<p>I recent started applying for full-time jobs after having done freelance work for so long that I find it hard to remember any other lifestyle.</p>
<p>I have a (probably silly) question about job interviews.</p>
<p>My husband says that if you walk out at the end of a job interview without an offer, you are out of the running for the job. For every job he has ever had, he has gotten an offer on the spot at the interview. And whenever he has left an interview without an offer, he never heard from the company again.</p>
<p>But I interviewed for a job recently where I was told that three candidates were being interviewed and that my interview happened to have been scheduled first. In that situation, it would have been impossible for either me or the second candidate to receive an offer on the spot, wouldn’t it? I would think that no offer could be made until all three candidates had been interviewed.</p>
<p>What’s your experience with job interviews and offers? Have you always either gotten an offer on the spot or not at all, or have there been situations where you left the interview uncertain of your fate and then received an offer later?</p>
<p>My experience both as an interviewee and as a participant in hiring candidates is that offers are not extended “on the spot”. When we interview people we usually bring in several and wait until we’ve talked to them all before we decide. Typically several managers and future colleagues will speak to the candidate during round of interviews, then the hiring manager will get back to them at the end of the day to find their impressions. By which time the candidate is gone.</p>
<p>What type of work does your husband do, BTW?</p>
<p>My husband’s work is scientific in nature and highly specialized. </p>
<p>It is possible that in his little corner of the world, the nature of the job requirements is so individualized that the candidate’s qualifications would be thoroughly known before the interview. I think that maybe in such cases, the decision to hire the person has essentially been made before the candidate even shows up, and the offer is automatic unless the candidate makes a fool of himself at the interview.</p>
<p>My own work is much less specialized, and I know that I am applying for jobs where multiple candidates are being considered. That’s why I brought up the question. </p>
<p>My husband thinks that I have been screwing up in the interviews, and I don’t think that is necessarily the case (although it’s certainly possible since, as everyone on this board probably realizes, I am somewhat on the obnoxious side).</p>
<p>mikemac, you make a good point about multiple staff members meeting with the candidate and not having a chance to discuss the candidate until later. That happened to me today. It wasn’t the sort of sequential interview situation you were talking about, though. I met with a group of three people, two of whom left after half an hour, while the third (who would be my immediate supervisor if I got the job) then explained additional details about the work, introduced me to various staff members, and talked about the specific projects currently in progress. There was no opportunity for the three people to talk to each other again before I left the building. So maybe I still have a chance. I would like this particular job, and I intend to accept it if I get an offer.</p>
<p>I’ve never been offered a job on the spot, except when I was freelancing and was “hired” over the phone. I’ve gotten every job I’ve interviewed for except one, and not once did I get offered the job on the spot.</p>
<p>Actually that is not true. Speaking from an experience job hoppers who has since reformed.
