Unlike dating, where it might be considered rude or inappropriate to ask someone on the first or second date whether he or she is seeing someone else, it’s perfectly appropriate in a job interview. You should not be coy about any existing offers, although you need to be careful how you disclose it. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are interviewing with other firms when you have an offer.
- It’s a very good sign if the interviewer asks if you have other offers. It means they’re interested and they want a sense of how quickly they might want to move to get you to the next step.
- Having other offers enhances your attractiveness as a candidate. It won’t cause anyone to change their mind about you and your interview performance, but if they are already impressed, learning that you have another offer will reinforce their positive feelings toward you.
- An existing offer increases your leverage in negotiations. The initial offer is more likely to be higher since they know it’s a competitive situation. You may benefit in other ways as well. You could be courted more aggressively giving you access to more people, particularly senior people, in the company. You might have more influence over specific projects you will have the opportunity to work on.
- Offers from close competitors provide the greatest benefits. It makes perfect sense that strong candidates, particularly early in their career, would interview with competing firms. If you really want to get into a competitive business, you’re likely to increase your odds by interviewing with multiple firms. Firms love to beat their closest competitors for top candidates as well as business.
- An offer in a very different industry provides marginal or no leverage. Points #2 and #3 above are reduced possibly meaningfully if your offer is in a different industry. If you’re not sure about whether you want to do marketing or accounting, the interviewer is going to question whether you really know whether you want to be in their business and whether it makes sense to expend firm resources and people’s time to court you. The greater the difference in the types of opportunities you’re weighing, the less the benefit of the competing offer.
- Offer deadlines are often negotiable. You don`t have to stop interviewing with other firms just because you have an offer. If you are in the interview process with another opportunity that is more interesting to you, you should make
every effort to complete that process. Offer deadlines are often
negotiable. If you call and ask for additional time to evaluate the
offer, they will often give it to you. I wouldn`t recommend citing
ongoing interviews with competing firms as the reason for needing
additional time. Focus on needing additional time to evaluate the offer
you have. There are no issues with beginning the interview process
other places, but managing the pace of the process is a lot more
challenging. You can only delay making a decision on your offer for so
long before you begin to burn bridges and generate ill will.
Final point. Do not proactively disclose an existing offer. If they weren’t impressed with you during the interview, learning that you have an offer from another firm isn’t going to cause them to suddenly change their mind. It will make you seem arrogant and raise questions about your interpersonal skills. The only exception to volunteering this information is if you’re facing a deadline with the existing offer AND are very interested in the firm you are still interviewing with. In that case, you should let them know that you are very interested, but you have a deadline with an existing offer. If they are very interested in you, they will make efforts to expedite your process.
Read these tips on answering other tricky interview questions: