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I am looking for a new job and a recruiter contacted me about one. The recruiter works for a well known recruiting agency and was hired by a company trying to fill a position. I find things have been moving too fast or have been filling up too much of my schedule. I've had 3 days in a row doing some sort of interview or some sort of test for this job opening. Last Friday the recruiter called me asking when I'm free for another interview. I now realize I should have answered differently but I told her two days that I am almost entirely free. Since it's the weekend I haven't heard back from the recruiter and I can't make any plans for these days since I'm not sure yet when the interview will be. How should I have answered the recruiters question? Should I call or email them Monday morning letting them now my schedule has filled in a bit since the last conversation? In general I find unexpected phone calls asking for this kind of information don't work well for me because I'm not looking at my calendar.

What is a reasonable timeline for events from first interview to starting work? I once had a job offer that expected me to start working the next work day. While I don't want to over generalize from this one data point, it turned out the company was extremely disorganized.

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    Most of my jobs wanted me to start immediately, it's not always a sign of being disorganised, sometimes it means they're well prepared to get someone started and productive
    – Kilisi
    Commented Oct 29, 2023 at 21:38
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    If they have to do 3 rounds of interviewing and STILL has more to do, they're not well prepared at all. If the position is that important, put all the decision makers on at the same time and get it done.
    – Nelson
    Commented Oct 30, 2023 at 1:20

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I once had a job offer that expected me to start working the next work day. While I don't want to over generalize from this one data point, it turned out the company was extremely disorganized.

These things happening aren't solely caused by the job -- you have played a part in this too, by being too agreeable. Very few reasonable jobs call you up for a next-day start, because there are so many legalities to work out. (Exception case - temp agencies that you have already registered at) If I ever got a call like this, I'd consider it suspect. You could have pushed back.

I feel as if some of the same thing is at play here. So you've given the recruiter your availability, but you gave "all day" availability, and now you're cornered because you don't feel like you can do anything else while you wait.

Contact the recruiter and reset that all-day availability to a much smaller window on those days. It's perfectly fine to do - I'd suggest no more than a two- or three-hour window of time. This will free you up to get on with adult life, or schedule other interviews. Do not, do not, do not stop your life for one opportunity. Recruiters go on vacation, take sick days, have to wait for clients to get back to them, and myriad other reasons that delay calling you back.

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