A company wants me to wait for the other company's offer to then make a decision

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

So I am in Michigan USA and I had an interview last week with a big company and another interview today with a small company. I liked the small company: Educated team, experienced team and a nicer area.

The offer from the big company, if I got the job, would be limited to a 3 months internship and literally said that there won't be a chance for a renewal (Maybe they need to evaluate me first?). The interview went fine and they told me to wait for their decision this week.

The offer from the small company, if I got the job, would be a full time direct hire. The interview went more than fine and they were like "Give us couple weeks or maybe this week to discuss the matter and we will get back to you" but then asked me if I have done or doing interviews with any other companies and I said yes and that I am waiting for their response (I think I should have said no). Small company knows the name of the big company, and then they were like "Get back to us once you hear from CompanyX and we will see what we can do".

I want the small company but I don't want them to know about the other offer, as I think it might interfere with the new offer negatively.

I am planning to just wait, and if I got an offer from the big company what do I tell them? And what do I tell the small company? What if I did not hear back from the big company, and was asked about it by the small company?

manpreet 2 years ago

I am planning to just wait, and if I got an offer from the big company what do I tell them? And what do I tell the small company? What if I did not hear back from the big company, and was asked about it by the small company?

The small company is signalling that they don't want to play negotiation games with you, the big company, and themselves.

They want you to get the offer from the big company and tell them what you were offered. Then they will tailor their offer so that you will accept it without a series of back and forth negotiations, with the bigger company having the upper hand. Many companies prefer not to have their offer just used as a bargaining chip with another company.

Most likely the smaller company doesn't know the bigger company is not offering long-term employment. That works in your favor.

When and if you get an offer from the big company, tell the small company that you got the offer and for how much. At that point, you'll get an offer from the small company that you can consider.

As others have said, don't stop interviewing elsewhere. You have interest from two companies, but you don't actually have any offers quite yet.