This is a similar angle to what I'm typically taking.
I take my desired number, subtract about 20%, then tell them "I cannot give you the exact number but it's in the vicinity of $X"

What's the etiquette on when to stop accepting interviews?

After accepting a verbal offer?
After accepting a written offer?
Not until actually starting a job?

Probably when you're sure you aren't going to need a job from them.

We've had people stay with us for less than a month, they apparently never stopped....

I would not be comfortable taking interviews after I'd accepted a verbal offer.

If it were a great/amazing opportunity I would probably take the interview but feel bad about it.

Written would be my answer.

Interviewing after a verbal offer is a hugely low class move (at least in the valley). Doing this is a sure way to ruin your reputation.

Strongly disagree. Verbal is as good as written unless the written offer differs significantly from the verbal offer.

Can someone explain to me what the functional limitations are between

-building a site using Squarespace or similar
-paying someone to build a custom WP theme
-paying like $5k to an experienced web developer

thanks

What would you consider a verbal offer? Would the manager just saying to expect a written offer in the next few days qualify?

I wouldn't, have you you made a verbal commitment? If you haven't I don't see any reason to shut down interviewing. I must be crazy though. It seems as if you may have received a verbal offer but the details are vague and thus you are still not sure where you stand with the prospective employer. I have been in similar situations and I have made it clear that I want something in writing. Can you think of a reason for a company to drag their feet in following up with a written offer after making a verbal one? I can't either.

I live in Portland, OR. What sort of work are you looking for? I get contacted by recruiters daily.

In my post above I was talking about "Accepting a verbal offer". And in particular one with the major terms (like salary, job responsibilities, etc.) spelled out.

Someone giving you an offer, verbal or written, doesn't mean you should stop interviewing - especially if you haven't gotten any real terms.

I've been doing support at a start up in Boulder for the last 5.5 years. Everything from onsite support of integration testing to setting up equipment in end user's homes. Currently I'm looking at half a million records that are erring out of our ingest process to give the customer a report of what's going on with their data.

I'd like to find a start up or similar small company and work with them in their support organization.

The verbal offer I received for my current job was position, salary, vacation, and options. That and insurance and the other bennies where in the written offer. It took them long enough getting me the written offer that i couldn't give my notice until the next day. Without numbers it doesn't seem like an offer to me.

TheHoss,

What's involved with the site? It's too broad of a question without understanding the scope of the project.

I accepted a verbal offer and got a call from another place the same day. Politely declined even though it was a pretty cool job that I was very likely to get.

I'm old school enough to actually care about stuff like "my word is good".

Looking back on it, I don't think the "verbal offer" actually constituted a bona fide offer. There was no mention of salary, start date, etc. It was just a call telling me that he plans to extend a written offer sometime in the near future and making sure he wasn't wasting his time on a job I had no intention of accepting.

I actually clarified this with the manager today. He said that he had put the paperwork into HR, and being a big corporate environment it is now out of his hands on how long it takes them to get something in writing to me. He also said he doesn't expect me to not interview elsewhere or not consider other offers at this point, and that in fact he expects it; but that he hopes I will accept their offer whenever it gets to me.

Sounds interesting KatoKrazy;

Wish I had advice on this one, but I'm pretty bad at this stuff as well. I'm glad you brought this up because it never occurred to me that this is bad form. My work experience is only at places that sort of suck and I fully expect anyone who I'm training to be looking for work while they're learning and testing the waters.

A few months ago, I had a proposition. This never panned out, but I now wonder this forum's take on this. I applied to a position on a lark, not expecting to get a phone call. Really, this job was way above my abilities, dealing with many tough areas I've only been lightly exposed to. Regardless, it looked really interesting.

A month or two later**, they wrote me an email asking if I'm still looking for work, but they only had part-time available. Sure, I'd be happy to work remotely. They then asked if I'd be willing to work on a project-bases, meaning that I'd have light deadlines, and basically, if my work sucked, I didn't get paid. I took it as a learning experience, so I said sure.

** I don't know what it is about this town. I've never gotten a call within a month of applying. The C# place not only took a month to contact me, but they took a whole extra month to ask me to come in and work. Is this normal-ish?

In the bay area in my experience you hear back initially within about a week if you hear back at all.

Though the bigger and more corporate type companies seem to take longer

This is pretty much what I thought your situation was when you posted. I think it is fair to say that the manager wants to hire you but the final decision rests with HR ultimately. I think the chances of you getting an offer are high, much better than 50% FWIW.

BTW FWIW if they extend an offer there probably won't be a lot a lot of room to negotiate being Big Blue and all hiring a new grad. Also, I'm guessing it will be a decent offer salary wise. The corporate wheels turn painfully slow though so keep that in mind.

I have received calls about a particular job for two months now from about 6 different recruiters. I know it is the same job because job description is identical. With each recruiter I politely decline, telling them I appreciate the interest though. This last one got really pushy though and I thought he had submitted me without my permission. When I reminded him I wasn't interested he stated that he actually hadn't submitted me but all he needed was my saying yes. Still said no and really wish they'd find someone. I'm fairly certain that they are actually being picky, looking for the perfect candidate, even though they say the need is urgent.

I have no doubt that they can find someone by just paying enough. Even though this job calls for some experience that is not widespread (UEFI), in two months a senior developer well versed in C language development could have been up to speed. Sometimes I just don't get why companies operate the way they do.

Why are you answering calls from recruiters if you're not looking for a job?

Awesome, thanks for the feedback.

I interviewed for a position yesterday that I didn't even apply for. The company that ended up not being able to hire me as an intern over the summer because of a hiring freeze contacted me about a couple of positions they are now hiring for. I'm not sure how I get these interviews for awesome, well paying, very technical positions; but I'm certainly not going to complain.

It was weird because the guy asked me to come in the next day, and promised there would be no technical questions so I shouldn't worry about it being so soon. Of course, the developer lead that I did part of the interview apparently didn't get that memo and spent about 30 minutes asking me about OS and data structures things. To top it off, he is a pretty young and new manager and was not the best at explaining the problem domain and what he was even looking for. Once I figured that out, I think I did very well, but I felt so dumb at first.

I sent an email to each person that interviewed me thanking them, and he actually emailed me back that he thought I "brought great energy to the interview, and answered his poorly worded questions very well." So that made me feel much better.

I think I would love this job. The job title is PCIe SSD Firmware Engineer, and they said it will be almost exclusively writing brand new code on a brand new architecture for at least the next 2 years.

This. I don't have conversations or arguments with people that are cold calling me.