How to manage a pending offer

tell them that you are extremely flattered and seriously considering the offer, but need time to decide (talk to family, friends, mentors etc). Alternatively, and many people I knew did this when coming out of college, just tell them you are in the process with a few other firms and feel obligated to go through the whole process and examine all of your options (do this delicately) assuming these other interviews can be completed in a short time frame. People are too afraid of the banks, now that you have an offer, you will get another (even with the crappy mkt conditions) if you leverage appropriately, don't cave to the bs the directors will likely give you (hopefully they are decent people, most likely they'll pressure you to take the job immediately to show that you are committed). Once an offer is extended, banks are fairly reluctant to move on (even if they give you a hard deadline), so milk it while examing your other options, but not for too long. I remember being on the other end trying to pressure people to accept, but usually we (VP down to analyst) were pretty flexible if we liked the candidate (just wasn't worth the hassle of finding other people who weren't our top choices)