How long does it take to decide on a job offer? (2023)

How long do jobs give you to decide on an offer?

One week is generally the timeframe a candidate should be given to consider a job offer. When a different timeline is necessary, communicating your needs with the candidate can help find a plan that works for all parties.

Typical waiting time after a job interview

You can usually expect to hear back from the hiring company or HR department within one or two weeks after the interview, but the waiting time varies for different industries.

Even if you know you want to accept the job, requesting time to consider a job offer gives you the opportunity to carefully weigh up the position's pros and cons. It can put you in a stronger position to negotiate your salary. After you've thanked the employer, ask if there's a deadline to respond to the job offer.

Generally, after you make your offer on a home, the seller or their agent will get back to you within 24 to 72 hours. If it does take longer than that timeframe, don't stress about it too much, there are plenty of factors that may lead a seller to be slow to respond to your offer.

Roughly 5% of decisions were made within the first minute of the interview, and nearly 30% within five minutes. However, most of the interviewers reported making their hiring decision after five minutes or longer.

Additional screenings might be holding up the process.

Hiring timelines are getting longer, in part because companies have more tools for ensuring candidates are good fits for the position. Being more careful about hiring the first time around makes sure new hires won't quit, and companies will have to start all over.

It´s perfectly acceptable to ask for more time to make a decision or to even decline a job offer. Although it may feel scary and awkward, it's a lot better than accepting an offer for the sake of it.

“I understand that candidates need time to make a thoughtful decision,” Nelson says, “but anything longer than a week means that they aren't sure. Hesitation is a big red flag.” In fact, asking for more than one week could actually disqualify you, Ernst says, as it suggests you may not be excited about the opportunity.

Reach out to your main point of contact at the company — usually the hiring manager or the internal recruiter responsible for filling the position — and explain that you have another offer on the table, but if the folks at Company B and you can come to an agreement, you'd really prefer to join their team.

How do you know if you're a top candidate?

While employers can call with a job offer any day of the week, Tuesday is statistically the most popular day to send out offers, closely followed by Thursday.

The Jobvite 2021 Recruitment Nation Report offers more insight into general timelines regarding how long it takes to get an offer after an interview: 16% of employers are filling positions in less than 14 days. 54% of employers are filling positions in 14-30 days. 21% of employers are filling positions in 31-60 days.

Hiring managers and recruiters work closely together to hire for open positions. The hiring manager will be your direct supervisor if you are hired. They are the final decision maker on job offers. Your earliest interviews (after the recruiter screening) will likely be with the hiring manager.

Many interviewers said they made rapid decisions about a candidate's suitability: 4.9% decided within the first minute, and 25.5% decided within the first five minutes. Overall, 59.9% of decisions were made within the first 15 minutes, less than halfway through the scheduled interview time.

We've all heard the saying “no news is good news”. That may be true in many instances but not when hiring. No news is bad news for a candidate. A big mistake that I see companies make is a total lack of feedback after an interview.

What is the longest hiring process?

Too Many Rounds Of Interviews

When you have a lot of people involved in the decision-making process, it takes longer for everyone to come to a consensus on qualified candidates. Additionally, each interview round takes time and energy from the recruiter, the candidate, and the hiring manager.

There is no fixed rule or standard for how long this process can take. It can be anywhere from a few days to weeks or even over a month. One way to find out how long it will take for HR to approve a job offer is to do some research online on previous employees who may have disclosed this information.

It's a good idea to ask during the interview about when you should expect to hear from them and take it from there. As a rule of thumb, following up within a week is perfectly acceptable. If you don't hear back after an additional week, you can reach out again.

All questions and concerns can be ironed out during the remainder of the week, and the candidate can sign their offer letter by Friday, if not sooner. The truth is job offers are made every day of the week.

If after about ten to fifteen days, you have not received any follow-up emails or phone calls to tell you about the “Next steps”, this usually means you did not get the job. If even after sending a thank-you email to the interviewer they never get back to you, this is a sign that you are not going to get the job.

If the job offer process seems like it's taking forever, there are some guidelines to follow. If 10 to 14 days have passed and you haven't heard back from the employer, you might consider politely checking in again with an email follow-up or phone call.

Hiring managers and recruiters work closely together to hire for open positions. The hiring manager will be your direct supervisor if you are hired. They are the final decision maker on job offers. Your earliest interviews (after the recruiter screening) will likely be with the hiring manager.

They don't fully control the hiring process

In many organizations, HR is the frontline in the hiring process, advancing only the most vetted candidates to the interview stage. However, the final say in who gets the job ultimately resides with the hiring manager, who is typically outside of the HR department.