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(Job one) I have been offered a full time job which is great, the problem is I had two interviews and I would prefer the other job (job two), I informed them at the job two interview I had an offer and also that I was more interested in job 2, they said they would let me know because of my situation. The problem is job one want my details and I am holding back on giving them in, as I feel I stand a good chance with job 2. What should I do I could lose job one if I keep delaying.
Take the for sure job, I had the same thing come up, I wanted job one which was offered but only if and when the contract was awarded. In the time of waiting job 2 came through which wasn't as good, I took it and was waiting for job one to come through, it didn't happen, they failed to get the contract. I am still at job 2. While I am happy to be working I really would have preferred job one as it was better all the way around. You can always quit the job you don't want if the other one comes through.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Not an easy situation. If offer #1 had several qualified candidates and you were just a bit better then they will not be patient long, and will most likely give you a deadline to accept or even withdraw the offer and go with someone else. If you are waiting for offer #2 and it doesn't come you
will be back to the drawing board. You cannot push them, since that could
end your chances. I recently had this happen with someone we offered to,
who was head and shoulders above the rest. We were able to give him more information about the benefits package and the working atmosphere and convinced him to accept.
If you are up to it, you can always accept and then either back out or start and then quit if the other comes through. It may not seem ethical, and is definitely rude, but people do it all the time.
The last time I was job-hunting (20 years ago), I was in the same situation. I said YES to the first company's offer, although I really wanted a job with the second company. I gave the first company a starting date of two weeks from then, in hopes that the second company would come through with an offer in that time -- and they did.
Then I had to call the first company and tell them I wouldnt be going to work there after all. That was difficult. But it all worked out for the best -- the first company was acquired in a merger a couple of years down the road, while the second company is still going strong. (I recently retired from there with 20 years' service and a nice pension.)
You need to go with the sure thing. There is no guarantee that job #2 will offer you the job. Hell, someone higher up the food chain may decide that job #2 isn't even going to be filled (at all or in a timely manner) in order to save money.
As a consultant / contractor, I get into situations like yours frequently. I find that most jobs do not turn out the way I envision them, meaning that I gig that I suspect I won't like turns out to be real good and the gig that I think I really want turns out to be crappy. Also, in alot of cases, I am 100% sure an offer will come through and it won't and a head hunter that a gig that I initially turned down comes back a few weeks or months later and I end up on it. When I get an offer I usually try to get them to allow me a week to decide (most companies won't really want to go more than 2 or 3 days though).
^^^^ And in the future not a good idea to tell Job Interview #2 that you have another offer to try and get them to make a decision.
I hadnt noticed that the OP had told Company #2 that he had an offer from another company. seain dublin is correct in that it's always a mistake to do that. At best, that comes across as being manipulative and, at worst, probably-less-than-honest. I interviewed a lot of people in my last 10 years and, when one of them told me that he/she had another job offer, I immediately wrote that person off the list for both reasons.
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Had she kept her mouth shut she might have gotten Job #2, instead she had no choice but to take Job #1.
