Discussion
On Thursday I went for an interview with employer A, which went well.
In the afternoon I had a call from a recruiter asking if I was available for interview with employer B, to which I said yes.
Employer B would potentially be offering the better job, with more responsibility and thus more money.
Yesterday, employer A phoned and offered me the job. It is a job that would be worth taking, that I can do well and has good prospects for development.
My interview with employer B is late next week. It is also for a job I have experience of and can do well, and I should interview OK for it.
So, all things being equal, job B would be preferable!
However, A need a replacement pretty quickly, and so I would imagine need an answer before the end of next week, which is no good as a timescale for me!
My gut feeling would be to be honest with A - if they think I am right, they will wait a few extra days to see how things pan out with B. Of course, I could verbally accept the job from A and then withdraw if B comes through, but I dont feel particularly comfortable doing that.
Am I being a wuss and should therefore look out for myself only, or should I be honest?
Ideas please?
In the afternoon I had a call from a recruiter asking if I was available for interview with employer B, to which I said yes.
Employer B would potentially be offering the better job, with more responsibility and thus more money.
Yesterday, employer A phoned and offered me the job. It is a job that would be worth taking, that I can do well and has good prospects for development.
My interview with employer B is late next week. It is also for a job I have experience of and can do well, and I should interview OK for it.
So, all things being equal, job B would be preferable!
However, A need a replacement pretty quickly, and so I would imagine need an answer before the end of next week, which is no good as a timescale for me!
My gut feeling would be to be honest with A - if they think I am right, they will wait a few extra days to see how things pan out with B. Of course, I could verbally accept the job from A and then withdraw if B comes through, but I dont feel particularly comfortable doing that.
Am I being a wuss and should therefore look out for myself only, or should I be honest?
Ideas please?
Can see where your coming from but you have to look after best interests here, as a company they would have no qualms about letting you go if things go pear shaped. My priority would be my income, if you take the risk of saying that you need a week as you are going for another interview you risk losing the job. If Job B does not go well then you are left out of work and looking again.
So in short, take job A, tell them you need a week or two and go for Job B interview. They will get over you not taking the job, you will be unemployed if you call wrongly.
So in short, take job A, tell them you need a week or two and go for Job B interview. They will get over you not taking the job, you will be unemployed if you call wrongly.
I'd probably accept A and still go for the interview with B. Then if they offer you the job, see how you feel and take it from there. They may not offer you the job anyway. If they do, then you have a choice to make. You don't have anything to lose by doing that. You're only going to live once so I wouldn't accept the crapper job and deny yourself the chance of the better job out of a sense of loyalty to A, do they have any loyalty to you?
Right - having had a feeling the answers would go this way, here is the other problem.
The interview with A came about because a friend and ex colleague who now works there recommended me.So there is some loyalty involved.
Ordinarily, the course of action would be obvious, but I do have to factor in my friend, who will understandably be a little miffed if I drop A in it, having accepted the job!
The interview with A came about because a friend and ex colleague who now works there recommended me.So there is some loyalty involved.
Ordinarily, the course of action would be obvious, but I do have to factor in my friend, who will understandably be a little miffed if I drop A in it, having accepted the job!
Rollcage said:
Right - having had a feeling the answers would go this way, here is the other problem.
The interview with A came about because a friend and ex colleague who now works there recommended me.So there is some loyalty involved.
Ordinarily, the course of action would be obvious, but I do have to factor in my friend, who will understandably be a little miffed if I drop A in it, having accepted the job!
If getting a job is difficult and there is a chance you will bo out of work if both fall through from you taking the loyalty approach I would still go for accepting and keeping quiet. You have to live that job every day and your mate will not pay the mortgage for you if both fall through.The interview with A came about because a friend and ex colleague who now works there recommended me.So there is some loyalty involved.
Ordinarily, the course of action would be obvious, but I do have to factor in my friend, who will understandably be a little miffed if I drop A in it, having accepted the job!
Accepting a job with employer A, whilst all along planning to take job B if it is offered strikes me as being right on the edge of completely unacceptable behaviour, and I wonder how well such a suggestion would have gone down in the Business section rather than here.
The only honest path is to tell employer A that you will take their (second rate) job if you don't get offered job B, but I know what I would do if I was employer A, and that would be to tell you to take your chances with B, and look for a more motivated employee.
The only honest path is to tell employer A that you will take their (second rate) job if you don't get offered job B, but I know what I would do if I was employer A, and that would be to tell you to take your chances with B, and look for a more motivated employee.
singlecoil said:
Accepting a job with employer A, whilst all along planning to take job B if it is offered strikes me as being right on the edge of completely unacceptable behaviour, and I wonder how well such a suggestion would have gone down in the Business section rather than here.
The only honest path is to tell employer A that you will take their (second rate) job if you don't get offered job B, but I know what I would do if I was employer A, and that would be to tell you to take your chances with B, and look for a more motivated employee.
Therein lies the problem!The only honest path is to tell employer A that you will take their (second rate) job if you don't get offered job B, but I know what I would do if I was employer A, and that would be to tell you to take your chances with B, and look for a more motivated employee.
Motivation is not the issue - at some point I have to look out for my own best interests.We also seem to be seeing motivation as blind devotion. Along with most people, I work for the money, not the love of an employer. There is a very worthwhile difference in salary between the two posts right now, but they do offer different prospects so that balances out to a degree.
I did start the thread in the Lounge, as it has several issues to address, but here we are!
FWIW, from a personal and ethical standpoint, I agree SC - such behaviour is not cricket. However....... I doubt many would actually just take the lower paid job and then not accept B if it was offered - the difference in salary 5 years down the line could easily be £20k p.a. - maybe not an issue for many on here, but it is a BIG one for me!
What I have decided is that I want a formal offer in writing before accepting - this will take long enough to get to me that the situation with employer B will be resolved. (Hopefully!)
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