Pushing for a Job Offer Letter From Employer

By the Monster Career Coach

You’ve done everything right, from submitting a perfect resume and preparing like crazy for the job interview, to sending timely Thank You notes and setting up your salary negotiation strategy. Now the employer is dragging their heels even though you know they should have already have given you the job offer.

Are there ways to grease their wheels so that the offer gets to you faster? There are, but there’s a certain amount of finesse, and possibly risk, involved.

Just Ask Them For The Job Offer?

Let’s say that you’re expecting to get a job offer from an employer within a week. That’s how long they’ve told you they will need to make their final decision. But you don’t want to wait.

You can simply pick up the phone (or boot up your e-mail) to contact the decision maker. Your objective is to let the employer know that you really would like to work for them, and that you respect the fact that they have a process for choosing the right candidate, however things have changed for you and you would like to know their decision within two or three days max, if that’s at all possible.

Risky Business, Maybe

By pressing for an offer this way, you trigger a set of actions that may either work in your favour, or else put you in a fragile position with the employer.

Things could go your way if, for instance, you have a genuine, compelling reason to get the offer faster. Like if you’ve just received another job offer from a different employer, and you want to weigh one offer against the other without delaying the first offer so long that it gets revoked. In this case you can tell the employer who hasn’t made you an offer yet that you’ve received a firm offer of employment elsewhere, but really would prefer to work for the folks who haven’t made the offer yet.

If this second employer (the one who hasn’t made the offer yet) really wants to hire you, you’re giving them a chance to bring you onboard, which they might truly appreciate. Employers have been known to move mountains when they’re forced to make a hiring decision or lose a potential star employee.

Then again, if this same employer has been bouncing back and forth between choosing you or another candidate, and here you are giving them an ultimatum (essentially, “hire me right away or lose me for good”), they may decide to go with the other candidate merely because you’ve backed them into a corner, and they don’t want to feel manipulated or overly pressured.

Rolling The Dice

If you do ask an employer to make their choice faster, be sure that you aren’t bluffing. The employer will want to know why you’re making this unusual request. Unless you have a good answer, you could easily be seen as too forward or aggressive, and this might put the employer off (unless you’re in sales, marketing, or other profession where “closing the sale” is how you might demonstrate your skills convincingly and directly).

But be forewarned: telling the employer that you’re in a rush because you’re running out of money, or that you can’t stand the suspense, is a surefire way to not be taken seriously. And if you’ve asked for a quicker reply but the employer says sorry, no can do, and a week later you call them anyway to say you’re still available, the employer will wonder why the heck you bothered them to go faster in the first place.

Give The Employer A Way Out

It may turn out that an employer is, for whatever reason, unable to hurry up their decision process. If this is the case but it’s still important for you to push for the offer, you may have to end up walking away from the particular job opportunity with them at this time. Make sure you inform them in a courteous way about your decision, and mention that you will certainly keep them in mind when you consider future opportunities.

In this way you will be stepping out of the running gracefully. It leaves a positive impression on the employer and you’ll be viewed in the future as considerate and professional. What a positive way to build a bridge for down the road.