How To Deal With Multiple Offers

This growth also marks the return of multiple job offers across temp, contract and permanent jobs for the lucky candidate.

This is great news for you, employers and recruitment consultants.  However there is a dark side to the multi-offer scenario and that is rejecting an offer.  However, the even darker side is the rejecting of an offer by just not turning up, ignoring phone calls and emails or pretending you have left the country!

We know delivering bad news is hard, recruiters have the unenviable task of doing it quite regularly!  But using the ostrich approach to face difficult or awkward situations is not the answer and can potentially come back to haunt you in future years. Believe it or not we are aware that people might be faced with two or more offers and although, let’s not lie, a consultant will obviously want you to choose their role, ultimately it is your career and if the other role is right for you they will accept your decision (sometimes begrudgingly I grant you) and move on.  The same applies if you are dealing with a direct employer.

It is also important to remember, if you do find yourself in the fortunate position to have received an additional offer, it can open the opportunity for negotiation.  Your consultant will be keen to do this on your behalf and if their client is extremely keen to get you on board they may be in a position to up the package they are offering or include additional benefits to meet your expectations.  But if you do not communicate this you will never know.

Talking and explaining your reasons is far better than all out radio silence or just not starting a job because you have had a better offer. 

It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, the world is getting smaller and smaller, employers move companies, recruiters move companies and behaviour like this sticks in the mind.  It is a case of ‘once bitten twice shy’ no matter how good your CV is, if you are considered unreliable, flaky or unable to deal with a tricky situation people will not want to take that risk with you again and the label will be hard to shake off.

Similarly you have to consider where your dream job may be in the future, the role they offered might not have been the one this time but being blacklisted from the company for years to come might hamper your career prospects when the right job comes up in two years’ time.

So don’t avoid the conversation - just remember if the job is the right one for you and you are confident with your decision, telling the consultant or the employer that after careful consideration you have chosen a different path, thanking them for their offer and their time will be a lot easier than you think.