How long does it take to hear back after accepting a job offer?

You've done the hard work of applying to a job, interviewing for it and now you have an offer.

It's a great position to be in. But it's also stressful. You might need to talk about the decision with your family and friends, ask the hiring manager more questions or even wait to hear back about another position.

If you're like many job candidates, you might be wondering, "How much time do I have to make a decision?"

According to multiple hiring managers, requesting 48 to 72 hours is perfectly reasonable.

Charlie Nelson, vice president at SmartRecruiters, works with hundreds of recruiters and has hired hundreds of people himself.

"If the employer has done their job, including selling the candidate on the opportunity and addressing any questions," Nelson tells CNBC Make It, "the candidate's decision should be easy and take less than three days."

Rachel Ernst, head of employee success at Reflektive, a performance management software company, agrees. She and her team usually anticipate a response within three business days.

"We don't want to force people to make a quick decision," Ernst tells CNBC Make It. "We want people to think thoroughly through their decision."

Of course, there are exceptions. If the job entails moving cities, working significantly different hours or making other big life changes, asking for longer than 72 hours makes sense. But whatever you do, be sure to make your decision within one week, or you could hurt your chances.

"I understand that candidates need time to make a thoughtful decision," Nelson says, "but anything longer than a week means that they aren't sure. Hesitation is a big red flag."

In fact, asking for more than one week could actually disqualify you, Ernst says, as it suggests you may not be excited about the opportunity.

If you do think you might need more time, there's is a right way to ask.

Bryan Miles, CEO of virtual working platform company BELAY, says that when you ask for more time, you should be prepared to answer the question, "Why?"

First, express how excited you are to receive the offer. For example, you could say, "Thank you so much. I'm really excited about this opportunity."

Second, be open about the reasons why you are asking. Nelson says you can say something like, "I haven't had a chance to review this with my significant other and need another day or two to discuss it."

Even if you are waiting to hear back on another offer, Nelson says honesty is still the best choice.

"Any smart hiring manager or recruiter knows that 'I need more time' really means 'I'm interviewing elsewhere,'" he says. "Why not just lay it all out and be upfront with your situation?"

Here's a good way to frame your situation, he says:

"I appreciate your offer. As you know I've been in contact with a few other companies and am in late stages in those interview cycles. If it's OK with you, I'd like a few days to consider your offer and truly weigh my options. I'd be doing myself a disservice if I jumped at the first offer that came my way. And while I can see myself with your company for the long haul, I need to do my due diligence and make sure that this is the best fit."

As long as you're professional and convey your enthusiasm about receiving the offer, your request for more time should be granted.

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Check out: What to say when a job interviewer says, 'Tell me about yourself'

Did you have an interview? Feel like it went well? And now your question is, how long after the interview should I expect a job offer? This is a fair question. Breaking this down depends on a variety of factors. Including the hiring process stage, the HR department is in for that particular role and the type of relationship you have with the company itself. Let’s break this down.

Statistically Average Times Of Getting A Job Offer After Your Interview

The average time it takes to receive a job offer after your interview is somewhere between 20 days to 40 days. This comes from a few sources, Jobvites 2018 Recruiting Benchmark report as well as Glassdoor’s time to hire report. Statistically, there’s a lot of variables at play when it comes to receiving a job offer.

For example, if you are a doctor or professor, the time it will take you to receive an offer will be much longer than, say, a Starbucks barista. Although, on average, you should know whether or not you’ve gotten the job or signs you are getting the job within two weeks of your interview.

While some sources say that you’ll receive a job offer within 24-48 hours, this is an infrequent circumstance and would only happen for entry-level positions that are struggling to hire.

What You Should Know Within 7-10 Days

The biggest indicator you should be looking for is general response and interest from your future employer. You want to see an open dialogue happening between yourself and the hiring manager or HR representative. If, for example, they’re asking about salary or asking about equipment that you might need for the job, these are signs that you are going to receive an offer of employment. Consider this a better indicator of your chances of employment increasing than simply time spent waiting. You want the employer to be looking to pursue you. Any sign that shows they’ve developed some level of interest in you is great.

The reason 7-10 days is the perfect amount of time to be patient is that the HR department will still execute interviews. And they don’t happen simultaneously. Even though most interviewers will say that they are interested in hiring quickly, the process always takes longer than expected. And they may simply be interviewing other candidates, and you’ll need to be patient while they do that. The average response time will be extended because of this as well.

Signs They Are Interested In Hiring You

The basic signs that they are interested in hiring you will be one or many of the following:

• Asking if they can perform a background check.
• Asking if they can check your references.
• Asking if you’d be willing to attend another interview, potentially a second round of interviews.
• Asking if you have any equipment needs.
• Asking if you have any medical conditions they should be aware of.
• Asking if you have any travel, parking or public transportation needs that they can help plan for and facilitate.
• Asking for further information that would go inside of a job offer, like your preferred title or other.
• In general, open dialogue and response to your emails in a timely fashion, that shows wanting to move forward.

For the most part, an HR department won’t ask you for many details unless they are generally interested in hiring you. So while you may not have received an offer of employment, if they are asking you if you are okay with a background check or drug test, consider that sign that they want to employ you.

If you haven’t discussed salary yet but have received emails such as that, ensure that you are following up with the HR department or hiring manager to explain to them you hadn’t discussed salary and would feel more comfortable doing so before you proceeded to those next steps.

