Your interview was near perfect. You like the company and the recruiter is more than impressed with your credentials. And then you hear the, "You'll be receiving an offer from us in a day or two." You can hardly believe your luck and you head back home feeling that you've bagged the job of a lifetime.

However a week goes by and nothing happens. You wait to hear from the recruiter but nothing really materialises. This is quite a common scenario and statistics state that almost all jobseekers would have faced this situation at least once in their career. So what do you think would be the right way to handle this? Should you stop looking for a job just because you think you have aced the interview?

Recruiters definitely feel differently. As has been pointed out by some of the most leading HR executives of top firms that a verbal assurance that the company will hire you can sometimes mean nothing. That's why as a professional it is imperative that you do not stop your job search even if you're positively sure that you will receive an offer. Because a formal job offer is the only guarantee that you are even considered for the post that you had interviewed for.

Get Proactive
As a jobseeker it is essential that you do not wait till the offer materialises but at the same time if you're really positive that you do have chances of being hired by the company then do not wait too long before you follow up on the offer. Because depending on the size of the organisation and the post applied for, chances are that the event could have slipped their minds. Unless it is a post that has to be urgently filled, most organisations take their own time in zeroing in on the perfect candidate and making a formal offer. So it would make more sense to wait only a little while and then approach the company for the status of your interview as in if you have been short-listed or how long it would take for them to take a decision. But also keep this in mind that if you are told to wait as the process will take a bit more time, it would be vital that you find out the time line as in weeks or months. By doing this you can find out if the delay is worth your while, because waiting for an offer without looking elsewhere can prove to be quite risky and depressing if at the end of the day you are not among the candidates who are selected for the position.

Was it really there?
Hiring methods followed by HR recruiters vary from company to company and it's generally based on the size of the organisation. Larger the business, longer will the delays be. However there is no assurance that smaller the size quicker will be the callback that you receive. Most often job offers fall apart at any time during the process irrespective of the size of the organisation. And in most cases even after you receive a verbal job offer most definitely the company will talk to other candidates for the same position that you had interviewed for. Since they have to be absolutely certain that they are hiring the best person for the job, which most often leaves you wondering if you had really heard correctly.

Should you wait?
When you're desperate to get the job that you've interviewed for, you'd most definitely end up telling the one common lie, - "I've received an offer from another company, so please do let me know at the earliest if you're looking to hire me", well little do you realise that this lie can cost you the job that you're hoping to get. Wondering how? Well, most organisations, especially the big ones are never desperately chasing one candidate and they won't think twice before they ask you to take up the other offer. That's why telling them that they'd lose you if they do not decide fast is akin to goofing up in an interview. That's why it is always better to stick to the truth. You can always tell the employer that you're also interviewing for other jobs but would still prefer to join their firm. And if you're lucky enough you can then try and persuade them to let you know about the position or better still manage to get a confirmation from them, which can definitely help settle the matter.

Doing this would certainly help because if you've failed to make it, you can now go ahead and move on without having to mull over "what might have been", because at the end of the day, that is not the only job in the whole wide world.