Do not get intimidated with this HR interview question and answer. You can be open about the other offer or keep it private, depending on how happy you are with it.

HR recruiters generally ask this to understand your demand in the market. They also want to know that by the time they interview you and reach the offer stage, you would have already accepted another one.

Possible Answer #1:
“Yes Sir/Ma’am, I am negotiating verbally about an offer with the HR of a startup company right now. But there is no documentation to support the same. So, nothing is concrete yet.”

Possible Answer #2:
“I and some of my batchmates received verbal offers from a company, during our campus placements.

I was supposed to receive the official offer letter through an email communication from the company within a week of my selection, but it’s been over 6 months now.

I have sent them one follow up email, but the HR that I am writing to is still silent. So, I don’t know clearly if I actually got the job. That is the reason why I came for this interview.”

Possible Answer #3:
“No I don’t.”

Play safe with this answer while you face your HR interview questions and answers round. If you have an offer letter already, keep it a secret till the salary negotiation stage comes up.

There, you can negotiate your remunerations on the basis of your current drawn package and also the offer letter that you have.

You can negotiate with all the three organizations at this stage (your current organizations, the company that issued an offer letter and also the company with which you interviewed) and finally select the best possible option.

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In case this strategy conflicts with your personal theories and beliefs, you can frame your answer, as shown below.

Possible Answer #4:
“I’ve been talking to ABC company for the past 15 days, but it is not final yet. I am interested in working with them, but I’m still not sure. Is there something you know about company ABC that you can share with me?”