During an interview with a corporate, the recruiter was asking if I was actively looking for a job.
I said Yes for this industry.
And then later he asked if I have offers at hand or have advanced stage interview with other firms. I said I have an offer but I don't want to go there.
Is it a bad answer? How should I answer these questions?
No problem with sharing you have other offers. You should actually do it, as sometimes recruiting processes drag for a long time, and at some point you'll need to give an answer to the other potential employers.
So you'd rather tell this company now that you have an offer and need the process to move fast (that's why they ask), than to come up to them after a couple of weeks and press them to finish the process ASAP. It's not very professional, nor correct.
You probably said you didn't want to go to the other firm to show some preference to this one, but that is not the correct way to do it. The best approach is to let them know you have an offer but want to interview with them because you believe they may be a better FIT for you (otherwise you would already have accepted the offer).
Even if you are rejecting the other offer because it is not competitive, or because you want to see who pays the most, you never mention money as the key reason.
You did well be saying that you have other offers. You were asked a direct question and why would you lie about it? Makes you look more employable/desirable and ideally creates a sense of urgency in the recruiter with you as a candidate.
Now to the not-so-good part. You shouldn´t have outright dismissed the other offers (why apply then and waste everyone´s time?). A more elegant and self-serving solution would have been to simply say you´d prefer working with said corporate. Keep the other offers as leverage.
On balance, however, you did OK! Good luck!
No, it's not bad.
In a way, it's good because it signals that you're a great asset whose value has been recognized by competitors and that you're still interested in working for them.
More often than not, it means nothing. They just want to know whether you have other offers to accelerate the recruiting process so you're not forced into taking another offer if you're a suitable candidate.
Hi there,
You did ok here, but you could have done one thing differently: always try to avoid talking negatively about other companies!
So, you can absolutely flag other offers, but then you need to focus on how you prefer the current company (reassure them of your interest in their firm), rather than saying you don't like the others…this makes you seem flaky/fickle and gives them no reason to think you don't feel the same way about them!
Make sense?
Yes, absolutely no harm in sharing that "you are in demand" and have interviews going on elsewhere. No need to dismiss the other options right away- this could then come as fake or desperate.
Leave it by saying “ Yes, I am currently is various stages of interview at 2-3 other firms and will consider all my options in due course. But, this role certainly is great and better FIT for me….etc etc”
Hi!
It is actually important to mention that you have other offers or active recruiting processes.
However, I wouldn't mention whether you want to go to another company or not. I'd rather focus on the reasons why you are interviewing with them (the other company).
Hope this helps.
Best,
Anto
Revealing that you have offers in hand is generally ok. It can have 4 benefits:
Revealing that you are interviewing with others can also be generally ok. Although try to avoid names.
Revealing that you “have an offer but I don't want to go there” is probably NOT ok - since you are speaking negatively about another firm. This does not showcase a good professional personality and can sometimes be taken seriously by the interviewer if they are picky.
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