Very few companies offer job on the spot, but in closing notes they may offer you some slight hope. Lately, people tend to cut the interview short when they don’t like you. It saves them time.</p>
<p>Well, I also cut one interview short when it became obvious that I was a mismatch for the job. I told them why I thought I was wrong for the job, they agreed, and we went our separate ways. I don’t think it’s rude. It’s just sensible for people not to waste each other’s time.</p>
<p>I also work in a highly-specialized scienitific discipline, and we NEVER extend job offers on the spot. Even if we absolutely love the candidate it still takes time to check references, fact-check claimed college degrees, and mull over how much money to offer for someone of that skill and experience level.</p>
<p>I didn’t encounter any companies, when I job-hunted senior year, that offered on the spot. The company I work for now didn’t give me an offer on the spot (though they did give me an offer within a few days of the interview).</p>
<p>To me, hearing from the company fairly quickly after the interview is a good sign. If it takes a long time, in my experience, that means that they are considering somebody else first, and waiting to see if that person takes the offer. Though it could just mean that they have a lot of candidates to talk to.</p>
<p>We don’t give on the spot offers to anyone.</p>
<p>Also, sometimes companies interview people when there is not truly an opening…they just want a pool of qulaified people in case there is an opening. We are doing something sort of like that now. We are interviewing a woman with three years of experience; but we think we might want someone with more experience. She could do an oustanding job at the interview, but we could still decide we want someone more experienced and not hire her.</p>
<p>Marian, another thing to remember is that sometimes the job is already pretty much given to someone else-e.g. an internal candidate-but they have to go through the motions of interviewing outside the company. There are probably some of these jobs that you aren’t getting that you never actually had a chance for. </p>
<p>I have always wanted to cut an interview short when I knew right away that I disliked them, but I’ve never had the courage!</p>
<p>I’ve had about eight job offers in the past two years, and none of them were offered to me during the interview. (Well… one company, during the interview, <em>did</em> show me where they’d already put me on the work plan for the following month, but they still claimed that they would need to talk about it before extending an offer to me…)</p>
<p>The place where I work now is big on “team”. I don’t think any single manager would have the audacity to hire a person on the spot without getting input from all the team members who had interviewed a candidate.</p>
<p>I was a hiring manger for a number of years. Corporate procedures prohibited on the spot offers. They had to go through HR to be vetted and officially offered. I could indicate an interest and check on their time lines and schedules. But could not make an offer.</p>
<p>I’ve never offered a job on the spot. I’ll interview all the candidates before making a decision. Even then, HR needs to review the candidate and the offer before an offer letter will go out.</p>
<p>I offer jobs on the spot. OTOH I hire kids to work in retail. I often hire several in a week. I’m the owner of the company, the decision maker, and my time off depends on having warm bodies. (I do ask the other team members to show a candidate around and then ask their opinions.)</p>
<p>I think hiring on the spot for a significant position is unusual – I never was ‘hired on the spot’ back when I was interviewing for jobs</p>
<p>Marion, not to put too fine a point on it, but your husband is not correct. And not supportive. Keep doing what you’re doing in interviews, and come here for support.</p>
<p>BTW, Marian, unless I’m going senile (always a possibility), your posts that I have read are not obnoxious. I seem to recall them as thoughtful…</p>
<p>In case anyone was wondering, I did get a job offer – one day after an interview, and after my prospective boss had called my references (one of whom told me about it the moment she hung up the phone). </p>
<p>I accepted the job, though I hate having to do so because it means missing my son’s college graduation. I will only have one vacation day coming to me by mid-May, and I have to use it to move my daughter out of her dorm at another college. I’m the only person who can do that (my husband has back problems that would make the long car ride very painful). Thus, I won’t be able to go to our son’s graduation; I will have to work that day. Fortunately, my husband will be able to go to the graduation; it’s a short car ride and thus no problem for him. And he has been working at his current job for eight years and has plenty of time off coming to him. But I still don’t like missing the ceremony. Nevertheless, I have to take the job. The salary is much higher than what I was earning doing similar work as a freelancer, and we need the money.</p>
<p>I think that I was overly insecure about the whole job application process (and yes, my husband is not a naturally supportive human being). I haven’t had a full-time job in 22 years. I have been doing freelance work all that time, and in recent years, I’ve been working more than 40 hours most weeks as a freelancer. But being a full-time freelancer is not the same thing as having a full-time job, and I was afraid that nobody would ever be willing to hire me for a real job. Turns out I was wrong.</p>
<p>By the way, if anybody out there does freelance work, I can tell you that stopping it is a weird experience. When you quit a normal job, you have to give notice to one company, and you have to cope with one reaction. I was working for five clients on a regular basis. Thus, I had to give notice to five companies in one day and deal with the varying reactions of five different people (ranging from “goodbye and good luck” to “how can you do this to us right now?”). It was like quitting five jobs in one day. Very strange.</p>
<p>Marian. Congrats on your new job! I do not think it would be inappropriate to ask for your son’s graduation day off without pay. Just a thought.</p>
