Recruiter saying they will wait & interview more before making an offer - What to do?

This happens all the time, and I assume it will happen more and more in this economy as more layoffs produce more engineers looking for work compared to openings. This is an environment where hiring companies have far more power than the interviewing candidates.

There's not much you can do here: Just wait and hope for the best. In the meantime, I would interview with other companies (which I assume you're doing).

I don't, but I may not have one in a few days.

Is this supposed to be "I may have one in a few days?". If that's the case, you should just let them know; it gives you leverage. Maybe they will extend an offer to try "locking things up" in response to this - You never know until you try 😉

As Alex said, you don't have much leverage in this situation because they are looking for a few strong yeses.

You can move on to other interviews. But you can also try creating perturbations for this company. Here are a few things you can do to improve your chances with this company and have them think more positively about you.

First, get the recruiter on your side; you can do that by being proactive in communicating with the recruiter and showing eagerness and interest in what they do. You don't want to sound needy, but instead, you should come across as someone who is already interviewing with other competitor companies, but because of X, you are more interested in this company. That X can be the project they are working on, their culture, or anything else they are proud of and aligned with your goals.

Second, you can offer them another interview to get that strong yes from them. There is no harm in trying this, as you don't have much to lose. Giving this option adds to the first point that you are confident about your skills and happy to add another interview.

Remember that the hiring committee and recruiters are comprised of other humans and have emotions and biases. In your interactions, you should show up as someone who they would love to work with.

In any case, other companies are hiring. I wish you all the best and a powerful career.

Would you say saying that an offer, even when I don't, may be helpful?

It gives you more leverage, but I personally draw the line at being dishonest. I know that it's hard for them to verify, but it doesn't feel right.

I think the most I would say is something like, "There's a good chance I'll have an offer soon." It's accurate and still gives you a decent amount of leverage.

If I were to guess what's happening, you got "Yes" on all rounds with few or no "Strong Yes". They're likely holding out for a candidate that gets more "Strong Yes" responses. Given all the layoffs from top companies recently, I imagine they have some extremely strong candidates in the pipeline (and it's the holiday season, so a lot of them probably weren't able to interview right now).

Oh yeah, I meant I might have one in a few days. I'm not sure. I wouldn't say I liked this way of recruiting. But I see, given the market, it's how it is. Would you say saying that an offer, even when I don't, may be helpful?