Forums

I know that you almost certainly can’t get extra time to consider an offer because you are waiting to hear from another company, but what if the two jobs are at the same company? I am being considered for jobs at two companies A and B. Today, I found out about and applied for another job at company A (let’s call that job A2). One of the people who interviewed me for the original job (A1) gave my name to the hiring manager for job A2 and I was encouraged to apply. Job A2 is earlier in the interview process than either job A1 or job B. I don’t know yet whether I prefer A2 or B, but A1 is definitely less favorable. It is more junior than the other two and I consider myself overqualified. I currently have a job that I hate, but I could stay a while if I have to.

 

If I get an offer from job A1 first, and the deadline is before I will hear from either B or A2, what are my options? Can I tell the HR person who already knows that I am being considered for both A1 and A2 that I would like some time to see what happens with A2 before making a decision about A1? Hopefully, that would give me time to find whether I get either A2 or B, as B is likely to make a decision before A2.

bdhaas's picture
Licensee BadgeTraining Badge

You need to decide on each offer individually.  The saying is "Until you have an offer, you don't have anything."

 

If you have an offer from A1, you need to decide if it checks all of the boxes you have for a job and if you want to take that offer.  If you don't think the fit is right, then you can decline.  If you don't have an offer from A2 or B, you can't think about them in the consideration of the offer for A1.  If you have multiple offers at the same time, things are different.  Until then, the considerations are separate.

Jollymom's picture

You need to weigh if in what work will your skills suit and in what opportunity you will grow. List down the pros and cons in working in those jobs so you can decide easily. Remember, when deciding you must be firm with that decision. 

monkeyflower's picture

The good news is that I got decisions from the companies in order of preference, so this wasn't a problem after all. I first got an offer from company B, which I decided was my first choice. I started the job there this week!

After deciding to accept B, I got an offer for job A2 (at company A) and declined it. Largely, this was about a preference for one company over the other, but differences in the role also led me to prefer B. I was notified by the HR rep for job A1 that were still interested in me. They wanted me to do a presentation and panel interview. I chose to withdraw my application and not to do the presentation because I had already decided to take the offer from company B.

I love it when things work out so well.