Should I try to snipe the opening before anyone else can capitalize?

Hi all,

Background:

Econ (finance emphasis) recent grad from a non-target who has been struggling to bag a job within consulting/PE/IB/AM/RE the past 3 months.
Worked 4 different jobs concurrently during college to pay my way through school, from family construction business to waiter to operations at a small tech start up to freelance business writing and tutoring. Unpaid investment experience as well. Bunch of EC's ranging from Captain of University Rugby Team to student government.

My goal is to either make it into AM/PE or eventually MBB. 60-ish in total student debt

Current situation:

Got a strong bite from a small tech company. Operations and growth strategy focused. One of the largest geographical markets in the United States. Remote work, office work, and travel combination. Casual environment, team members even bring their dogs to work. Unstructured but good for type A and scrappy people. Pay is mid 70s (above what I thought of asking for) and I get to live rent free at home while doing it.

They have been extremely impressed through the phone and especially the case study phase. I was brought on for final interviews with team members. I knocked it out of the park with 2/3 of the team members, and I would rate the 3rd interview a 7/10 (technical difficulties as it was a video interview).

There is only one other person currently scheduled for a final interview this Wednesday. My fear is that the only thing that might keep me from getting this job is if this other candidate has tons of experience over me.

Should I attempt to secure this position by emailing HR with an temporary offer that is slightly less than the pay offered by the company? I do not want to appear desperate but I do not want to lose out on a decent gig that can help me down the line.

Have a personal connection with a MD in another state at a large asset management company who will provide reference for me for a real estate analyst position at his company's branch locally should this tech job not pan out. However, that interview process could take over a month. For obvious reasons, settling all my loans before any other long term goals (marriage, relocation, travel, etc) is my number one priority, so money/time is a factor in my decision.

11 Comments
 
"Jacoby n Myers" Casual environment, team members even bring their dogs to work.
"Jacoby n Myers" Unstructured but good for type A and scrappy people.

I have never seen these two sentences actually work out in real life. Are you sure the office is not more beta than what you're giving it credit for?

I don't know when bringing dogs to work was normalized but "Type A" is not a description I would use for these work environments.

 
"GoingToBeAnMD" I have never seen these two sentences actually work out in real life. Are you sure the office is not more beta than what you're giving it credit for?

I don't know when bringing dogs to work was normalized but "Type A" is not a description I would use for these work environments.

I believe its a tech thing with regards to the lax work environment.
The fault is on my end, as I should have specified that the role/position and the operations team members themselves come across as highly competitive, ambitious, aggressive in nature. The company as a whole falls into the Beta sphere from what I can gather about the other departments, but the specific group I would work with seems to heavily deviate from that norm (minus the dog).

"HighlyClevered" You lost me here. Do you actually have an exploding competing offer for less pay?

No, I do not. The MD reference into the real estate AM position would not be a sure thing (especially since the application process has not closed yet). I also know that I will likely be competing against Ivy Leagues who were able to rack on internships. I can nail an interview if I get one, but even then in light of all factors, I would reduce the probability of getting the job for realism-sake.

The issue and worry I have is that I was able to gauge the company's offer without stating any preference when asked. My fear is that guy B may present his expectations as lower than what is expected by the company.

Its an irrational fear, but I have known people who have secured positions because they took less money than their competitors.

 
"Jacoby n Myers"

Should I attempt to secure this position by emailing HR with an temporary offer that is slightly less than the pay offered by the company?

You lost me here. Do you actually have an exploding competing offer for less pay?

 
Best Response

What he means is that he wants to personally reach out to HR and offer THEM a lower salary so they pick him over the other interviewing candidate. In my opinion, this is the worst move possible and most definitely IS going to come off as desperate. For you to "offer" the company less pay than what they were originally going to pay you - say even 10K less, that difference is marginal and is not going to be of any notable deciding factor for them.

My advice -- you've already done your part by interviewing through the stages, so just wait it out. You cannot control certain things, and sure can't control how well the other candidate does on their interviews.

 

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