How long from in-house interview to offer? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm trying to balance exploring going in-house with lateralling from my law firm. The in-house folks said they'd get back to me in short order, but it's now been 9 days. Am I being overly anxious? Has big law skewed my perception of what "short order" means? I need to give a firm an answer soon and really need to know the verdict on the in-house position.

[existentialcrisis]

I'm trying to balance exploring going in-house with lateralling from my law firm. The in-house folks said they'd get back to me in short order, but it's now been 9 days. Am I being overly anxious? Has big law skewed my perception of what "short order" means? I need to give a firm an answer soon and really need to know the verdict on the in-house position.

Definitely tell them about the deadline with the other firm. That's a totally legitimate thing to reach back out to the in house recruiter about.

[Anonymous User]

What stage of the interview process are you in for the in-house position? Initial HR call, initial phone interview with the hiring manager, or the full interview cycle with both legal & business stakeholders?

[Anonymous User]

What stage of the interview process are you in for the in-house position? Initial HR call, initial phone interview with the hiring manager, or the full interview cycle with both legal & business stakeholders?

Full interview cycle.

[Anonymous User]

I'm trying to balance exploring going in-house with lateralling from my law firm. The in-house folks said they'd get back to me in short order, but it's now been 9 days. Am I being overly anxious? Has big law skewed my perception of what "short order" means? I need to give a firm an answer soon and really need to know the verdict on the in-house position.

Definitely tell them about the deadline with the other firm. That's a totally legitimate thing to reach back out to the in house recruiter about.

Thanks. I hoped it wouldn't look stalkerish

[Anonymous User]

This really depends on the company. 9 days is a bit much and it suggests to me that you may be their #2, but with just the information you've given, it's merely informed speculation. I am in-house and we try to give our top choices some kind of verbal indication pretty soon after the final interview that they should be expecting a formal offer even if it takes HR a little while to make the "official" offer. I know a bunch of other companies are the same way. But there are circumstances where it might take a while, for example, if we had a short list of 3 candidates where the final candidate had some reason why they were delayed a bit in interviewing, etc. For sure in this environment, there are always things popping up for candidates where we try to be super accommodating of every circumstance.

I would probably inform the company of your other offer if I were you, but understand they may say "thanks, we'll have to pass then." Only you can decide whether you're better off in-house or at another firm. Presenting a company with a (de facto) ultimatum forces their hand, but I think it does increase the chance you get an unfavorable answer vs just waiting it out. Though if you need to switch jobs and a new firm is an option, you don't want to lose that option to gamble on a company maybe deciding to take you on if they're not willing to commit in a timely manner.

[Anonymous User]

I recently went in-house and interviewed at about a dozen companies before accepting my offer. The response times varied wildly with little rhyme or reason for why they took so long (both between interview rounds and to get an offer). My wait times for an offer varied from 2 weeks to getting an informal notification that I should be expecting an offer within 30 minutes after my final interview. You may be their second/third choice and have to wait for the decision of their first choice or they may just move slow internally. I would say that everyone was able to accelerate processes when I told them I had an outstanding offer from another company.

[Anonymous User]

I've had a hell of a time trying to move in-house along. I actually had an offer from a company I liked, but they wanted 5 days a week on-site and that's simply a no-go. They had said initially they would consider hybrid but then reversed course.

Another scenario took five months from first contact through HR interview, hiring manager interview and finally business team interview. It has been three weeks since the full panel interviews so I presume I'm out, unless their top option(s) fizzle. Just a frustrating experience overall.

[Anonymous User]

You just never know what's going on behind the scenes. At my current in-house job, I went a good 6 weeks without hearing anything after the first round. Turned out the hiring manger had a heart attack. He restarted the process after he recovered and was back in the office.

After another interview, I heard nothing for 6 months and assumed I got the standard ghost ding. Then, I got a call from the recruiter telling me they had just put the hire on hold but it's back on and I'm their top candidate.

Besides that, every company has its own procedures and autocratic hurdles to hiring. 6 weeks is a fairly "normal" timeframe from screener to offer IME.