"...I am not sure. Shall I take the offer & then decide....?"

"...I am not sure. Shall I take the offer & then decide....?"

...asked the guy at the other end of the call.

He had an interview call. The dilemma was whether or not to take the new assignment if the role and compensation offered were suitable. He wasnt sure if he wanted to move from his current firm. The options he had:

1. Decline the interview & continue with his current employer (till such time something triggered the need for a change or if something really amazing came his way).

2. Appear for a round of interview & then decide.

3. Go through all interviews, take the offer if selected & then decide.

The advantages of 3 above:

1. Use the offer to get a better offer from his current employer (if he feels he is underpaid).

2. Use the offer to negotiate other offers that could come his way.

3. Join the new employer. 

Option 3 is lucrative. However, I feel it is not really the best.

First, I think one should give an interview only if one is fairly sure about the need for a change. Not for "let me see my market worth'', "let me see if I still have it in me'', "𝘥𝘦 𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘬𝘩𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘪 [let me see how it goes]" etc - this not only wastes time of the HR, hiring manager & consultants but also plants seeds of confusion in one's own mind.

Second, if one must, then it is better to make a firm decision at the offer negotiation stage. Make sure you are happy with the company, role, management & compensation offered and will join them. If things don't work out & you reject the offer, well & good [𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲]. But if you think "𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘬𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 [let me take the offer letter then decide]" then that's not the right practice in my opinion. 

Once an offer is accepted formally, the HR stops sourcing for the position. The hiring manager stops worrying about it too & plans work ahead basis the candidate's committed joining date. Now if the candidate decides to not join [𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽], not only does it create a lot of rework (restarting the sourcing cycle besides the lost time value) for the other firm, the candidate ends up being possibly blacklisted by the hiring consultant & the company. Yes, there are thousands of companies out there, so possibly one may not care if they are blacklisted, but it is a small world & if it is a small industry, there is a small chance of a candidate encountering the hiring manager or HR down the line. Besides, it is also about integrity and ethics. While seeking an offer break up [and not the offer letter] in the negotiation stage & using it to shop around (after declining the offer) is still a grey area, I think accepting the offer letter and then dropping out later surely isn't very professional.

If one absolutely must, for genuine reasons, then it is best done within a few days of offer acceptance and not on or closer to the date of joining. Value the other firm's time and resources, don't be a _ _ _ _ [the word rhymes with twerk].