Given a job offer after interview, should I wait?

Nurses New Nurse

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Before getting into this predicament, and I know I will, I was wondering after you have been given a job offer, is it professionally okay to ask the manager if you could get back to them in a few days with an answer? I want to wait because I have two more job interviews to go on and I want to choose the job that is most fitting for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Depends on how much that you want to work in the facility and how quickly that they need to get someone hired.

Before getting into this predicament, and I know I will, I was wondering after you have been given a job offer, is it professionally okay to ask the manager if you could get back to them in a few days with an answer? I want to wait because I have two more job interviews to go on and I want to choose the job that is most fitting for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I think it's very professional to do that. I also think requesting a specific period to make a decision, ie, one week or that you will be in touch on a specific day, will make them think you are serious, and not just being flaky. If they like you, they'll wait a week.

From my experience though, I would leave out the fact that you are interviewing other places. One recruiter got offended when I told her.:rolleyes: I was just trying to be straight-forward.

Lots of luck to you.

But one other thing to consider, for the time that you are going to interview at other facilities, they can also be interviewing other candidates. So it works both ways.

Until you actually are hired, and paperwork goes thru the Human Resource Dept, nothing is written in stone.

My suggestion to any new nurse, do your homework first. Check them out just like they would check you out. Find out everything that you can about the facility, types of shifts that a particular unit works, etc. Orientation policies, length of orientation...etc............you should know all of this before you even go for the interview. It makes it look like you really want the job and took the time to find out about the company. This works quite well no matter what type of company that you are interviewing with or the type of job.

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Far better (for you and your potential employer) to ask for some time to mull things over than to accept an offer in a rush, and end up regretting it.

I agree that it is a good idea to set a time frame, such as 1 week, or next Monday rather than keep it open ended. That communicates that you are serious, and don't intend to keep them waiting indefinitely. If they are truly interested in you, I doubt that they would hire someone else in that short time frame. It is not necessary to state a reason why you are asking for this time. Any experienced recruiter knows that most candidates are interviewing at more than one facility, and should actually encourage you to do so. Only by comparing facilities can you be reasonably certain that you have made a good choice. It is not to the recruiter's benefit to hire you now, only to lose you in a few months to another facility.

Also, ask for a written offer before you make a commitment. That way there is no question later about status (FT or PT), wages, shift assignment, etc.

Good luck!

It's totally, completely ok to ask for more time to make your decision. I was quite surprised when the floor on wanted to work on the most offered me a job pretty much on the spot. I had another interview to go so I told the nurse recruiter that while the job I was offered was my first choice, I had another interview and I wanted to look at all of my options before I made a decision. She was cool with it. If you have the time, shadowing an RN on the floor before you make your decision is always a good idea too.

I disagree with the idea that its inappropriate to ask for a limited amount of time to make decision for the simple reason that you already have other interviews scheduled. An interviewer who is offended by this is naive and not too experienced in recruitment and as a result may have made pre employment promises that cannot be delivered. A sophisticated recruiter or hiring manager realizes that a good candidate probably does have other interviews lined up and invites the candidate to contact them after the agreed apon time frame,no more than a week, and the recruiter might be able to help them decide. I so often encountered this and got the candidate almost every time because I worked up financial and other scenarios based on the candidates other offers and demonstrated why ours was the best overall.

I would have to say that it depends...I find that if I have a certain vibe about a place, i.e. a good one, like I did for my current job, I say yes.

Ok...Say prior to the interview, it's always a good idea to do a little research on the place you are considering or have an interview with....in that case how do you do that? Who do you call to ask these questions ( orientation, salary, work environment, shift works, and nurse:patient ratio)???

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