Job Offer Decisions: What Does "By this Date" Mean?
Hi guys:
this might be a silly question, but I was wondering if you can tell me what this phrase means in my offer letter, it says:
"please inform me of your decision as soon as you can, but no later than November 29th."
"we anticipate to hear from you by November 29th"
Does that mean I can respond to them and take the offer ON November 29th? I plan to call them at 9 AM and accept the offer. Would that be okay?
Thanks guys!
When HR Says "By a Certain Date" What Does It Mean?
When juggling offers - or waiting on an offer - it can be stressful to manage due dates. The last thing you want to do is accidentally let an offer expire.
Ideally you'd let them know before the 29th, but the phrase "but no later than November 29th" is inclusive of the 29th... however, they really expect you to respond before this date, but I don't see why 9am November 29th would be such a big problem. The HR people will be checking their emails that morning (in case you sent it the night of the 28th) so if you can beat them picking up their phones and notifying the higher-ups that you're not interested, no probs.
However, you should be warned that based on the size of the firm (if it is smaller) and many people knew you as an applicant, it can be in poor taste to wait until the end of the waiting period. It may be in your best interest to communicate with the other firm you are waiting to hear from and indicate your time table with the firm you have an offer from to see if you can see where you stand. That being said - it is not the end of the world to accept at the last minute as long as you get in before the window closes.
Read More About Offer Decisions on WSO
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I'm only waiting because I'm waiting to hear back from an overseas firm, which can only tell me about their decision with me at 5 AM on November 29th due to time differences.
Thanks guys!
Ideally you'd let them know before the 29th, but the phrase
"but no later than November 29th" is inclusive of the 29th.
thanks maximumlikelihood! how about the phrase "by November 29th"? does that mean I can do that on Nov 29th as well? This is the first thing i will do once i hear back from the other company, but they just can't tell me anything before Nov 29th morning....
Thanks!
"by November 29" means that they really expect you to respond before this date, but I don't see why 9am November 29th would be such a big problem. The HR people will be checking their emails that morning (in case you sent it the night of the 28th) so if you can beat them picking up their phones and notifying the higher-ups that you're not interested, no probs.
Why are you so pedantic about it? If you plan to accept the offer why not just tell them today?
Hi Asatar:
I'm still waiting to hear back from another company, who can't tell me anything until November 29th, 5 AM....
Thanks!
Call them up and say "hurry the fuck up" or something to that effect....
How did you get an offer with your apparent lack of basic reading comprehension skills?
No online testing in the US XD
^ lolllllll
but i hear you, I can understand how you can be neurotic given your situation. You'll be fine, wait to hear back from the other company and then let the first one know.
They want you to play hard to get. Call Christmas day and tell them you just got around to it. Proceed to VP.
guys, i'm really just trying to get a second opinion on this. I'm not deliberately delaying my response to play hard to get or to procrastinate, I just need to hear back from the other firm first.
Thanks for the feedback!
Thanks Vectors225!
Means email them on November 30th.
It's so strange. The post is showing up trending as at today, but the posts seems to be from 2011. I also noticed a few other posts of the same convention.
Still very much applies :). Sb'ed!
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