You finally got the job offer you were hoping for! Say goodbye to hundreds of rejections and hello to employment…but not so fast. Don’t accept your job offer right away! Even if it’s your only option and you’re 100% interested in the company. Here’s why…
Story 1
One of my mentees had two job offers and she couldn’t decide between the two.
1st choice company in 2nd choice city vs. 2nd choice company in 1st choice city.
She was minutes away from rejecting her top choice when the phone rang…it was her top choice company. They offered to relocate the role to her top city and she accepted!
The nice thing about having multiple offers is that you can leverage them in your negotiations. If you mention to your top choice company that you really want to work for them but you have a competing offer that makes it difficult to reconcile “point x”, in my mentee’s case, the office location, then it creates an opportunity for the employer to adjust your offer. They just spent multiple hours interviewing you and don’t want to lose you, so if what you’re asking for is reasonable, there’s a decent chance that they will give it to you.
Story 2
It was Friday afternoon and I had to respond to a job offer by Monday morning. It had been three days since my final round interview at my top choice company and I had all but assumed I hadn’t gotten the role.
I came to terms and mentally prepared myself for accepting my other job offer when the phone rang…it was my top company and they wanted to offer me the job! What a rollercoaster of a week - I thought I wasn’t going to get the job but it still came through!
Story 3
I received a job offer from a company that was below the going market rate. I had one week to respond to it. I gathered my market research and presented my case as to why I believed the offer was under market value. I was told the offer wouldn’t be changed to ensure pay equity among other employees. I asked for another week to consider the offer and after 1.5 weeks, I received some extra money. Holding out won’t always work, but it’s a useful tactic to gain some influence during the offer stage.
The Takeaway
I hope these stories show you why it’s so important to wait out your job offer and not accept it right away, unless it’s the only job you’ve applied to.
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