Sometimes the first interview you do seems like "the one". Now, it very well might be! But you may also want to think about playing the field and doing a few more interviews before jumping into a decision.

With the marketplace picking up speed, companies are going to be moving fast. Back in the dotcom boom, candidates would go out to an interview at 9 a.m. and find themselves held hostage for the next three hours while more people were being set up to meet with them - just so they could make that candidate an offer before they left that day.

Many times candidates end up accepting these rapid fire offers and their job search is over before it's even begun. This is no doubt because the job and company are a good fit. But it can also be a result of the candidate getting caught up in the heat of the moment.

Just like in true love...go with your gut instinct. Sometimes your "first" really is the best. If so, then accept! Hopefully you'll have done enough upfront analysis to assess the quality of this opportunity (even if you haven't interviewed elsewhere). However, if your gut tells you that things are moving a little too quick, then listen to that message as well.

Bottom line...if a company decides to move quickly and offer you the job before you've seen anything else, follow this advice:

• Always be gracious and express your strong interest in the job, but explain that you'd like a better market comparison so that you can be extra sure. Trust me that they don't want you accepting this half-heartedly. If you want to do a few more interviews, they'd rather you were honest about it then have you accept this and then go back on your word when something better pops up after the fact.
  
  
• Find out what their timeframes for acceptance are. Certainly try to stretch that window. But whatever the final date ends up being, assure them you'll respect their level of urgency and get them an answer by this internal deadline.
  
  
• And then, of course, aggressively look to meet with other companies while the clock is ticking. A placement agency can help here. Any good recruiter should be able to get you out on interviews within 24-48hrs. Minimally, they should be able to at least tell you about your marketability and what kind of interview activity you can expect given your background and specific search criteria.

A basis of comparison will not only help you objectively compare the role and career opportunity, but will give you additional benchmarks to what type of other salary offers you could expect to get.