Disclosing other interviews to an interviewer

This topic concerns the decision of whether to tell an interviewer that you’re interviewing elsewhere if he/she asks you. In a normal employment market, it’s a no brainer – tell them you’re interviewing elsewhere, even if you aren’t, in hopes of sparking a bidding war on yours truly. In this sh!teating market, however, I’m not so sure. Consider the following scenario: You are in final round interviews with two different firms, and you have several other equally qualified candidates competing against you for 1 slot at each firm. The interviewer asks you if you are interviewing elsewhere. Do you: a) Tell the truth and say yes, and risk having the interviewer say “f*kk this, I’m going to hire one of the other candidates who I am 100% sure will accept the job if I offered it to him.” or b) Lie and say no, and risk i) having the interviewer either find out on his own that you were lying, ii) getting an offer at both places and then looking like an @sshole by revealing to one or both firms that you got multiple offers and again being branded a liar, or iii) putting the interviewer in a position to drag his feet on an offer and then lowball you on compensation, whereby you again have to reveal that you’re interviewing elsewhere.

Generally best to be straightforward. If the guy thinks that you might decline the job and therefore not hire you, he/she sounds like a cheapskate who you wouldn’t want to have as a boss anyway. If the quality of the job you are currently interviewing for is substantially higher, just make sure you sound enthusiastic. “Yes, I am interviewing elsewhere, but I must add that I really like what we’ve been talking about here very much.”

You should still tell them you are interviewing elsewhere. If you are the number one candidate, they are going to float you an offer regardless. If you turn it down, they move on to candidate number two. The only difference this might not start a bidding war. I don’ think f*kk it ever comes in to play. You said you interview young analysts. How would you take it if one of them told you, in this environment, they weren’t interviewing elsewhere? That’s a serious question and not rhetorical. Me? I would think they were lieing. Only when times are really good can you be like: “oh, i’ll just see what else is out there for the heck of it.” But when 60K financiers lost their job between 61st and 34th streets, I don’t think even people who have jobs would be interviewing with just one firm. If you decide to look, you look hard. There isn’t room for playtime right now.

Agreed with the aforementioned. The firm is not interviewing just you, and they would expect you to be interviewing for similar jobs elsewhere if you are serious with the specific position. Interviewers do not wish to hear, “I’m applying for this PM job, and that IB job, a CPA job, and a McD job as a safety net.” This would result in a fvck it from the interview. Speaking of which, have you been to McD lately IHIHM?

Thanks for the input. BTW, it’s spelled “lying” and no I haven’t been to McD’s lately. Working on getting my abs back in line.

Gotta have those abz yo. I told my current employer I was “entertaining several other possibilities” during our interview in July. When in reality I had absolutely nothing else on the line, not even a warm lead. Take it for what it is, my job isn’t directly finance related and it’s not a job that aligns exactly with my post-graduate expectations.

I always follow the rule that if they don’t ask you about it, you don’t mention it, but if they do asks you, always say yes you are looking at other similar positions as well

on a semi related note, any inputs related to following situation will be appreciated So I got an email from this head hunter yesterday saying he will get me an interview at one of the big firms, and today I got another email from a different head hunter asking if I had already been interviewed/applied to the same firm. The first one said that he will get back to me, he has already flooded my inbox with emails, but he said it would take around 1-2 weeks to get the interview. How should I respond to the second HH, shall I tell him that I am in contact with another HH who is forwarding my resume to the same firm??