If you’ve ever worked with a staffing agency before, you’ll be no stranger to pushy recruiters who want you to accept a job offer. 

Here’s a time when a job recruiter was too eager for me to accept a job offer and how I got out of the situation. Included are also two helpful tips that will help you get out of this scenario every time!

The Morning of the Offer

I remembered the morning I got a job offer, my heart was beating so fast because I was overjoyed.

The recruiter (let’s call her Lilah) called me at 10 a.m. in the morning to tell me that I got the job offer to work as a Customer Support Specialist for the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a banking company located in the downtown area where I lived.

You cannot imagine how happy I was.

After two months of constantly submitting job applications and going to weekly interviews, I finally received an offer.

Because I was so happy, I didn’t pay particular attention to the recruiter and enthusiastically responded “Yes!” to her question, to which Lilah automatically said, “Okay. I’ll let the hiring manager know that you accepted.” 

In my head I was thinking, “Whoa, hold up there girl!”

I meant YES, as in “Yes! I got an offer!” Not yes, as in “I’d like to accept!”

How to Deal with the Pushy Recruiter

There was an awkward pause as I tried to think of the perfect way to retract my words.

 So what did I do? I proceeded to tell her that I am waiting to hear back from another company. 

After a couple of back and forth and clarifying questions, the recruiter said, “Okay. Then please let me know as soon as possible when you can give me a reply.”

Here’s a helpful tip: When a recruiter pushes you to accept a job offer, do not accept right away. To avoid giving him or her a direct answer, explain that you’re still waiting to hear back from another job offer. As an act of courtesy, work with the recruiter to identify a deadline of when you should give him or her an answer.

A few minutes later, I got another call from another recruiter (let’s call her Kay) at the same staffing agency to congratulate me on the offer. 

Then, Kay asked me how I was feeling about the RBC offer and the offer from the other company. I knew she wanted to push me to take the offer from RBC, so I told her: 

“I’m still waiting on a decision to be made from the other company I applied to. I’m excited about the opportunity from RBC, but seeing that the position from the other company is a full-time position, I’d like to explore both options before I settle on a decision.” 

In the end, we ended up scheduling a time to check back and discuss my final decision.

Helpful Tip: When trying to talk your way out of directly responding to a job offer, give the recruiter compelling information that they can’t argue with. In this case, the job offer from RBC was a contract job, whereas the offer from the other company was a full-time job. Even if you don’t know if you will get a job offer, word your response carefully so that you don’t ruin the relationship between you and the recruiter. You never know when you’ll need his or her help again.

Were these tips helpful? I’d love to know what other helpful tips you may have to share. Comment down below!