Articles From the Team

Multiple job offers

Multiple job offers

This is a subject which can be very tricky and so needs to be handled with care.

Some would advise you to accept the first offer, and if a second offer comes along, just retract the first offer, however this too can be tricky business.

Retracting your acceptance to one of your multiple job offers will potentially damage your  reputation for the future and leave a bad taste in the employer's mouth. Hiring managers  do tend to have a very long memory where this is concerned.

When you accept a job offer, you set in motion a chain of events. This includes agencies being told to reject candidates, the firm will send reject emails and adverts will be taken down.  This then means that if you reject they have to start the whole process again, costing them time and money and adding to their frustration which is directed at you.  There are far better ways to handle the situation.

Sometimes it’s just worth being honest and explaining the situation.  You can explain that you are taking your search very seriously – you don’t look for a job very often and you want to explore all your options.

Once an offer is on the table, you can almost always negotiate for at least a week.  Simply say you want to make a fully informed decision and want to be fair to everyone involved.

Remember the legal world is very small and partners talk, so handle with care.