Accepting Positions at Job Fairs

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Jse217
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:37 am

Accepting Positions at Job Fairs

Post by Jse217 »

My wife and I are scheduled to attend the Search Job Fair London. We have been interviewing with a school that is not registered with Search, and they have asked us to not accept positions until we have a third and final interview with their school (which should be this weekend during the fair via skype). I am pretty sure they want to hire us, but we have to go through their proper procedure of recruitment. I know this is just speculation, and I cannot count on the positions fully materialising. Do you know if schools (at the fair) will give you a period of time before you accept an offer, or do they expect you to sign a contract on the spot? I know "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush," but we really want the job that is outside of Search.

Any thoughts would be helpful.
b12r
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:47 pm

Re: Accepting Positions at Job Fairs

Post by b12r »

I think most school, from my research on this forum, give you a 24 hour time frame to accept/decline at the fair. You have to be considerate of the schools and other candidates regarding declining a position... the sooner the better if you know you are not accepting.

I plan on attending the BOS fair in nearly 2 weeks as well.
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: Accepting Positions at Job Fairs

Post by sid »

These situations are always tricky to navigate, but in the end you have to make a decision based on what's right for you. Know your priorities. Which jobs and schools are highest on your list? This first school may have asked you to wait, but unless they're a dream school, you have little reason to do so. If they're so keen, they could presumably interview you earlier, and avoid the whole mess - looks to me like they're creating the mess and asking you to deal with it.
A 24-hour time frame is pretty typical at the fairs.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

You are being strung along. Are they continuing to interview and recruit? The rule is only offers matter, and I agree with @Sid when an IS wants you, they act like they want you. They want you as a safety IT in case they dont find anything better.

You are supposed to get 24 hours but thats wholly unrealistic. An IS cant hold off a day over a weekend to determine if you are going to accept or not. Its more likely you will get a few hours to some portion of a day, maybe by supper or end of the day, but 24 hours is a lot of interviews that have to keep happening if you were to decline. You need to go into every interview thinking its going to become a negotiation, and some ISs may not give you any time at all.
Thames Pirate
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Accepting Positions at Job Fairs

Post by Thames Pirate »

Our current school requested (but did not demand) that we cancel our other pre-fair interviews and accept their offer. They were willing to give us more time, but since it was our dream school and the interview and offer yielded no surprises, we accepted on the spot. We had, however, already decided we would do so before the offer was extended. By the time we were done signing out of the fair, etc. the job had been removed from the postings on the wall of the candidate lounge, and it was removed from the database by the end of the day.
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