What is the ettiquette for letting a recruiter know that I have another offer coming?
Im currently torn between two potential jobs. For some context, I work in the product/business side of tech with about 3 years experience. I have an offer coming in for my second choice company (well established company but not my preferred industry) but recently met with the CTO of my first choice (newer company with tons of smart people and in my preferred industry). My first choice company wants me to come in and meet the entire team/department before they offer me an official position. But theyre very busy and its taking longer than expected to set this up. My second choice company had to restructure the teams. A few days following my interview, the person who interviewed me and would have been manager quit. So they’re also lagging because they are trying to figure out where they would place me and who would replace the manager. Should I let my second recruiter know that Im expecting an offer from a different company or should I be patient and take the risk that I would hear back from both around the same time? I definitely dont want to blind side him but I also dont want to risk being pushy and ultimately lose the position. Thanks!!
You must always do what’s in your own best interest, as the company will advocate for itself and do the same. With this in mind, think strategically about your next steps. Competing offers serve as leverage to get the best compensation and position possible. Offers from other companies aren’t “rude,” and it doesn’t mean you’re “cheating” on them—it means you have desirable skills and communicate your experience well enough to warrant the interest of multiple companies. Let everyone know that you’re actively in process and have pending offers. Start drawing lines in the sand on what compensation you will and won’t accept, prioritized by what’s important to you (cash vs. RSUs, etc.). Transparency benefits you, and that’s what matters at the end of the day. FOMO and fear of offending or upsetting a company are how businesses keep wages low.
Thank you!! I took your advice and emailed back my recruiter letting him know about the other offer. Within 20 minutes he got back to me and explained why the process was taking a bit longer and now they’re having me finally come in on Friday. It worked perfectly! Thanks so much!!!
I think you just be honest with both of them. Let them know that you are in discussions/negotiations with another company. Let them know that you want to work for that company (tell either one that) and you want to move quickly so are wanting their strongest offer so that you can roll to their company in a few weeks (or however long). They shouldn’t be surprised that you are meeting with other companies. Being open about it will put you in the best position to negotiate and put you in the position of decision maker. Keeping it close to your chest won’t allow these companies to make a strong offer. When they think they are the only one being considered, they tend to go lower on their first offer.
Definitely tell them that you’re also interviewing elsewhere; in addition to potential offer/comp benefits it also gives them the knowledge that you may need more time to respond. If they make an offer and your #1 choice won’t respond before the deadline, ask them to extend. If they’re flexible, great. If not, you can always accept the offer and reneg on it later if you don’t mind potentially burning a bridge with the company. When I started at Google, I had another offer at LogMeIn that would not budge on their offer expiration date, and Google’s processes are so slow that even “expedited” they still took a while. Ultimately I decided that: 1) if I declined the first offer, it was still possible for a Google rejection 2) if I got an offer at Google, I would prefer it to the first offer 3) I didn’t mind potentially burning a bridge with LogMeIn So I accepted LogMeIn’s offer, and reneged on it when Google made theirs.
This is great. Did you use your LogMeIn offer to negotiate with Google or were you more focused on skills, martket value, etc?
I definitely used it to negotiate my offer. You always want to negotiate up, because they rarely come out at top of band just because they felt like paying you more.
Honesty.
You forgot to tell your TC. That's when you'll be torn by blind community😁
No, many of us do not give a shit about that. Don’t be a follower, OP
If you can time your offers within 15 days, most of them are fine with that. Feel free to let them know that you're interviewing
This is really helpful, I had no idea. Thanks!