
Exploding Job Offers Are Bullshit - ivankirigin
http://blog.yesgraph.com/exploding-job-offers-are-bullshit/
======
exelius
At least push back. It's not unreasonable to say "tomorrow is not enough time;
can you give me another two weeks?" If they're not willing to be flexible on a
little issue like this, I'd take that as a sign that I should expect that type
of inflexibility were I to become an employee.

The best candidates will often have multiple job offers before they walk in to
the interview. By pulling stunts like this, companies are basically weeding
out the best candidates and ensuring they do get the candidates who aren't
sure they'll get anything better. Do you want to work at a place like that? Do
you want to work at a place filled with people like that?

~~~
ivankirigin
"at least push back" is a great tl;dr

------
mathattack
There was an article on LinkedIn today about the same topic.

[http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140113134951-69...](http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140113134951-69244073-it-
s-time-to-eliminate-exploding-job-offers?trk=RSS_Feed_Pulse)

Let's separate the world into 2 camps: experienced hires, and college hires.

Experienced Hires should always have a reasonable period, but it shouldn't be
definite. By the time you get an offer, you should have a decent enough idea
on whether you'll accept it. A week should be enough to consult an attorney,
talk to your spouse, and give you firm a chance to counter if you so desire.
If you are up front about other places that you're looking at (especially if
you were talking to them first) then perhaps you can ask for a week more, but
it's delicate. You can't ask for more time if you've been saying "You're the
only ones I'm talking to, because I'm not in the market" even if you are
coming from a stronger position.

College hires are different, because as a population they are both easier to
abuse, and more likely to engage in unprofessional behavior (saying Yes to
multiple firm, or reneging). It's in a company's best interest to know which
interns are coming back, so they can plan Fall recruiting in an organized
fashion. (Do I need to hire 5 more people, or 15?) Schools know that this puts
undue pressure on their students. The best schools with the strongest
placement offices can make policies that say, "You have to let offers stand
until X weeks into the Fall semester." If a firm wants to hire from MIT,
they'll follow it. Weaker schools can't get away with this. What happens,
then, is big companies that can play the yield game better ("I'll convert
70-80% of intern offers, 50-60% of campus offers, so to get to a class of
18-20 I'll make 10 and 12") recruit at the strong schools, while firms that
can't tend to go to other schools, or off-cycle recruiting.

------
nocoment
I'm not really against them. I worked somewhere that kept having hiring
freezes and they would have made everyone (except payroll perhaps) happier if
they made a sequence of short lived offers. Instead, a favored and frequently
overqualified candidate would drag their feet and ultimately no one was hired.

I've never simply delayed as a candidate, if I've been less than thrilled with
an offer, I've simply stated the terms necessary for me to accept the job
right away. Thus far I've either gotten my terms or met about midway with a
little time to contemplate the acceptability of the perceived loss.

This makes it far easier for the hiring manager to make a decisions in
parallel, request a higher salary for all his negotiations once if necessary,
maybe extend a exploding offer to a similar candidate and not have to string
along a series of ranked candidates.

------
osolo
I think the author has it backwards. Expiration dates in offer letters are
normal, and should always be included. "Bullshit" is the exception: expiration
dates that give you only 1-2 days.

In the normal course of things, you want the expiration date to be there
because the offer letter (depending on your jurisdiction) can be binding, and
you don't want the candidate holding on to it forever and messing with your
ability to hire someone in a timely manner.

I usually add a 10 business day expiration, which allows the candidate enough
time to consult lawyers/SOs while still maintaining the company's interests.

~~~
ivankirigin
There are legal details and then there is positioning to candidates. The
effective meaning is pushed to be that if you don't accept by that date, the
job is gone. That is disingenuous.

------
etanazir
If you only have funds to fill one job opening; you might want your first
choice to answer before your second choice gets too cold.

~~~
ivankirigin
Explaining that situation directly would be far more effective and honest

