How should I respond when a recruiter asks me the company I received an offer from?

Question

I am interviewing with firm A, and I informed them I received an offer from another firm B because firm B requires me to submit my decision soon, and I wanted to expedite the process with firm A. The recruiter for firm A asked who firm B is and when I must respond to B.

Both A and B are firms in the financial industry. I am concerned the recruiter from firm A may reach out to a recruiter from firm B. Also, I must submit my decision to firm B in approximately a week, and I am concerned it is not enough time for firm A to make a decision. How should I respond to the recruiter from firm A?

Answer 1

Don't tell them (especially if they are a third-party recruiter) which company. It's not their business which offers you have to evaluate. Recruiters/hiring managers are used to candidates interviewing with and having offers for different companies.

Inform them politely, "I have received an offer from another firm and am required to let them know by 12/1/2012."

You could, depending on where in the interview process you are, ask if there is any way they can move the process faster. Something like "I would really like to consider an offer from Firm A as well. After my last interview, we were both optimistic - is there any opportunity we can help make this happen?" or something similar.

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To address some of the comments about "why not to say" (to a company recruiter) -

1. It is disrespectful to the other company to reveal information made in confidence. How would you feel if Firm B went around telling other companies they had made you an offer?

2. Would you feel comfortable asking Firm A questions along the lines of, "how many candidates are you interviewing for this position?" or "have you made an offer for this position to another candidate?" (you may actually be comfortable asking these sorts of questions, and if so, imagine the feeling the HR people might have - probably "hm, well, this isn't really your business to know")

3. This lessens your negotiating ability. If Firm A has no idea what Firm B is, they will not have any information about other offer is, and be forced to adjust their offer accordingly. You want to start negotiations on an offer from a perspective of mutual efforts to find an agreeable deal - this is harder when you add a known third party into the mix.

4. Everyone involved is a business person. We - as job seekers - tend to make these things way more important than they really are. In all likelihood, if you respond similar to what I've or some of the other answers say, you will not even get any pushback, because the HR person probably will go "ok, didn't answer, oh well" if they even care that much. If they care and give you a harder time for not answering the question I would find that information valuable as well, as it shows that Firm A (or at least the HR people you are dealing with) do not fully respect your privacy in a way most companies will.

Answer 2

I would respond with the following:

I prefer not to divulge the any of the details of the offer. It was was a confidential offer, presented to me by a different company, for a different position. I would treat any offer presented by you or your company with the same discretion.

I would not share any of the details beyond the date you will need to make a decision by. I would probably provide a date at least 24 hours prior to the actual deadline so that I have time to consider any other offers. If you decide to counter do not do so by saying that another company offered me X will you match it. Counter with if you can make offer me X I will accept.

The reason that I would respond in this way is primarily respect. Treating the companies offers this ways shows them that you respect them and that you respect yourself. You demonstrate your trustworthiness by not attempting to leverage offers against each other. By communicating that you will be making a decision by a certain date is often the motivating factor to get a recruiter giving your offer the priority.

Answer 3

In my professional development classes from college I was told to never tell "firm A" which other companies had offered me a job. It is likely their next question will be something along the lines of "how much are they going to pay you?" in an effort to simply match that offer, which destroys your competitive advantage. I wouldn't risk telling firm A anything, the less they know the better off you are, and if they push the issue I would take it as a warning sign about firm A.

As enderland said in his answer, I would simply tell them that you have another offer and give them the date you need an answer by. Hopefully firm A will give you an offer before this date and you will have time to negotiate before making your choice.

Answer 4

This is a good position to be in.

There are more benefits to telling firm A that you have an offer from firm B:

• It makes you look more desirable.
• You can negotiate a better deal with firm A.
• If firm A contacts firm B, firm B will realize you are in demand - you can negotiate a better salary there.
• You can play them against each other in a professional way: for example, in firm B I will be able to do this type of work, will I be able to do that at firm A?
• Recruiters want to know how you appeal to other recruiters, so if you are confident about offer B and how recruiter B perceives you, them talking can build you up!