job offers

[Dulcina]

How long do companies give you to accept or decline a job offer?

I am hearing from a job on Monday, and another job wants to interview me next Wednesday. I'm afraid I'll get caught in the situation where I'll have to decide about the first job before I hear back from the second.

Thanks!

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[Phoenix.]

How long do companies give you to accept or decline a job offer?

I am hearing from a job on Monday, and another job wants to interview me next Wednesday. I'm afraid I'll get caught in the situation where I'll have to decide about the first job before I hear back from the second.

Thanks!

You're going to have to give more info if you want useful advice. A lot of it probably depends on what field you're talking about, the position, etc. It's best to call and ask them when they need a decision by if they haven't made that clear.

 

[chickenlittle84]

Agreed, more information is probably necessary. From personal experience, most companies will give you between two weeks and one month to decide, unless they are in a huge rush to fill the position. In most cases, you can ask for an extension if you really need it. But, this gets tricky because you don't want the one employer to know that they are second choice while you wait for another employer to start acting quickly...

 

[MChitty]

I just went through a job search. I was sending out resumes for 3 months and then literally in the last 2 weeks I had 3 different job offers that came to me and they all wanted to know if I could start working yesterday.

First off, if you're looking to be hired by an academic institution, they all are going to have to through their human resources departments (usually). This is very frustrating because regardless of if the PI or department really wants to hire you, they usually have to go through the ridiculous process that HR establishes.

My advice to you is to figure out what job you want. I personally work best if I think out all the possible situations in my head and then try and see what I would do regardless of the situation. I'm not sure if you've been honest with the job that you'll be hearing back from on Monday, but if not, try and stall them until at least Wednesday when you will have a better idea of what you want. Then you can take it from there. It's pretty stressful, but usually if someone wants you, they'll make it very clear that they do and then usually it's a matter of taking a leap of faith.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions!