New job offers/interview questions?

[Galaril]

I am finally in the final stages of interviewing for four different job opportunities and had problem/question for other board members with some experience in the whole interview and changing jobs arena. I am expecting to get a job offer from one position very soon(maybe Friday) but I want to delay my decision of whether to accept the offer until I here about the othe rjobs. I should here on teh others in the next two weeks. All the jobs are looking to bring someone on at the end of september. I don't want to piss off the hiring manager of any of these firms by going about this the wrong way. I worry that if I tell one place I want to wait on the other jobs final hiring decisions that I could lose the job offer in hand and instead of having two or three choices loss all the jobs.

Also, I am seeing that every job interview asks what I am looking for salary wise. I don't want to go too high and push myself out of the competition but I think I might be going to low. So, I have been giving a minimum range. the problem witht this is I can't see how I can go back late after interviews are done with an offer on the table and ask for higher then what I gave for a minimum. I have tried to avoid talikng money unlees there was an offer on the table but most of the hiring mangers and/or HR managers have insisted on a number. tHnaks ahead of time guys. As a note these are IT security positions.

[Craptacular]

I can't help you with the money question, because I've only had one "career" job, and after being unemployed for 7 months, I was pretty much willing to take whatever they offered. As for the first part, my (limited) experience was that companies don't want to wait too long to fill a position if they've found the right candidate (The gov't is a different, sad, story). If you get an offer you are comfortable with, and would be happy to work for that company, don't wait too long. They may just go on to the next candidate if you beat around the bush. If you have enough concerns about one company that you wouldn't be willing to immediately commit to them right away, then you probably don't want to work there anyway. If you get a good offer from a company you like, jump on it. I'm guessing that if the other companies aren't prepared to make any offers for a couple of weeks (assuming you've already been interviewed), then you're probably not at the top of their list. I know when our sister company hired three new staff members a few months ago, they made a lot of cuts just based on resumes, then interviewed a handful of candidates, and pretty much knew immediately who they wanted. It's usually not in their best interest to wait around.

[Galaril]

Thanks for the quick response and some good advice. Anyone else? I guess most folks are asleep. Which is a good idea, so I will bump this agian tomorrow in the daylight to get more feedback.

[Galaril]

Anyone else have any advice please.

[jonesz]

As far as the money situation, when asked what salary you expect, a good way to reply is to ask what is in the budget. That gets them to make the first offer and you can make sure that they are somewhere in you ballpark.

[Celeval]

If the offer is one you'd genuinely consider, I'd go with something like:

"Thanks for the offer. I'd like to consider this and get back to you. Is ____ a good time to set up a call?"

Then contact the others, let them know you've received an offer and need to make a decsion by X date. If they can offer you by then, great; if not, then cross them off your list.

[KevinNU7]

As far as the money situation, when asked what salary you expect, a good way to reply is to ask what is in the budget. That gets them to make the first offer and you can make sure that they are somewhere in you ballpark.
This is good. I usually say, "I'm sure we will be able to come to some sort of agreement at the end of the hiring process" If they press I always push it back to them, "What is the range that this job would be paid"

The worst question to get is the "How much to you make now?" I usually try and get away with and "I'd rather not say" or if I give them a value I bump it up a little

[terpkristin]

My $0.02 (and keep in mind I've been unemployed now for 8 months, which I'm hoping will end soon--I have another interview on Tuesday)...

First, most companies don't mind you asking for some time to consider the offer. I wouldn't say to them though, that you're weighing your options, unless you have to. When you get an offer, if the money sounds right, then say something like, "I need some time to consider. Is it OK if I give you an answer by [date]?" or "I need some time to consider, when do I need to give you an answer?" More or less, here I agree 100% with Celeval.

As for salary. I've had two job offers in this 8 months of being unemployed. One was WAY low for my qualifications and didn't include benefits. More or less, the offer made no sense, and when they wouldn't budge on it, I told them I couldn't accept it. It was tough, because a job would have been nice, and spending money would have been nice, but without benefits and with the offer barely covering cost of living BEFORE taxes, there just was no way I could accept it.
The second job offer I had was much worse. On my application, I had filled out a slot that said what salary I was expecting. I know about what I should expect for my experience and my location, and the number I put down was the minimum I expected. Well, the place called me back and said they loved me in the interview and made me an offer. Unfortunately, the offer they made me was more than 10% under what I had asked for on my application, and so I said I would consider the offer, but that I was "disappointed" by the salary. I then asked if they could get the salary up a bit (I gave them a number that was lower than my minimum but only about 5% lower). Needless to say, this was a mistake. They called me back and rescinded the offer, effectively telling me that they decided to give it to someone else from "within the company" [who was cheaper than my initial offer]. This was the first time I've ever heard of this happening, but since nothing was in writing, it was fully within their right, no matter how asanine it was. What kills me about it is that even by industry standard, the "minimum" number I asked for was still about 3% lower than anybody else I know in the industry with the same experience (i.e. a Master's degree and no experience) has gotten, but I was willing to settle for it to just get a job. It's their loss, but BOY did it piss me off.

Anyway, I doubt that what happened to me with my 2nd offer will happen to you (everybody I've talked to said it's virtually unheard of), so I wish you the best of luck! And, if you'd like to know what's going on with my job hunt, check this thread: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=42203

/tk

[Galaril]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Terp I wish you luck in your job search. I too am a master degree holder with a few years experience so the interest I have gotten has been pretty good.