Are You Interviewing With Any Other Companies?

This is one of our all-time favorite interview questions to answer.

The answer may surprise you or contradict other things that you have heard.

However, we can assure you, this is the best solution, 99% of the time.

When someone asks if you are interviewing with any other companies, your answer should always be YES!

Did we surprise you?

Don’t believe us?

There are three main things that happen when you admit to interviewing with other companies.

Let’s start with a sense of urgency.

Sense of Urgency

By admitting that you are interviewing with other companies, you are doing yourself a favor.

This creates a sense of urgency with the recruiter or hiring manager you are interviewing with.

Every company has a different hiring process with unique steps to move forward.

It may surprise you that these steps can almost always be fast-tracked for the right candidate.

There have been times when I have been on countless interviews where I was interviewing with other companies.

When this happens, I have the hiring manager schedule all my interviews within days of each other.

This way I could finish all my interviews in one to two weeks.

Normally this process would have taken over a month to complete.

Why did I ask them to do that?

If the hiring manager knew I was interviewing at other companies then they wanted to swoop me up before someone else did!

Interviewing with other companies helps each of those employers see you as:

Valuable
A go-getter
A person with a strong work ethic

Guess what?

All of these things are in your favor!

This brings me to the next point.

Recruiter Reassurance

Think about it.

These personality traits go all the way back to kindergarten when you were playing with toys at lunch.

When the toy is on the ground, nobody wants it.

But the second someone else picks that toy up to start playing with it, things change.

You immediately want it!

It’s human nature for us to desire things that other people have.

When somebody else is interviewing you, it reassures the recruiter that you must be a solid candidate.

This is especially if they are for similar positions.

The more relevant companies you are interviewing with, the more jealous and competitive the recruiter is going to get.

They are going to:

Fight for you.
Pull strings for you.
Work on your resume for you.
Basically, do whatever it takes to win you over.

That puts you in a pretty nice situation.

Before your next interview make sure to know the 50 Top Job Interview Questions And Answers.

Leveraging Your Salary

When it really comes down to it, interviewing at multiple companies is going to do one main thing:

Dramatically help you leverage your desired salary!

Do you think a company will negotiate intensely with someone who has no other job offers on the table?

They are probably thinking that you have nowhere else to go and you are going to accept whatever offer they give you.

And you know what?

They are right!

Interviewing with other companies gives you the opportunity to cause some friendly competition between the companies.

By interviewing with other companies, you can guarantee that your starting offer will be higher.

Not to mention your negotiation will go easier.

Why?

Because interviewing with other companies makes you a desirable job applicant and potential employee!

For more on salary negotiation check out, What Are Your Salary Expectations?

Technicalities to Watch

This question seems pretty cut and dry at first glance.

However, we suggest taking a moment to consider your answer.

As with all interview question responses, you can’t simply dive in and say what you want without thought.

Don’t get us wrong.

We firmly believe that if you are interviewing with other companies, you should be obliged to share this if asked.

That said, there are a few things you should consider before you answer:

Don’t list irrelevant companies in different industries, positions, etc. (I have made this mistake).
Only mention relevant companies. This means, if you are applying for a sales position, don’t mention that you are interviewing for a warehouse job. This will make the hiring manager doubt that you are really passionate about the sales position.
Continue to express interest in the company you are interviewing for. People like to be complimented!
Don’t tell them you are interviewing at 5 other companies that you like more. Just a bit insulting.
If you are interested in the company, keep leading them on and let them know that you are very excited about their particular opportunity above the rest. If you have no interest or intent to work there, don’t lead them on. That can be super annoying!