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I am waiting on a decision from one of my preferred employers. In the meantime, while I was waiting, I still did other interviews. I think I might be close to getting an offer from another employer.

When and if that happens, I would still like to know what decision my preferred employer has made, and if its positive, I would still like to evaluate their job offer and compare to this other one I get.

For this purpose, if I get this other offer, I plan to inform my preferred employer, so that they can finish the process and let me know of their offer sooner, if any.

My issue is, if after the preferred employer has made their offer, I still find it to be not as good as this other offer, is it okay to refuse the offer from the preferred employer then? I ask this because, it would feel weird that I rushed them to make an offer, and then I refused, right? Or is that okay to do?

Mainly I want to know what's a good approach in this scenario, to end up with the best offer, but also not to leave a bad impression with the employer whose offer is not accepted. Do I negotiate with both against what the other is offering and then decide?

Any tips?

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    How do you intend to "speed up a job offer process" without damaging your rep? – Twyxz Mar 4 '19 at 10:30
  • Thanks every one for the answers. Helps me look into the situation better. There is an update on this whole scenario by the way. The other employer extended an offer to me yesterday. The offer seems okay, but is not entirely up to my liking, seeing the extreme workload, unpaid extra hours and a mediocre salary for that. I have got about 5 days to accept or reject this offer. – har00n86 Mar 6 '19 at 2:52
  • On the other hand, I had emailed my preferred employer for a general follow up. They have mentioned they are still in the process of assessing a few candidates, and that they would likely call me for another interview next week. Now the issue is, the preferred employer could go either way. If the interview goes well and I receive an offer, that would be great and problem solved. However, if I do not receive an offer then it could be bad, because by then this other offer would have already expired, and I would end up with nothing. – har00n86 Mar 6 '19 at 2:58
  • Is it okay to still hurry the preferred employer and inform them of this other job offer I have just received? Or would that be really negative, seeing that they have already emailed me mentioning that they have been busy assessing candidates and planning interviews. Seeing that I have already gotten 5 days to decide on the other offer, would it be okay if I ask this other employer to maybe extend that time period? Giving the reason that I am awaiting on another interview/offer process? – har00n86 Mar 6 '19 at 3:00
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I ask this because, it would feel weird that I rushed them to make an offer, and then I refused, right?

That's precisely why it is called "an offer". You are free to accept or reject it, it's your decision.

Letting your preferred employer know that you are having other opportunities is not a bad thing, rather it portrays your intent to keep going with the organization if you accept the offer (rather than bailing out in the probation period for a better offer). No one wants to be in a "losing" relationship, so it is pretty evident that if you're not happy with a part of the relationship (the remuneration / compensation), it's not going to last long. You are at least showing positive effort to make it work by opening up a clear discussion.

If they are willing to match the compensation from other organization - good. If they don't (or, can't) - you still have the other offer.

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A kiss is not a promise. Evaluating an offer is not pre-accepting it. You know you'll likely get another offer and you want to have both so you can compare. This is perfectly fine ethically speaking.

Once you get both offers, you can try make your preferred employer match the other offer. I fully recommend listening to the Salary Negotiation episode of the Kalzumeus podcast, which directly applies to your situation:

At that point, you say, “I think we’re close here. It’s important for me to let you know that while I would really love to work for your company, I’m fairly decent at what I do, and I’m obviously searching for a lot of offers in parallel. There’s another offer on the table from a peer organization.”

[...]

A peer company has put an offer on the table which I felt was very fair, and I don’t want to have to make the decision to work for that company just based on numbers. I would love to work for you so much, so do you have any slack on your offer?

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Every firm has their process and steps in place so that they don't make mistake of hiring wrong person. That being said sometimes process can get slow and can be a problem so its better to ask about the status and see if it can be completed soon.

Best is to extend your joining date and get offers from whichever companies you wish to get hired or are interested in.

Even if they speed up their process upon your request you are under no obligation to accept it and they probably will not make any such assumption.

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    @MartinBonner indeed - I've even been in the position several times of wanting to hire people for my team, interviewing and then losing out on candidates because the people who sign off the process took too long. If I had a candidate tell me they'd received another offer, I could at least use that to try and leverage a speedier decision on their behalf. It doesn't hurt to ask (in fact it demonstrates that the candidate is good, because they're in demand). – delinear Mar 4 '19 at 11:53
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    I agree with Martin i will edit my answer. Thanks. – Stupid_Intern Mar 4 '19 at 12:13
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I would recommend making sure that everybody knows the situation. Make both companies aware that you are interviewing because you find both positions interesting. I do not consider this disrespectful. If they really want you, then they will consider this as impetus to make a better offer and to move faster.

Now that I am on the hiring side, I would hate to have a candidate inform me that they are dropping out of the recruitment process because they got another offer. If I think they are good, then I would bend over backward to meet their conditions.

In effect, letting both companies know that you are likely to get an offer from the other should have the effect of making the companies compete against each other. The net result should be that you receive a better offer.

If one of the companies cannot meet your timeline, then I would take this as a sign that they do not want you that much. If they really want you, they will be flexible.

Background: I had three simultaneous offers from 3 very big multinationals before which I parlayed into the best offer. In the end, all of the companies were willing to meet the terms of the others, meaning i essentially just got to pick which job I would like most.

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  • I gave a vote on this answer.. It very nicely articulates my thoughts and experiences with the subject.. Welcome to the community.. – Smitty Mar 4 '19 at 16:53
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You're clearly happy with the current offer you have.

Don't burn any bridges or step on any toes and just accept it. Pushing your luck with the other company is just going to ensure that you don't get an offer.

If you do get an offer and it happens to be better, depending on contract, you could just quit the job you accepted and accept the new offer but be warned this will pretty much ruin your chances of going back to the company you just quit.

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  • How very rude! Much better to let the preferred employer know there is competition and they need to get a shift on. – Martin Bonner supports Monica Mar 4 '19 at 11:28
  • @MartinBonner And then when they say "Sorry but we have to follow our hiring processes" what do you do then? – Twyxz Mar 4 '19 at 11:37
  • Shrug your shoulders and take the other offer. At least you gave them a chance. (I have never worked for a company where that would happen after I had been for an on-site interview though.) – Martin Bonner supports Monica Mar 4 '19 at 11:40
  • Yeah, I don't see any problem with explaining the situation to the preferred employer and seeing what they can do. Worst case, they say their process has no flex and you're free to take the back-up offer. So long as you don't string the non-preferred employer along unnecessarily waiting on the preferred offer, I don't see how you're burning bridges (it will likely take them a few days to sort out the paperwork before you have to sign anything). – delinear Mar 4 '19 at 11:49
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    I downvoted as well.. basically for the same reasons as Martin and delinear.. "Im sorry to rush you but I have a competing offer" makes the candidate appear more valuable to me.. especially if my competitors see value somewhere.. only ugly and spiteful companies will look at that and think "They are considering other options, they must not really want to work for us or are unreliable.. lets not give them an offer based solely on speculation".. – Smitty Mar 4 '19 at 16:48

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