Informal offer of work - HELP!

So, almost 4 weeks ago to the date I attended an interview for a job I really, really wanted, around a week later I got a follow up email saying a decision was being made and I'd be informed shortly. Last Tuesday I got an email for the HR Dept which said good news - we want you on board BUT we are awaiting formal confirmation from management. I got an email yesterday saying this still had not been confirmed but the lady was confident it would all start moving by the end of the week. The issue I have is this - I am not currently working....do I hang on for this position? I feel like I've been mucked around a little. Has anyone else had a similar experience? The company have reassured me this is just a management thing and that my employment has to be approved....Just feel a little uneasy, I haven't even told anyone about this yet, and it's a job I would absolutely love... thanks for reading

thanks for the response. i guess what is confusing me is the fact HR are reassuring me all the time that things are fine, the job is mine but they are just awaiting approval of things, not sure why a company would lead on someone like this, surely it makes more work for them when they have to call/email me. Oh well, i'll keep going.

Having worked for numerous global corporate companies, it's always HR who approve your suitability for the role. They are the division of the company which offers you the role. In some cases, a person can be 'head hunted' by company management who really want them to work for them, but it's that particular company's HR personnel who have the final say. A HR interview and approval is 'head and shoulders' above everything else. HR is the real powerhouse of any company and they manage the company's most valuable assets..it's employees. If you have received positive emails, which is written consent in black and white, from the HR department, then the job is most likely yours. As usual, the role needs to be 'rubber stamped' by lateral, and not so much 'higher', management but it's always a role that already exists and has been budgeted for, otherwise HR wouldn't have the approval, and wouldn't waste their time (and yours) to interview for it in the first place. Respectfully, in your case, you have waited for 4 weeks when from my experience, some very reputable global companies take up to 8 weeks to finalize just the initial paperwork after a successful interview. I personally had to wait for 9 weeks for a company's HR division to finalize just the initial job offer process with them. The job was informally mine (via email) but when they sent me for my medical, the final hiring process 'kicked in'. In some cases, it can be a long process but there's no hurrying it. As for making more work for them by having to contact you, the very fact that they have contacted you, more than once, to reassure you, should tell you that they want you because they certainly don't waste time and money sending emails to people they don't want. Cheers and all the best with your career.

Wow - thank you so much for taking the time and effort to send me such a detailed and knowledgable response. I have had an update from them today, just another reassuring email saying things are moving albeit at a slow speed but that a formal offer is imminent. I do feel on edge and probably a little less patient than I usually would as it's coming into the sixth week of being unemployed and since I was made redundant. Once again - thanks so much for this reply it really helped.

One time years ago, I applied for a hospital cleaning position. They said I had the job, and had me keep coming back to fill out paperwork, and eventually started paying out money to get me vaccines for the position. I thought that would be a sure sign that I had the job, but I waited.... And waited.... Everytime when I called the hospital back and asked about the progress of things, they just kept saying that they needed to get a larger number of new hires for the orientation. But then a whole month passed, and I still wasn't making any money. Now at the time, I was living at home with my parents. I should have waited longer, but at the same time my parents were getting anxious that I wasn't working, and so I kept applying at other places. And then one day out of the blue, one of those jobs called me back and set up an interview, and I went. They offered me a job. And well, a paycheck sounded better than no paycheck, so I accepted. By this point I was becoming a little furious that the whole process of getting this other job was taking so long. And for all I knew, I wasn't even sure how well I would do at the job. The very same day I accepted the other job, the hospital called me back and wanted to give me an orientation date. I started laughing hysterically and yelled at them. It was a cruel thing, to wait every day for an entire month just to find out if I was working yet - and then to accept another position only to finally get that call I was waiting for. I felt like maybe the hospital only reacted because they now knew another employer was interested in me, and let paranoia go to my head. Don't do what I did. (The other job I accepted wasn't very good. I became more depressed and hit new lows, as I worked around an opinionated old woman that was confrontational with me even when she was wrong, and a fiesty passive-aggressive boss that accused me of milking the clock. I was really just too slow of a worker at that time, and didn't have the job experience, and it was really a waste of several months' time. I thought to myself, "Okay, if you are going to accuse me of stealing time, then maybe that's all anyone sees me as, is some low-life criminal." And that is exactly how I began to act at that job for the duration.) In retrospect, I should have waited on that other job. I think you should do the same. Not that your situation would necessarily wind up as mine did, but you can tell the difference between a job that is highly sought, a job that is tolerable, and one that is a dime-a-dozen go-nowhere crap-shoot. I understand that your certainty must be shaky after 6 weeks. I don't think I could make it 6 weeks without work now. If you can make it a little longer, try to. And if the wait goes on for 2 months... Well, get something in the interim just to make some cash, a temp-job or something. But don't say no to this job when it seems like you are still going to get it! Good luck!