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Permalink Reply by Slouch on July 15, 2008 at 5:34pm

How long has he had the offer from the other company for? Also, is the offer he has in hand through a recruiter

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Permalink Reply by Lorna Johnson on July 15, 2008 at 5:39pm

it's been about two days - i believe he got the offer Thursday afternoon. The other offer is direct from the company.

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Permalink Reply by Slouch on July 15, 2008 at 5:41pm

is there an expiry date on that offer?

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Permalink Reply by Margaret Graziano on July 16, 2008 at 12:48am

I may get blasted for this...............however.............the candidate needed to be preclosed before he went. You ought to know what he is going to do and why he would not take the job BEFORE he goes. After 20 something years of experience, candidates who pend........typically dont start.

If you had to think about the marriage proposal............is he the right guy?

There are ways to determine pre interview what would have the candidate 'think about it', do you know why he needs 48 hours? What else is he waiting for? Is his partner out of town? Is he waiting on something better? Did the company fail to answer some burning question ?

Ok, it's late, just thought I'd give my 2cents.

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Permalink Reply by Lorna Johnson on July 16, 2008 at 10:55am

I think there's some confusion. My candidate has another offer from another company (not my client). My client is still putting together an offer for him. So because he wants my client's opportunity more, he told his other company that he needed 48 hours. However it's looking like my client needs another day or so to come through with their formal offer, so I was trying to get my candidate to tell his other offer that he needs more time - and I was asking here what the protocol is in terms of telling a company who has made you an offer that you need X amount of time to decide. My candidate doesn't want to appear unprofessional to his other offer in asking for "too much" time to decide, so I was scouting around for some industry norms so that I could educate him on that and essentially let him know that he's not being unprofessional to ask for more time.

the long and short of this is that he did ask for more time, my client did come through with a verbal and is putting together the formal offer at lightning speed, so I have my fingers crossed!

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on July 16, 2008 at 1:28pm

Lorna,

I've been in this position before and it's nervewracking for the candidate because they don't want to lose the offer in hand until your offer comes through. What I've had good luck with is having them go back to the client and saying "I'm seriously considering your offer, but to be fair to you and to myself, I need to finish the process with this other company so that I can do my due diligence and make the best decision possible. I'm sure you can appreciate that. I can give you an answer by XXX" Find out from your client how much time they need to pull the offer together, and have the candiate add a day to that, in case of delay....it's not at all unreasonable to ask for a week to ten days to decide. Obviously the preference is for an immediate decision, especially if it's your offer! But since it's not your offer....you do need him to get more time so you'll be able to close him on yours.

Good luck!
Pam

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Permalink Reply by Lorna Johnson on July 16, 2008 at 3:05pm

Hi Pam,

Thanks for the feedback. Great minds think alike - that's exactly what I told him, minus the "week to ten days" piece. I had a feeling it was a week to ten days but really good to know for the future. Now he's doing the, "Oh, and just one more thing, does your client....." so I'm going to have to let him know that now that he has all the elements of the offer, he has to make a decision or risk having the client start wondering how much he really wants this. It's the old tug of war. I'll let you know what happens!

Thanks,
Lorna

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