Waiting for approval of a job position, meanwhile I got invited to another interview

Question

I'm in a bit of a complicated situation!

I applied for a job three months ago, and a recruiter X contacted me 2--3 weeks after I applied. I couldn't understand X's dialect, and X spoke very fast (+ I'm not a native speaker). At the time I did not have time to talk, but we agreed to talk later. X never called back, and I felt that I had bombed the call by being awkward.

So I decided to apply for other positions and got eventually a conditional offer that I accepted (two weeks ago). I haven't signed anything yet, but I am waiting for approval of the position (but according to the CEO there will be no problem with the approval of the position). Today, I got to my surprise a mail from X saying that the managers have reviewed all the CVs and wanted to organize a meeting.

I am not sure how to go about this! Will it reflect poorly on me if I meet with X's company while waiting for approval? I'm afraid that I will end up in the situation where I say "no" to X and my position don't get approved (= no job).

Answer 1

If you don't have a signed contract, you can and should keep applying and attending interviews if you're invited.

It happened to me just recently that I had an oral offer - repeated twice. Then the contract never came. Sometimes it also happens that in the contract there are conditions you can't accept and that have never been mentioned during interviews.

It would be silly not to keep interviewing.

Answer 2

Yes, you should keep applying for and interviewing with other companies until you have signed a contract.

After you've progressed beyond the initial interview with at least one company, I'd recommend that you respond to any new interview requests with something along the lines of, "Yes, I'd love to discuss this opportunity with you. I am exploring options with several companies, and I'm expecting to decide among those options within the next two weeks. Does that timeline work for you?"

This makes it clear to the new company that you do have other options and a timeline, and lets them make an informed decision about pursuing a candidate that may not be available for long. Note that two weeks (or whatever timeline you specify) should be an accurate time frame, as an employer may simply assume that they missed their opportunity if they can't make an offer within that time. If you need to keep the time frame more open-ended, go with "within the next few weeks" or something similar.