Do Employers Check References After A Job Offer

No. Employers will always check your references before they make you an employment offer. This is because they want to validate the information that you've provided them. It is helpful to include letters of recommendation whenever possible; this will expedite the need for them to check your references.

How Long Does It Take To Hear Back After They Checked References

If the HR department or hiring manager mentioned to you that they're going to check your references, that's a great sign. It means they're interested in moving forward with an employment offer. How long should it take before you hear back? A background check or reference check can take anywhere from minutes to 5 days. This depends on using an outside consultant, performing this in-house, or a firm to do a thorough check. If you are concerned about how long it should take, you have every right to ask the hiring manager when you should expect to hear back.

Why Does It Take So Long

Generally speaking, the process from interviewing candidates to offering them employment can take considerable amounts of work. From interviewing all candidates to collecting the candidates' feedback to then drafting the offer of employment, getting it approved, and then sending it to you. All of the steps, from the phone interview to the on-site interview, were all apart of the process which reduces the risk of creating a bad hire for the company. Because so many parties are involved in hiring decisions, including the CFO, who approves salaries and resource budgets, it can be a longer process than everyone would like. If you want to know more reasons on why it takes so long, see our post "How Long To Wait After An Interview? 5 Reasons It Takes So Long".

Signs You Should Keep On With Your Job Search

The biggest sign that you should continue on your job search is when the interviewer goes silent or doesn’t explain to you what the next steps will be after your interview.

If your interviewer went silent, there’s a variety of reasons that could be caused from. Including the fact that the role or job function needs may have changed. Meaning the company is no longer interested in hiring for that role after interviewing. If you haven’t heard back from the interviewer after 7 business days or 10 full days, then you might want to start looking for other opportunities or consider this opportunity a potential pass. Around 30% of interviews oftentimes lead to the HR department or interviewer never responding to the interviewees regarding their acceptance or denial of employment.

If you sent any correspondence to the HR department and haven’t heard back, don’t continue to send more emails in hopes that they’ll respond. Wait a few business days, and if you don’t hear anything, you might want to start applying more of your efforts to the other interviews you might be having. If you are in the medical field, law field, or educational field, make sure you understand there will be a considerable amount of time between the correspondence between you and with the people you spoke to. Don’t take that as a negative sign.

When Should You Follow Up If You Haven't Heard A Response

After your interview, you should be sending a thank you letter which indicates your appreciation for their time and your general interest in the position. This shows enthusiasm and proactive efforts toward receiving an employment offer. You might not hear back from that thank you letter, which is okay. But if 7 business days have passed and you still haven’t heard from the person you interviewed with, you might want to send a follow-up email.

In some circumstances, the interview might be too busy to follow up with you after all of the interviews they may have performed. Or they could have tried to contact you in other ways, and you didn’t receive the message. In either event, the follow-up email is perfect for this. It will confirm the employer is still interested in moving forward.

Job Offer Resources

• Learn how to decline a job offer after you've accepted it - How To Decline A Job Offer After Accepting (With Sample Email)
• Learn how to decline a job offer after you've accepted it - How To Decline A Job Offer After Accepting (With Sample Email)
• Learn how to accept a job offer by email - Accepting A Job Offer By Email (Examples, Subject Lines, More)
• Learn how soon after your interview a job offer might be made - How Long After An Interview Is A Job Offer Made? The Answer Here
• Learn how to tell an employer that you have another job offer - 2 Emails Telling A Potential Employer You Have Another Job Offer
• Learn how to tell an employer that you want an extension on your job offer - How To Ask For An Extension On A Job Offer: Full Guide
• Learn how to send a "thank you" email after your job offer - Best Job Offer Thank You Email Or Letter (With Examples)
• Learn how to accept an internship offer - How To Accept An Internship Offer (With Example Email)

Similar resources

• How to Accept an Internship Offer
• Job Offer Thank You Letter
• Reschedule Job Interview Examples
• How to Tell a Potential Employer You Have Another Offer
• How Long After an Interview is a Job Offer Made
• How to Decline a Job Offer After Accepting
• How to Turn Down a Job Offer

Favorite Resources

Our favorite resources are included below.

Job interview resources

• Common Interview Questions by Marquette University
• Prepare for Behavioral Interview Questions by Marquette University
• Preparing for Job Interviews by the University of Kansas
• Mock Interview Handbook by CSUCI
• Interview Guidebook by Lebanon Valley College

Resume and cover letter resources

• Writing a Resume and Cover Letter by USC
• Resume Writing Tips by the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Resume and Cover Letter Guide by Harvard University

Job search resources

• Building and Engaging Your Network by UC Berkeley
• Career Ready Assessment by UC Berkeley

Interview Question and Answer Guide (PDF)

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About the author

Patrick Algrim is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), NCDA Certified Career Counselor (CCC), and general career expert. Patrick has completed the NACE Coaching Certification Program (CCP). And has been published as a career expert on Forbes, Glassdoor, American Express, Reader's Digest, LiveCareer, Zety, Yahoo, Recruiter.com, SparkHire, SHRM.org, Process.st, FairyGodBoss, HRCI.org, St. Edwards University, NC State University, IBTimes.com, Thrive Global, TMCnet.com, Work It Daily, Workology, Career Guide, MyPerfectResume, College Career Life, The HR Digest, WorkWise, Career Cast, Elite Staffing, Women in HR, All About Careers, Upstart HR, The Street, Monster, The Ladders, Introvert Whisperer, and many more. Find him on LinkedIn.

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