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Verbal Job Offer - What's Next?

Hi Gentlemen,

On Wednesday I had a phone interview with the Director of R&D at a laboratory I'd love to work at. The director extended me a verbal offer and we discussed a potential salary and start date. He told me the offer isn't official until I come to NYC to complete the background check and HR process. I'm currently a university graduate student working at the university and this is my first real job offer. The phone interview was Wednesday and as of Friday I haven't heard anything from HR regarding the next step. The potential start date is about two months out. I'm excited but trying to remain realistic and calm. It is in a research/nonprofit/academic laboratory so I don't expect it to be as fast as other companies but I can't help but be anxious.

What are your thoughts?
 
Drug Test, Background check, etc...

They will be in touch.

It wouldn't hurt to reach out to them on Monday oe Tuesday if you haven't heard from them by them.

Congratulations!
 
This is always a tough issue and most HR employees almost enjoy their "power" in making applicants squirm. I'd give it at least a couple of weeks before doing anything. You want to avoid embarrassing the director so I'd place a call, not email, to him rather than HR.
 
It'll be fine. HR will take their sweet time, I can assure you. It's in the DNA of those organizations :). Indeed, if you haven't heard something in a couple more weeks, call your contact to make sure he got all of the wheels in motion.
 
Good luck. If you don't hear from HR in a brief period of time I would reach out to the person who made the conditional job offer. My reasoning is because of what happened to me a long time ago.

The General Counsel of a company offered me a job and said HR would call me in a week to handle the paperwork. Two weeks went by and I never heard from them. I called the GC up and learned that HR wanted the job to go to a person within the company and HR "forgot" to let me know. Needless to say I was PO since I let another opportunity go by in the interim.
 
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Thanks Guys. I will wait until mid-end of next week to reach out to my contact. The waiting game is difficult.
 
I'd follow up on Monday with the guy with whom you interviewed. If you can do so tactfully and without spooking him, it would be good to get an email from him with outline you discussed subject to all the HR hoops. Nothing beats something in writing.

Drug Test, Background check, etc...

They will be in touch.

It wouldn't hurt to reach out to them on Monday oe Tuesday if you haven't heard from them by them.

Congratulations!
 
I work for a big company (Fortune 50) and there are a lot of moving parts to coordinate with hiring someone here. We have local HR staff here in our Dallas office that work with us and sit in on the interviews. But when we want to hire someone, they have to coordinate with another HR department based out of the Orlando office. And then once you accept an offer from them, you have to start coordinating with the New Hire Center that is based out of corporate HQ in the D.C. area.

When I got hired here, it took two weeks from the time I was verbally told by my would-be boss that they were going to make me an offer to when I received an official offer letter.

Hang in there.
 
Thanks guys followed up with my contact today and was contacted by HR later in the day. Will be going to NYC next week to go through background check and everything. The offer is contingent on that so at least I have a time frame now.
 
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