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Job Agent recruiters, Hiring Managers, Tech Leads and/or interviewers sometimes asking me how other interviews are going? , and sometimes even ask me if I've been extended any other offers?

How should I respond in a truthful manner? I don't Want to lie, and I don't Want to sound rude by saying something like "it's Not your business or concern"

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    If you want to respond truthfully, why don´t you just do that? Am I missing the question?
    – Daniel
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 10:48
  • FYI there are many similar questions which may help workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/9706/…
    – Fattie
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 13:14
  • They're asking this to determine how serious you are about their job opening and whether or not they're wasting their (valuable) time talking to you. They know you're looking for a job, otherwise you wouldn't be there, and as such there's no harm in answering their question. As for whether or not you should be truthful, the answer is a resounding Yes. Always.
    – joeqwerty
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 3:57

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Speaking from personal experience as an interviewer, trust me when I say there is no malice or forethought in this question.

I normally ask this as an icebreaker, filler before ending the interview, or to gauge the time I have to process your application.

If you are uncomfortable divulging this information, then be vague.

Say you've been to 2 or 3 interviews, and they're still processing applicants. There's no way to check this.

So Don't think too much into it

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    and it is always a way to see how the candidate politely deflects the question...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 8:59
  • While this is totally true, as I say in my answer: a basic of preparing for a negotiation or meeting is that: if you do have any particular concern (such as the one posed in this QA), specifically get a clear, even formulaic, specific, memorized, response in mind: so as to remove that particular concern from play in your preparations.
    – Fattie
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 13:39
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    For recruiters, it's probably also "do I need to be aware of anyone else who might present your CV to people?" in addition to "how much time do I have left?"
    – Simon Richter
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 14:15
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"What to politely say when...

One formula to bear in mind is the opportunity to show enthusiasm answer.

So, combine

  1. a polite generality with

  2. information that simply makes it clear you are not in any way desperate, with

  3. enthusiasm and specific enthusiasm

"Thanks for asking Jane. As you know there are a huge number of contracts available at the moment due to the shortage of programmers. But you know that this is where I want to work because of Mrs Smith and the XYZ project."

If you think about it, those are exactly the three things you need to communicate.

  1. That you're on the same team - this is precisely the function of politeness and conventionality in human verbal interchange

  2. It is crystal clear that you are not in the slightest desperate or needful of the position, yet,

  3. you are truly enthusiastic about the position.

When you have a particular thought or concern about an upcoming negotiation. Such as precisely the excellent question posed here. It's absolutely important to have in mind a clear, memorized if you will, response to that particular concern. Then, that concern is boxed off and minimized so you can think and react in an agile way to the rest of the coming discussion.

This is a basic of preparing for a negotiation or meeting. If you do have a particular concern (such as the one posed in this QA), specifically get a clear response in mind so as to remove that concern from play in your preparations!

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