Offers

The delicate negotiations around an offer, either through an intermediary or in direct negotiation, are subtle, critical and often fumbled.

Archives: 1/06

October 5, 2006  [Anonymous Contributor]

Hello. I wanted to pick your brain for some advice. If I get an offer for a position (I have had five interviews last week and five more this week), and I need time to assess my options, "push" some to make offers, etc, is it appropriate to ask for five working days to make my decision, or is that too much to ask for? The one that I am referring to is the leadership Communications position for a [public school district]. If the offer comes, I want to really weigh it all out. I just don't want to "sour" the situation with an unreasonable request.

[JUDY]

If you can politely ask for a week to make your decision and say you will have a firm answer by (date) and absolutely be ready to give your answer at that point, I think that is OK to ask. If the organization makes an offer toward the end of the week and says you have three days to respond since there are other candidates in the wings, you don’t have much choice but to ask for a few extra days. You can expect them to say that would be difficult which means you would have to respect their deadline. So, you can try without damaging the relationship but a savvy employer will not give you too much leeway.

One other way to handle this issue, assuming you are through the first round, is to ask about their process and timetable. You can then indicate you are exploring several opportunities with this particular one being of special interest and anticipate being ready to make your decision by ….(and provide an approximate timetable.) Hopefully, the schedules will mesh. This is a tricky process and there are no easy answers to managing the offer/hiring situation.

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