Communicating through the Hiring Process Part 2: The Offer

AgCareers.com
May 22, 2015
Newsletter Article

This is the second of our two-part series about communicating through the hiring process. We discussed communication during the interview in section one. Hopefully the interview has gone well and you are to the point of negotiating a job offer. Following are a few tips to make a positive impression when it comes to communicating through the job offer phase.

This is the second of our two-part series about communicating through the hiring process. We discussed communication during the interview in section one. Hopefully the interview has gone well and you are to the point of negotiating a job offer.

Following are a few tips to make a positive impression when it comes to communicating through the job offer phase.

During the Offer

Sometimes communication through job offers can be tricky, especially if you are weighing multiple opportunities, need to negotiate terms or aren’t quite sure if the job is the right fit.

If you are happy with the offer and the compensation package and you are ready to accept the position, be sure that you communicate your excitement and enthusiasm about accepting the offer. This will set a good tone as you approach your starting date. Ask what the next steps are. How often will they communicate with you from now until your first day? Who do you call with questions? And, is there anything that you can do to better prepare for your first day/week?

If there are multiple offers being considered or you are exploring additional career opportunities that you may or may not have even interviewed with yet, that can get more difficult. If you have multiple offers, be sure to clearly understand when each company would like to have a response. From there, weigh out the different opportunities and narrow down your decision. If you develop additional questions while doing this, it is okay to contact the person you’ve been communicating with to let them know that you have multiple offers and have a few additional questions you’d like to ask to make a better informed decision.

In the situation that you are anticipating an interview or job offer from another organization that you might be more excited about, but you are nervous to pass up the offer you have, there are a few things that you can do. It is completely appropriate to contact the company that you are more interested in, especially if you have already interviewed, to see how they are coming along with their decision process. Let your contact at that company know you have another offer that has a tight timeline for response, but that you are highly interested in what they have to offer and potentially working for for them. Sometime this can speed along a company’s decision making process, but not always.

You can also communicate with the company that has the offer on the table and tell them that while you are interested in this position, you also have another opportunity that you are considering but they have yet to make an offer and then see if they’d be willing to extend their timeline for responding to let you consider all options. If they do extend the timeline and you still take their offer, they’ll feel a sense of pride in providing you with a better option. Now, the company has the option of telling you no! You may just have to take a gamble – it is okay to pass on an offer if it isn’t right for you.

The 2012 Ag and Food HR Roundtable will explore recruitment and retention issues within the agriculture and food industries. This conference is one-of-a-kind and is an excellent opportunity for human resource professionals, senior leaders, university and college career services staff and faculty, and association rpresentatives within the agribusiness industry.

Reasons to Attend the Ag and Food HR Roundtable