How is your job search going QuestionI attended a phone interview, I am waiting to hear from them regarding the personal interview. The hiring manager asked me whether I am interviewing for other jobs as well. I told him I am. I interviewed with three other companies. Got job offer from two of the three(declined both), and never heard back from the third one. I will be following up with him this week. What do I say if he asks me the same question? I was not called for any other interview since then.Can I tell him about the job offers? (One of the two companies that offered me the job was a relatively big company... but I thought the offer was low.) What if he asks me why I declined the offer? I don' t want to tell him I interviewed for couple of other positions but no one called me back. Or should I just avoid going into specifics? Any suggestions? My opinion? It's really none of his business who else you are talking to and how those discussions (or lack thereof) are going. The only time you should discuss it is in the following situation: You have interviewed with A and B. A is your first choice but is keeping you waiting. B has made you an offer with a "drop dead" date. You should then call A and say, "I am very impressed by your company and would love to work here. In the meantime I have another offer and must give an answer by (date and time). I don't want to make this decision without speaking with you first." The questions of who you are interviewing with, how those interviews are going, and, indeed, if you had any offers resulting from them and what your answer was, has nothing to do with your skills,abilities and experience. I cannot think of an interview in which I was asked that question and when I do interview as a hiring manager in my new position, I will presume from my own experience while job searching, that my company IS NOT the only game in town where the interviewee has been. That would be ridiculous. The smart@ss in me wants to automatically ask the interviewer, "Why?" and "Of course". But, you can' t be a #### in interviews. If you are asked that question again, tell the truth, "yes, I am interviewing at other companies." If you want to follow it up with a comment such as, "but I am excited to be considered for a position with ____company." then you probably should feel free to do so. Just beware of not sounding too phoney because that is kind of a standard response. The hiring manager is in a different city, the project manager (and the position) is in a different city. So the hiring manager did tell me the hiring process is going slow, because of everyone' s schedule and being in different cities. I ' think' that' s the reason he asked that question. "If you are asked that question again, tell the truth, yes, I am interviewing at other companies.". Well, ' currently' I am not interviewing with any other companies. I am actively doing my job search though. I haven' t got any calls in the last 3 or 4 weeks. I have been asked this one a few times. I don' t think they are really looking for blow by blow details. I did really like Bostons suggestion. I too would say something like " It is going great. I have had the opportunity to meet with some wonderful organization, but I am extremely excited about this opportunity and being invited to meet with you today...... End of reply. You keep it upbeat, don' t give any details., move it back to the direction that you want it to go in, which is the interview at hand. If you are asked specifically if you have offers pending, be honest. Say that you have had offers but have not found the right fit yet, then stress to them that, based on what you know of their company and the position thus far, you believe that this would be a great fit! You don't need to go into detail or say you declined an offer because it didn't pay enough... You don't need to say you haven't had any calls for 3 weeks, etc. But, think hard here.... If you do end up interviewing for this job and you are made an offer, don't be so quick to turn it down. Turning down 2 jobs, not hearing back from the 3rd, and now not getting any calls is NOT a good sign. You did well to get 2 offers, but I am wondering what happened with those that you didn't take either one--the one didn't pay enough. Did you try to negotiate? Are your salary expectations too high? What was up with the other one? The one job offer I declined because the salary was not I expected. And they told me that' s the budget for the position. The second one I declined was a no brainer. It was a small company, (but bigger than where I currently work). I didn' t know any thing about the company except for what it was on their website. But during the interview I found out everything on their website, its just marketing gimmick. Plus the offer was less than what the first company offered. Why I didn' t get any calls in the last 3 or 4 weeks? I don' t know. I have been seriously looking for a job since last October. I didn' t get very many calls, but I thought it will pick up after the holiday season. But nothing happened, and towards the end of January I was getting pretty desperate. Then I started getting interview calls. The month of February was a busy one. I got lot of calls, and couple of job offers. But its been dead since then. Why I don' t know, I wish I knew. Generally, for entry level positions, I would not tell the interviewer I was also applying with other companies. This will tip off the recruiter as "this person is not really interested working for us and is using us to gauge what they are worth". I work in the defense industry but am very unhappy in what I am doing so I am looking to get into the public sector as a career. My salary is fantastic and finding companies willing to pay me what I am worth is difficult at best. I have interviewed with five major manufacturers and three of them asked me if I was applying elsewhere. I told them, "No, I am hoping to get this particular position with your firm. Is there any reason why I should be looking elsewhere?" Interesting! I' ve noticed something. I thought it was just the recruiters who ask if we' ve gone to interviews or applied anywhere. I can understand why they ask that since I might have gone to the interview or applied to a company that they' re also working on to find a candidate. But I guess I was wrong in that non-recruiters do ask the same question. I wonder why everyone now would ask that question? I would think that it' s none of their business or that they should know that job hunters of course would apply and go to interviews to several companies. As I tell my students, and have written in my book, the reason why the interviewer wants to know this is to see if you were foolish enough to put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, if you're not interviewing elsewhere then you are either not in demand (not worth my time) and/or pinning all your hopes on just one place. Either way, you don't look good! So you were absolutely right to say you were interviewing elsewhere! Now the question becomes whether or not this place is the one where your really want to work, and the answer should be yes as far as the interviewer goes. But you should never mention the actual places where you've interviewed because it's not important! What is important is that you're in demand by others, so they should be wise enough to grab you before their competitor does. Now my professional advise to you would be to say that you are interviewing elsewhere because there are no guarantees and it wouldn't be very smart to only look at one place. But emphasize that you would prefer working there and be prepared to say why! This way, the interviewer sees you in a good light. | |
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