Ask HN: Ask them to pay/schedule or handle it myself?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11283994

by tonym9428 • 10 years ago

5 1 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Long story short, I have an inquiry from a medium sized company to come out to the Bay Area for an interview. However, they want me to pay for the flick, hotel, etc and will reimburse me. I'm sure they will, but I wanted to understand what your general policy is on such things. Suck it up and pay for a flight in two days and an airbnb. Or would you ask them to cover it?

patio11• 10 years ago

I've pre-paid probably $100k of travel expenses over the years and gotten reimbursed for it. (Occupational hazard of consulting and speaking at conferences internationally.)

That said, it doesn't really matter what anyone else does, right? This is between you and the company. Some companies are we'll-reimburse-you shops, some will want to book your ticket, largely because they have internal processes built up to do one or the other. (A note on market norms for young HNers: you should expect to get plane tickets and a hotel room for any job interview in a city which requires flying, courtesy of the company. A company not offering that is a company to avoid. I personally feel like companies owe candidates a per diem -- modest payment to defray the cost of meals and incidentals -- but you'll find that relatively few companies spontaneously offer this.)

Most companies should be fairly reasonable with regards to making alternate arrangements if you're not in a position to do them yourself. You do not have to elaborate on why. "Hey $RECRUITER, Thanks for the email. It would be more convenient for me if you could book the tickets/hotel room. What information from me do you need to make this happen?" will probably work. You will almost certainly not be the only prospective employee to have ever made that request in history.

If one does not have a pressing reason why one would do this, I would suggest one just let companies run their standard processes. It makes things modestly easier for you. Also, if you have e.g. space available on credit cards, "I pay and then invoice you actual costs" is strictly superior to "You arrange travel" -- you get reward points (whee) and, more importantly, reasonable discretion with regards to choice of flight and accommodations.

Ask HN: Ask them to pay/schedule or handle it myself?

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