence...I think in most aspects of communication,
silence is never good. Clients need to
hear something – even if it is ‘I need some time to make a decision’. Communication allows the client to try to
understand if there is anything they can do to expediate that decision and if
not, they need to look at their other options too. From the candidate perspective, it transpired
that they were waiting for Agency B to decide if they were going to make an
offer. One didn’t need to be a rocket
scientist to work out that if Agency B offered a role, the candidate would be
turning down Agency A. A series of emailed and texted excuses ensued
and my client (Agency A), understandably became quite frustrated. The candidate, hedging their bets was using
them as back up and Agency A didn’t want to be considered a back up
option. They rescinded the offer. Agency B then didn’t offer the candidate a
role and the candidate then was left with no options on the table. Given the
number of senior roles in the region, it’s likely that there will be a bit of a
wait until we see more roles at that level.
The candidate tried to crawl back to Agency A but they’d filled the role
with their own second choice, someone who accepted it without any delay!
If you genuinely don’t think an offer is for you. Turn it down. Companies can take it, they
wouldn’t want someone who isn’t committed to join them. If you are genuinely undecided, then be
honest but there are degrees of honesty....you don’t want to be so honest that
the company gets so concerned that they change their mind about wanting you. However, if you do want to go to another
scheduled interview and then make a decision, you should probably tell
them. It’s a gamble that they won’t get
the hump, but you can pitch it in such a way that you don’t want to be
unprofessional and let the other company down and that as it is such an
important move, you want to be sure that you have covered all options. You should also make the other company aware
of your situation so that potentially, they can move the interview forward and
make them aware that they need to make a decision swiftly – they should be able
to tell you pretty quickly if it’s a clear no!
Be absolutely clear about whether there is anything the
company need to do – if you are holding out for more money, try to establish if
this is their full and final offer.
Clients do tend to like transparency here rather than having to second
guess if money is the primary motivator.
Equally they don’t like to be held to ransom so it’s important to manage
this delicately. They will want to know
if there is anything they can do to turn your indecision into a yes, so do
think about it and communicate any areas which are causing you doubt.
Clients particularly don’t like to be kept waiting is if they have another
person to offer the role to if it is declined.
In such a situation you will have to make a decision. Whilst I mostly advocate the ‘look after
number one’, it’s not very nice to accept a role, knowing that you may in a
weeks time be declining it. It’s not a
nice conversation to have and you need to know that you are in all likelihood,
burning your bridges with that company. And in the regions, it’s a small world
and people do remember such things.
Having said that, it’s not illegal or against any particular rules, it’s
just not very gentlemanly.
If you are scrupulously honest, talk to the client and tell
them your situation. Ask them for a deadline and commit to making a decision by
then. They might demand an immediate
response but it is more likely that they will be prepared to wait – if you are
truly the right person for them.
However, don’t expect any company to wait indefinitely.
If you are working with a recruiter as the intermediary,
please keep the lines of communication open. If it is a recruiter you trust,
they’ll be objective and give you advice entirely dependent upon the context of
this particular situation. Silence is
never good and at times like this, you need to be talking, not texting and not
emailing.
I suppose there is a caveat that if you think your recruiter
is a shark, is not giving you good advice and is just out for themselves, then
you should talk directly to the client (whilst making the recruiter aware of
this). At this point, you’ll probably
earn some respect for being direct and upfront so it is worth considering. (However...I'm not a shark so if I'm your recruiter, talk to me!).
How you handle this whole area is very subjective and it’s
important to think about it in context of the particular companies in
question. I’m afraid there isn’t a black
and white do’s and don’t list of how you go about it! You’ll need to use common sense and remember,
if you do end up working there, you don’t want your employer resenting you for
taking your time and making them feel like second best. If you have communicated throughout, you’re
much less likely to get anyone’s back up.