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Job Search: Post-interview question.
My fiance (23 years old) just graduated from college in December, and is applying for engineering jobs. He had a second interview with one company on February 18th, and they said they'd call him back within a week. He waited for until last Thursday, March 3, before giving them a call (he'd already sent a thank you e-mail), and when he did call they apologized for not getting back to him sooner, that they'd been very busy and one of the interviewers had been out of the office, and said they'd be in contact within a week.
Well, it's been a week, and now there's a further complication. He has an offer of summer employment with his part time employer, but it's on a contractual basis and would require him to move away for 4 months. He needs to give that employer an answer by Tuesday. Unfortunately, gambling is not really an option for us because I'm not working right now and we have a house to pay for. Is it okay for him to give the company a call and let them know that he's got another offer with time restraints, or is that unprofessional?
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DangerNerds' answer is very good. I will only add that many times when interviewing I will tell someone I will make my decision by the end of the week and get back to the them. This is away of terminating an interview whether the person I'm interviewing is someone I'm interested in or not, even if it is a second or even a third interview.
Personally I have never liked receiving the a phone call saying; "I have another offer but would prefer to work for your company." No matter how well intentioned the prospective caller is I find it pushy. Even if my intention was to offer the caller the job and for whatever reason I have not yet done so my general response has been to tell the caller that I may not be able to meet their deadline for the other job offer and that they should probably take it.
I will say this have been just as many time I have called a prospect to offer a position only to be told they have accepted another position. Then there have been times that a applicant has accepted my position and called back later to rescind their acceptance. Make what you want or need to out of of this.
So here you have two sides of the same question. DangerNerds' which is to go ahead and so with the explanation you have given and mine as I have given. Frankly your rolling the dice on this as it can go for or against you.
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This could go either way. It is perfectly acceptable to give them a call and ask if it would be possible to have a decision by Monday.
If it is approached incorrectly, it will look like an attempt to bully them, but if you explain it similar to the way you have here, it should all go over fine.
If you are dealing with a sane, rational person at the company he is trying to get on with, then they should completely understand. If the person behaves irrationally in response to your simple request, then it is probably better he find out now, than 10 years down the road.
I have been in the position or hiring people, and believe it or not, it is a great deal to keep up with at times. It is possible that the person is overwhelmed, or waiting for approval from a higher-up before making the job offer. If it had been a day, and you were calling them, it would seem out of whack to them, but they said a week... and it has been over a week.
From 2-18 to 3-14 (Monday deadline you need) is plenty of time for them to make a job offer. Anything beyond a month, without a good reason given, is really out of line for most jobs.
All the best with whichever job he ends up taking.
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