When you are
searching for a job, it’s common sense to pursue more than one opportunity at a
time in order to increase your odds and to not lose time if one or another
you’re chasing falls through. So it’s conceivable you might end up juggling
more than one interview process.
Many think it’s
not a good idea to tell an interviewer about other opportunities they are
simultaneously pursuing. I suggest it’s not a bad idea to make hiring officials
aware there are others who are also interested in you. Before I represent any
candidate I ask and expect they will tell me of other processes with which they
are involved, or have been involved, during the last 6 months. For me it is
simple, I don’t want to waste time trying to introduce them to a company that
already has their resume or to whom they’ve already spoken. I also want to know
if they are near a favorable conclusion with any of their activities, so I know
how to delegate my own activities on their behalf. If they are about to receive
an offer, what is the point of getting another company excited just to learn a
few days later another offer has been accepted and the job seeker is no longer
available.
Conversely, when
I speak with a company, after learning they are indeed interested in a person
whom I represent, I will tell them, “Oh, by the way, on a short list of
companies yours is one of the organizations in which they have an interest,
although I know they are speaking with another of your competitors, who’s also
shown interest in them.” Or, I may share with a hiring manager with whom I am
working and who is interviewing someone I represent, that this particular
candidate is in a second or later interview stage with another company. It may
seem as though I am playing a game by teasing the hiring manager, but I am not.
It’s meant to give the hiring manager the chance to determine their level of
interest, so they can choose what action to take and how quickly they’ll need
or want to move.
Early in my
recruiting career, there were occasions when a person I was representing to one
company accepted an offer from another. After the fact, when I called my client
to inform them a candidate in whom they were interested had chosen another
position, I was most often told, “That’s unfortunate, Michael, I wish we had
known, so we could have sped up the process or done something.”
I understand it
is not likely you are going to tell an interviewer about all of your job search
activities or provide a status report; no, clearly it’s none of their business.
However, there is nothing wrong with being honest to a limited degree, if you are reaching a critical stage with
another company with whom you are also interviewing. It’s not a mistake to say
to a hiring official, “I appreciate the opportunity for this interview, I am
interested in this job and your company, but I think it is fair to tell you I
am also talking to some other companies, and one of them has invited me to a
final interview.” Yes, this can be considered a take-away close, but it is simply the truth. There is no need to,
and I suggest you should not, share
the name or details of the other company; just making them aware of your status
is enough. I would, however, caution you that if it isn’t true, don’t fake it. As for your presentation,
you are doing it from a perspective of neither desperation nor vanity, just as
a calm matter of fact, an afterthought.
It’s also not a
bad thing for hiring managers to be aware you may have other opportunities.
Often, for whatever reason, they may assume your interest in their company
means you are not talking with anyone else. If this is the case, they may take
their good old time until they are awakened to the fact that they’re not the
only game in town. While they were dragging their feet, you haven’t been
sitting and waiting outside their door like an obedient terrier. In reality,
you’ve been doing what good professionals and action-oriented people do -
investigating other opportunities.
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