i was simply transparent that i wanted to make an informed decision and was talking with multiple other companies. i let the recruiter themselves schedule when they'd like me to do interviews for the timing of the offer to work out -- after all that's i think one of the recruiters main assets / abilities, knowing the inside of how the company works and how long a certain stage usually takes.

one company offered to give me an offer early but warned that it would expire before my timeline. i told them they can give me an offer whenever but I will not be making a decision before the timeline i communicated. they ended up giving it to me early anyway and then extending the expiration when I said I hadn't made a decision by their original date.