Should Bob ask for a fast decision after job interview?

Question

Bob had a job interview at company A. At the end Bob was asked whether he is applying elsewhere so that if this is the case, if necessary, they could try to speed up the decision process. Bob answered truthfully that he is expecting the answer of another company (company B) the next days. One day later company B sent a rejection.

Now Bob has several possibilities:

1. He could just wait for the decision of company A. However, company A might then assume, that maybe company B rejected Bob's application and being wondering why.

2. Bob could ask for a fast decision nevertheless (without explicitly mentioning company B and of course without lying).

Do you see a better solution? If no, is option 1 or 2 preferable?

To clarify: From Bob's perspective, there is no need for a speed-up anymore. But he wants to avoid that company A concludes that company B rejected Bob if he does not ask for a speed-up. If company A thinks company B rejected Bob, they may wonder why this is the case and possibly think something like "If company B does not want to hire him, they will have their reasons. Let us be careful and also not hire him."

Edit: A possibly important point that I forgot to mention: When Bob informed company A during the interview that he is expecting the final response from company B within the next days, company A stated that in case a speed-up of the process will be needed, Bob should let them know.

Answer 1

Bob should keep his mouth shut.

Bob told the truth when he answered the question that Company A asked. That was the right thing to do. Bob is under no obligation whatsoever to provide any additional information to Company A.

Company A will contact Bob soon with an offer or more information. Or they won't. Bob shouldn't contact them about Company B, because nobody at Company A really cares about Company B's personnel decisions. Talking about this more will not help Bob or Company A, and is simply unnecessary.

Answer 2

First of all Bob never should have told them he was waiting for company B to make an offer. We have all heard of or experienced companies that say you will hear in X days, and then 3x days later you realize they have gone silent. Only tell them about B if B has sent you an offer, and you want A to make a decision quickly.

Now if A hurries and makes an offer they will want you to make a decision quickly. Don't contact them to make them go faster. Don't contact them at all because they may think they have to go faster. You would like somebody else to be in the running when that offer comes it, because you don't know how good or bad the offer will be.

Because B has rejected you, you can assume that the odds of an offer from B are near zero. (You can't say zero because sometimes they surprise you.) You now have to work on C, D & E. Those should already been in the pipeline, meaning you have applied and are waiting for an interview, or it is even better if the interviews are scheduled and you are just counting down the days.

Don't worry about perception. You thought B was going to pick you, but they didn't. You were someplace between the 2nd best and the 42nd best candidate for their job. That doesn't mean that somebody else would not have picked you, or that you aren't the best candidate for a slightly different job.