I Got My First Offer! Now what?

1.BREATH

BREATH and celebrate the accomplishment of having at least one place want to hire you :D.

2. Ask Follow Up Questions

Ask the recruiter follow-up questions that were not provided in the original written offer.

Do not start making plans with just a verbal offer; a written offer is really what you're looking for.

After receiving an offer, always ask for information(if not included in offer) like offer deadline, compensation(i.e. hourly/summer wage), start date and any other accommodations this particular job has, some examples would include free food, housing, transportation subsidies, or health insurance.

In the case of an internship there are usually some other perks especially if you manage to land one in the Bay Area.

One last bonus thing to ask your recruiter is if you can meet the team that you would be working with over the summer.

Talking to the team will only give the opportunity to meet your future coworkers, but will also give you a feel of the work culture and if people seem happy on the team.

3. Assess if the Deadline is Reasonable

Sometimes recruiters will give you a really quick deadline like two days or say let me know by the end of the day or end of the weekend and when they do this I recommend trying to push the deadline back.

The reason to try to delay deadlines is to give yourself time to think about the offer and weigh your chances of getting a better offer by waiting.

Especially if you're a junior or a higher level student that will probably get more offers throughout the year.

That being said, you don't have to turn down an offer that you like even if it’s at the beginning of the recruiting season.

Just be aware that giving people time limits and short deadlines is a recruiting tactic and is meant to put pressure on the candidate to say yes to the offer more quickly, not to help you make the best choice for your summer.

Another thing to consider is that some companies do run their recruiting cycles much earlier than others, i.e. the FANG companies.

With any luck now that you've landed 1 internship you're probably also interviewing with other places and waiting to hear back from them.

If you've received multiple offers in quick succession that can be a really great bargaining chip when trying to push back then deadlines and get more breathing room.

For example if you're waiting on dream company A but you've already heard back from second favorite company B.

You can usually just talk to your recruiter about it and let them know the situation.

Recruiters will usually be pretty accommodating if you've already received an offer and if you’re honest and polite :)