job offer

Well, start at the beginning as they say.

Early last week I received a job offer.  There were 3 jobs still in the pipeline where I'd had one or more interviews and were still waiting to know.  Well, technically there were 4 but one went totally silent on me a while back.

Having received the offer from one (and it is a bloody good offer) I felt confident in pushing the others about where I stood - was I going to get an offer or did they want to see me again or what?  I also said I'd received an offer to help chivvy things along (which can be risky in case they think you're trying to play hard-ball or bullshitting).

Anyway, both of the others came back as a no.

If I'm totally honest I would have put the one that made me an offer at the bottom of the list of the three, but then the two above it didn't want me.

I also needed to think long and hard about this offer.  Not the offer itself, which as I say is very generous, but whether I wanted to go in that direction with my career and how I saw things going.  In particular the job description is a bit different from what I'd originally envisaged when I started looking for a new job.

Also, unfortunately something happened that made the whole situation a bit more complicated.

since I don't want to say who the company is it's very difficult for me to explain this, but it did give me pause for thought, shall we say.

However, having considered everything I have decided to accept the offer.  They've sent me a whole bunch of forms to fill out and they want to vet me so I don't technically have the job yet.

However, I have given them a tentative verbal yes.

My next scary thing to do is tell my boss.  It's a little tricky since I obviously don't have a start date and there's a bit of a chicken and egg situation.

They won't discuss start date until I get the vetting, but I can't give proper notice without a date.  I also don't want to give notice in case I somehow fail the vetting - I'd be out of a job entirely!  However, I need to tell my boss I'm off because part of the vetting is taking up references from my current employer!

What I've therefore decided to do is talk to my boss and explain it all - can't give a firm leave date as they need to vet me before discussing that, and as part of that they will be taking up references so expect a call.

This way it also maximises the preparation time they have for when I leave.  I guess also they may want to make a counter offer, but I'd be amazed if they can afford to better it.