How to Handle Multiple Job Offers

As the Washington economy barrels out of the recession, far more candidates are receiving multiple job offers.  (Yes, I know, this sounds like a wonderful problem to every job seeker who is looking for their FIRST job offer).    But it’s a real problem.  And most people have no idea what to do about it.  So they end up clutching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Here is the crux of the problem.  Timing.  You see all those wonderful job offers almost never come on the same day.  So if you are fortunate enough to be in this situation, how do you handle the first job offer while you find out if the second offer is even going to materialize?

Some people (like Nick Corcodilos) advise you to accept the first offer, and if a second offer comes along, just retract your acceptance.  I’d advise you to read both the original post and the many comments from readers.   He makes a compelling case for doing this.  His readers mostly agree. 

But I disagree.  Strongly. 

Retracting your acceptance will needlessly damage your hard-won professional reputation.  Nick’s readers seem to think of it as “just business” but every hiring manager I know feels lied to, betrayed and is actively hostile to anyone who retracts an acceptance.  And I agree with them. If you do this to one of my clients, we’ll never represent you again.  I can tell you from experience that hiring managers have a very long memory for this particular behavior. 

You see, when you accept a job offer, you set in motion a chain of events.  Your new boss sends rejection letters to everyone else who applied for the job.  They announce it internally.  They pull down the ads and close out the posting.   When you retract, you don’t just burn your bridge with that employer, you burned their bridge to everyone else they were considering.   You made them look bad to their boss.  Don’t, for a second, think that this is not personal.  It is.  You can debate the ethics all day with Nick, but in the meantime, your professional reputation is in tatters and several people feel you lied to them.

There are far better ways to handle the situation.  Like honesty.

You can be upfront with your 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.  You have a lot of irons in the fire and your search will involve several employers.  If one employer is closing in on an offer quickly, just let them know that you may not be in a position to accept right away.   (Smart employers, and ALL search firms, will ask you about your other interview activity.  They will ask you when you are available to start should an offer be extended.  That is a good time to be candid.)

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.   But long before an offer is on the table, you can let your other potential employers know that you are in second or third round interviews elsewhere.   If they are serious about you, they will let you know where you stand.  Most small firms will speed up the interview process to accomodate a top candidate.  In my experience, this candor will serve you well about 90% of the time.  In the rare cases where managers get huffy about it, you either have a very inexperienced manager, or someone whose ego needs a reality check.  (And both are good to know before you accept a job with them!)

Bottom line:  when job seekers are candid with us, we can almost always find a way to make the timing work out for everyone involved.

So before you lay flame to your reputation, I urge you to give candor a try.  Next you might want to read this post on how to turn down a job offer.

How to Contact a Recruiter

Looking for a job?  Think recruiters are lined up to help you do that?  Think again.  

There are many misconceptions about how recruiters can help you with your search.  To help dispel a few of the most common myths I recently gave an interview to Vickie Elmer for the Washington Post.   Vickie got it right and shared great perspective for job seekers (and I’m not just saying that because I was one of the people they quoted … but I was glad the quotes were accurate).

Before you offer to buy coffee for a recruiter, or ask a recruiter to give you feedback on your resume, please read her story - you’ll be glad you did.

7 Financially Strong Industries

This recession has made everything unpredictable, and we don’t know where to turn for a career that will last.  One of our concerns is that companies are not financially stable, and that’s a scary thing.  Financial services was a rocky business over the past year, but is it going to see a boom?  How do we know what industry is safe to enter in to, when they all seem so unstable?  Well Lydia Dishman at YahooHotJobs summed up some predictions by Linda Duffy about 7 industries that will see big growth.  Here are 4 of them:

• NonProfit – As government cuts budgets, NonProfits will be looking for fundraising directors.
• Green – It’s the wave of the future. Obama will be putting lots of money towards eco-friendly energy.
• Veterinary – You’d be surprised how much owner’s spend on their pets.
• Funeral -  As morbid as it is, lots of baby boomers will be starting to die off…

Best Jobs in America

Focus created a genius (and colorful!) chart of the “Best Jobs in America”. It gives stats for what percentage of the workforce is male vs. female, Asian, Hispanic, African American, White, etc.  It’s also color coded for a variety of categories: highest paid salary, most flexibility, highest job growth, benefit to society, etc.  Did you know that a Nurse Anesthetist is considered the 15^th best job in America and greatest benefit to society with potential to make $214,000?  Product Management Director is considered great for future growth.  But Systems Engineer are considered #1!  What a cool visual aid for picking your next job!

Temporary Job Opportunity at US Census Bureau

This year is a unique time this decade because it is now that the US Census Bureau is taking their poll of the population. And with this Census comes lots of job opportunities. So if you are looking for a way to interact with people, get some additional skills on your resume and make some extra cash, why not look into assisting with the Census?  All you’d have to do is knock door-to-door asking people questions. If you’re interested, check out: www.census.gov. They’re hoping to hire at least 60,000 more workers.

Why 2010 Looks Good for Washington’s Job Seekers

Job seeking is profoundly difficult for most people.  What compounds the problem is that most job seekers don’t understand how the job market really works.  (Of course neither do most politicians or TV pundits - with the notable exception of  Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria).  

Job seekers often look at the national unemployment rate or some other global macro-economic indicator, and then they start making assumptions about their own job search.   While that is perfectly understandable – it’s all over the news - it is also completely counterproductive.  Looking at national indicators can paralyze you, because you think you know something, but you really don’t.  

Looking at the national unemployment rate as it relates to your job search is like looking at the global supply of wheat and then assuming you know whether there is bread in your kitchen.   There are simply too many steps between global wheat supply and the production, sales, distribution, pricing and availability of your cherished Wonder Bread.   

The job market is local not national, and unemployment rates vary enormously depending on your industry and education level.  So do yourself a favor and stop paying any attention to the big national numbers – they are as helpful to you as knowing the global supply of wheat when you just want to make a sandwich.

So what creates most job openings?  The answer is employee turnover.  Not job creation, but people quitting jobs in your industry.  And almost every survey I have seen points to a big spike in employee turnover in 2010.  In fact, I devoted almost an entire issue of our employer newsletter to the topic of employee turnover. 

Most of the executive search work we handle is replacing someone, not filling new positions.  Turnover is so important that the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes information on it.  Sure at some global macro-economic level new jobs creation is a wonderful thing, but in the day to day trenches of looking for one single job (like you are) you really just want someone to vacate your dream job.   Perhaps they got a promotion, or relocated, or retired, but no matter why they quit, it gives you an opportunity.

Now let’s talk about your competition for that one job you want.  Newsflash: there is no surplus of highly qualified candidates for most jobs.  There just isn’t.  In the Washington DC metropolitan area, many employers are finding it difficult to find the people they need to drive results.  Finding unqualified people is easy, but finding people with the right skills to drive results right now, in this turbulent economy?  That’s still difficult. 

 Business is increasing for executive search firms like ours.  Employers do not pay us search fees to find people who are easy to find, so when search firms are doing well, it always means that hiring is not easy.

So, job seekers, cheer up.  Lots of people will soon be quitting jobs you would love to have, and managers are not finding it so easy to replace them.