Managing several interview processes at once

A good problem that is easy to handle badly

Being in three processes at once is a sign the hunt is working. It is also when the mistakes happen: a phone screen forgotten, the wrong company's name in an email, an offer accepted on Tuesday that you would not have taken if you had waited for Thursday's.

The fixes are simple, but they need to be in place before the week gets busy. One record of every process, one calendar, and a habit of asking each employer where things stand.

One calendar for everything

Put every stage of every process in one calendar: phone screens, interviews, assessments, reference checks and application deadlines. Each entry should say which company it is, which stage, where or how, and who you are meeting. When an employer sends an invite, accept it into the same calendar rather than leaving it in your inbox.

If you are working while you look, keep this calendar separate from your work one, and on your own phone. Block the time around each interview too, including travel and a few minutes to reset, because back-to-back calls with different employers are where the names get mixed up.

In jobtracker.co.nz, each interview, assessment or deadline is saved against its job and shown in one calendar, by month or as a list. A signed-in account can sync that calendar to your phone as a subscription feed that carries the stage, date, place, job and any detail line you add, but never your notes, salary or contact records, and you can download a one-off .ics copy instead. See it in the demo, which needs no account.

Ask every employer for their timeline

At the first conversation with each employer, ask how many stages there are and when they expect to decide. It is a normal question, and the answer tells you which process will finish first. Note it against the job, and ask again at each stage, because timelines slip.

Once you know the shape of each process, you can see the collisions coming. If one employer expects to decide next week and another has three rounds still to go, you already know which conversation you will need to have.

Slowing one down and speeding another up, honestly

If the job you want most is the slowest, tell it. A short, factual message works: you are in the late stages of another process, you expect a decision by a certain date, and this role is your preference, so is there any chance of speeding things up? Employers who want you will often move. Never invent an offer or a deadline you do not have. It is easy to find out, and it ends the conversation.

You can also ask a fast process for a little more time, before any offer arrives. Saying you have a few interviews still to finish and would like to make a considered decision is reasonable, and most employers would rather hear it early than after an offer.

Deadline collisions and the extension email

When an offer arrives with a deadline before your preferred employer can decide, ask the first employer for an extension in writing. Thank them, say you are keen, and ask for a specific short extension, such as until Friday, to finish another process you had already started. Keep it brief and positive, and do not name the other employer.

At the same time, tell the slower employer you have an offer with a deadline and ask whether they can decide in time. If neither will move, you have a real decision to make with the information you have. Accepting an offer and withdrawing later is possible, but once you accept you usually have an employment agreement, with its notice terms, and it burns goodwill, and New Zealand is a small market where people remember.

If recruitment agencies are involved, keep track of which agency put you forward for which role. Two agencies sending your CV to the same employer can cause problems for both, and On the Move warns you when your records show it has happened.

Comparing offers when they land at once

When two offers arrive in the same week, do not compare the headline salaries. Compare what each leaves in your hand after tax, then the package: employer KiwiSaver, leave, insurance, vehicles and bonuses. Then the commute, the hours and flexibility, and what each role does for where you want to be in a few years.

Write the comparison down before you reply to either employer. It stops you anchoring on whichever offer arrived first, and it gives you a clear reason if you want to negotiate with one of them. Our article on comparing two job offers walks through it step by step. Once you have decided, decline the other offer promptly and politely; our article on how to decline a job offer has the wording.

Keep every process in one place