Well 2 things.

The PP who talked about budget authority is correct. Sometimes you have to hurry and fill a spot or it is taken from you.

Second, at our agency it is a 3 month process (without clearance). We presume that if a candidate jumps through all the hoops (and there are a lot) that they want the job - not that they are weighing options. Once the position is filled, we are pretty felxible about start dates. In my case, for example, I accepted my offer frist week of August and did not start until the Tuesday after Columbus Day.

Anonymous wrote:My private sector offers have all been no more than 72 hours and most were 48 hours. I'm finding some of this conversation mind-blowing.

It may also depend on when these PPs were last looking for jobs. Maybe when the economy is so strong that employers are having trouble finding candidates -- you can say, I have another interview process to finish and need 2 weeks. But these days with the legal market looking like it does? The attitude is very much -- do you want the job or not, we have 1000 other people we can call instead -- in both the public and private sectors.

And people in the agencies have different preferred candidates. Welcome to government dynamics. Someone there in the hiring chain likes another candidate better. Don't ... give... that... candidate... a chance. Horse trading among managers....

I accepted within 24 hours. But it was a tentative offer contingent on obtaining a clearance, which took over 6 months. My understanding is that the agency could have rescinded that tentative offer at any time (funding, clearance taking too long, etc). I wanted the job, but also applied a couple other positions while I waited for my clearance and the "final" offer from the agency. I would not have felt any guilt if had found something better in the interim--the clearance process is lengthy and the offer is not a sure thing until it's final.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a govt atty offer at a similar agency and asked for one week to accept -- got the offer Friday at 6 pm and wanted as long as possible bc I was in a 3rd round with an employer I liked better. They were pissed but begrudgingly said I had until next Friday. So next Friday, I'm ready to call them at 10 am and before I can do that I get a v/m with an HR person SCREAMING at me that I had enough time. So of course I call back, say yes, and let them do a background check only to re neg later. They encourage this kind of bad behavior.

What? You had a bad experience with HR so you acted extremely unprofessionally in return?

No -- I'm saying that saying yes and letting them run a background check and figure out start dates etc. bought me WEEKS. That was enough time for the preferred offer to come through. If they had just acted like normal employers and said - get back to us in 2 weeks, I wouldn't have had to do that; I felt bad (sort of but not really after HR's bitchy-ness), but they create these situations by refusing to understand the reality that their job isn't the only job on earth and maybe someone is interviewing someplace else too.

One week to consider an offer is perfectly "normal" in the private sector.

Hiring authority in the federal government does not work like the private sector. Our budgets in the last decade or so have consisted of month-long (or less) Continuing Resolutions. We can only hire when we have money to do so. It's illegal under the Anti-Deficiency Act for federal agencies to put $ forward that they don't have. That includes salaries. So when we have a budget, and hiring authority, it's often under a continuing resolution that lasts a matter of days, say until March 10. And you come forward and ask to think about the offer until March 11? We can't give you until March 11. Because the money is gone after 10, and so is the hiring authority. Any violation of the Anti Deficiency Act is a federal crime.

My private sector offers have all been no more than 72 hours and most were 48 hours. I'm finding some of this conversation mind-blowing.

At my agency, you typically have a couple of days/a week to decide but, honestly, everyone we have offered a job to has accepted on the spot so waiting has not been an issue for us.

As for start dates, I actually took two months from accepting the offer to starting my job. My big firm was totally fine with a six-week notice period, which I used because I was the only associate on dozens of matters and I wanted to wrap them all up/transfer them/ensure that the files were all complete before moving on. I had a good relationship with all of the partners, though, and they were happy to have me stick around for some time to wind things down in an orderly fashion. Also, the clients liked me, so it was good for me to go in with my replacement to meetings so that the introductions were smooth, etc.

I will say, however, that we occasionally need people to start ASAP due to budgeting/potential hiring freezes. We once had to get someone start within ten days of acceptance because of a looming freeze. So, it totally depends on the workload of the agency and the budget situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a govt atty offer at a similar agency and asked for one week to accept -- got the offer Friday at 6 pm and wanted as long as possible bc I was in a 3rd round with an employer I liked better. They were pissed but begrudgingly said I had until next Friday. So next Friday, I'm ready to call them at 10 am and before I can do that I get a v/m with an HR person SCREAMING at me that I had enough time. So of course I call back, say yes, and let them do a background check only to re neg later. They encourage this kind of bad behavior.

What? You had a bad experience with HR so you acted extremely unprofessionally in return?

No -- I'm saying that saying yes and letting them run a background check and figure out start dates etc. bought me WEEKS. That was enough time for the preferred offer to come through. If they had just acted like normal employers and said - get back to us in 2 weeks, I wouldn't have had to do that; I felt bad (sort of but not really after HR's bitchy-ness), but they create these situations by refusing to understand the reality that their job isn't the only job on earth and maybe someone is interviewing someplace else too.

One week to consider an offer is perfectly "normal" in the private sector.

I've received 1 or 2 days, usually, to consider an offer in the private sector. Possibly till the end of the week. Never a whole week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a govt atty offer at a similar agency and asked for one week to accept -- got the offer Friday at 6 pm and wanted as long as possible bc I was in a 3rd round with an employer I liked better. They were pissed but begrudgingly said I had until next Friday. So next Friday, I'm ready to call them at 10 am and before I can do that I get a v/m with an HR person SCREAMING at me that I had enough time. So of course I call back, say yes, and let them do a background check only to re neg later. They encourage this kind of bad behavior.

What? You had a bad experience with HR so you acted extremely unprofessionally in return?

No -- I'm saying that saying yes and letting them run a background check and figure out start dates etc. bought me WEEKS. That was enough time for the preferred offer to come through. If they had just acted like normal employers and said - get back to us in 2 weeks, I wouldn't have had to do that; I felt bad (sort of but not really after HR's bitchy-ness), but they create these situations by refusing to understand the reality that their job isn't the only job on earth and maybe someone is interviewing someplace else too.

One week to consider an offer is perfectly "normal" in the private sector.

Anonymous wrote:I once asked for a week (after a six month hiring process) and after three days they called me and said they were withdrawing the offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a govt atty offer at a similar agency and asked for one week to accept -- got the offer Friday at 6 pm and wanted as long as possible bc I was in a 3rd round with an employer I liked better. They were pissed but begrudgingly said I had until next Friday. So next Friday, I'm ready to call them at 10 am and before I can do that I get a v/m with an HR person SCREAMING at me that I had enough time. So of course I call back, say yes, and let them do a background check only to re neg later. They encourage this kind of bad behavior.

What? You had a bad experience with HR so you acted extremely unprofessionally in return?

No -- I'm saying that saying yes and letting them run a background check and figure out start dates etc. bought me WEEKS. That was enough time for the preferred offer to come through. If they had just acted like normal employers and said - get back to us in 2 weeks, I wouldn't have had to do that; I felt bad (sort of but not really after HR's bitchy-ness), but they create these situations by refusing to understand the reality that their job isn't the only job on earth and maybe someone is interviewing someplace else too.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, given my experience having an offer revoked, if you think you want it, I'd take it, push the start date back as far as they are ok with, and renee if you change your mind.

Lovely.

Or, decide whether or not you want the job, accept or decline. Act with integrity.