I’m putting this in discussion because I’m not looking for a job, but more general feedback on what I should choose. I’m going to keep details a little vague for now but might reveal more once I have one of these jobs locked down.
I currently have two job ops. One is an offer on the table (or will be soon barring any unforeseen problems). It’s a good job and one I would’ve snapped up in a heartbeat a couple months ago when things were looking pretty grim for me. The second opportunity is not an offer yet. I have been asked to interview in a week. I would say I have a 50/50 chance as I know of at least one other applicant. If the first opportunity is good, this one is great. It would be undoubtedly a bigger step up for me. But… if I gamble and turn down the sure thing, which is still a very good offer, because I want to chase this even better opportunity… then I’m taking a huge risk that I end up with nothing… or at least the absolute terrible options I was considering beforehand. The cliche phrase that “it’s better to have a bird in hand than two in the bush” has some truth to it.
Is it possible to just explain the situation to the second potential employer and ask for an earlier interview? As in, you’ve got an offer somewhere else you’re seriously considering but would be interested in interviewing with them too before you have to decide.
Not really. It’s time sensitive as I’m going in for a meeting with the first place tomorrow.
In my previous experience when I’ve discussed competing job offers with potential employers it’s complicated matters and I think it cost me a job once. Some employers like their applicants to be competitive, but others see it as a sign of flakiness.
I voted the way I did as there is limited really good jobs in KHH (are you still here) for most could not have a job for a longer period so take the good job, though I might take the gamble as I could live with no income/job for bit if I thought it was a much better job.
If the job is in academia and it’s a “full-time” (aka “tenure”) position, I would take the offer (if you’re currently in a contract-based position or at a private uni). There’s always time to get a promotion and move on to bigger and better opportunities, but that depends on your research background/field.
In my experience, the following sequence may be plausible, starting from the lowest
1 - Private uni, MOE grants “lecturer” or, obviously preferable, “assistant professor” license. Project-based position.
2 - Private uni, but with full-time (tenure) status “on paper.”
3 - Public uni with same credentials as (1), IF the culture of your college/department is to promote from within.
4 - Public uni with the same credentials as (2).
5 - Public uni with the same credentials as (4), with clear guidelines on reasonable standards for promotion, and evidence this has been the case for foreign talent in the past.
6 - Even higher level public university, as compared to others, given similar culture as (5).
Personally, taking a more challenging public uni full-time job (nearly guaranteed before being interviewed) was the best choice for me, although I was recruited by a few other schools (with no guarantee) and the president of my previous (also national) university had personally fought to hire me in an even higher position. The latter sounded appealing, but was a more risky proposition in that I would forfeit the nearly guaranteed position at a higher ranked - albeit quite traditional - uni.
Assuming there’s no way to wait and consider both jobs, and that the second job is a better fit for you, my vote is for the second job.
If you take the first job with your sights on the second, you will constantly ask yourself “What if?”
Job hunting and changing jobs are stressful processes, and doing them while employed, and potentially discouraged, are incredibly difficult; you don’t want to set yourself up to be in that position in the future (again?)
Your new job will be your “every day” for the foreseeable future, and with that in mind, I would not personally settle for an inferior opportunity unless my and/or my dependents’ livelihood was at stake; if that is the case here, then unfortunately, there isn’t really a choice.
This is a cheap shot, irrelevant to the thread, and unworthy of you. There are many people without PhDs who have worked for years at the lowest echelon of the Taiwanese university system teaching English with no job security. Many of them have families to raise and other responsibilities. It’s fine to differ from others on matters of political opinion but not to piss on respected members of Taiwan’s international community who have lived here for decades. It’s not funny.
Turton has written hundreds of thousands of words about Taiwan that people actually read and lived here decades. What have you done?
He has a weird grudge against people in academia for some reason. He’ll pop in and claim he doesn’t and is just pointing out this and that… but he does. This isn’t the first time.
I would do my best to, as others have suggested, to stall the first and accelerate the second. If that is not possible, then the choice might hinge on whether you could keep paying the bills if neither cane through. If you can, then a gamble would make sense. If not, then a bird in the hand, and all that. Good luck!
Roy Keane shook hands with Kenny Dalglish on a move to Blackburn but Alex Ferguson offered him a move to Man U at the last minute. The rest is history.
I would suggest waiting for the offer and seeing how long it is open for. I would see if it might be possible to move the second interview forward with a view to getting a second offer on the table. It seems to me that you have nothing to lose by lettting the people at the second employer know that another offer is about to made or is open.
I would be conservative about trying to get the first employer to extend their offer or telling that that I have another offer unless the second one is firm.
I would keep in mind that most of us tend to choose something that is sure rather than take a risk that could be much more rewarding. I believe this is understood to be a cognitive bias in favor of keeping what we have.
But I would not risk a good enough job for the uncertain prospects of a possible perfect job unless I was sure that I could afford to lose both opportunities. At least in Taiwan, there is a pretty good chance you will mess up the first offer by chasing after the second one. Taiwanese employers generally hate this kind of thing with a passion. They’d rather lose you than hire someone that they see as being difficult, disloyal, and likely to pull a similar trick when asking for a raise.
This happened to a software developer friend of mine, He got a pretty good offer on Wed. with a Friday expiration (totally unreasonable) and asked to be allowed to consider it over the weekend. They said OK.
He was holding out for an offer from another company that looked more exciting. The second offer didn’t pan out. When he got back to the first company on Monday, they said they had hired someone else.
It’s true that he might have been able to make out a breach of contract claim against them but his litigation probably would have failed because he did not have any documentation of the offer or the extension. And even if he did, the case would not make any economic sense.
Accept the 2nd and reject the 1st if the 2nd offer comes.
Sometimes, you can be the asshole. There’s plenty of employers that can screw you over. I’m assuming they are not small to medium size family businesses and will get over it quickly?
Worked for Taiwan’s MOFA on aid projects in developing countries. You ever helped with poverty alleviation in Africa, Latin America, etc., wrote speeches for ROC president, etc.? Didn’t think so.
To quote TheGingerMan (who I really miss on Forumosa!)
To my senses, you’ve got it ass-backwards…
I would rather have posited it as “Chewy’s thought and analysis” and “perennial freshmen like Vork”…Just to clarify: I’d rather be lectured to by an astute well travelled wistful curmudgeon, than a vapidly verbose veneer who pontiificates on the patently obvious standard Poli Sci-Sociology quackery!
To DrewC
He has a weird grudge against people in academia for some reason. He’ll pop in and claim he doesn’t and is just pointing out this and that… but he does. This isn’t the first time.
Not in the least. As TheGingerMan suggests, just dosing some folk with some realism into ivory tower musings.
You ever helped with poverty alleviation in Africa, Latin America, etc., wrote speeches for ROC president, etc.? Didn’t think so.