<p>OK, this is an issue that occurs at the other side of the college application/acceptance process. My son will be graduating with an MS in engineering this spring. Accordingly he has been doing interviews for full-time work. The problem is that unlike college acceptances which have a common response date, job offers and acceptance deadlines are somewhat random. </p>
<p>My son has been offered a job in the Wash. DC area that he has positive feeling about and has a competitive starting salary and benefits. It was extended to him in mid-November with a decision deadline of mid-December. It would seem that 4 weeks is a reasonable amount of time, but unfortunately he has two other interviews scheduled at companies in the Boston area just after the formal deadline for DC job. </p>
<p>While the DC company has informally said that they could be somewhat flexible with their acceptance deadline, I wonder what risk there might be in terms of trying to push it out to the January timeframe (which would be the likely earliest date to expect an offer from the Boston-area companies). This is a VERY small company so they probably are only planning on hiring one or two engineers; its not like they have a lot of leeway in their offers. My guess is that they have only offered jobs to as many people as they know that they can hire. If they get rejections, they will probably have to send out offers to their second choice candidate(s). Hence, I can see their point in wanting to get closure on the hiring process ASAP.</p>
<p>How have other’s kids dealt with similar circumstances? Is a bird in hand better than two in the bush?</p>
<p>Is there a way he could push up the timeframe of the other interviews or maybe do a combo of a slight push-out of the acceptance deadline and push-up of the other interviews so he’ll be able to make a decision?</p>
<p>It’s best to not be too hasty since he’ll likely end up staying at his first job for at least a little while but OTOH the companies need to take care of their needs as well.</p>
<p>Most companies only give you a week or so to decide–4 weeks is a a long time. If he had those kinds of doubts and I was looking at hiring him I tell him “Do you want to work here or not?” If not I move on to NEXT.</p>
<p>Speaking only as the W of a corp. exec. who does a lot of hiring, I concur with barrons. My H has told me that when a candidate stalls on giving an answer, he generally withdraws the offer as it indicates they are already not committed to the position.</p>
<p>barrons, that is certainly one way of looking at it. However, I would think that it would be in the best interest of the employer to have employees who have consciously chosen them over other job offers. If they only “get” the employee by virtue of there being no other offers on the table, then unless the job is perfect (few are), that employee will likely re-start the job exploration process to see what’s on the other side of the fence after the employer has invested time and money in training him.</p>
<p>Dealing with an almost identical situation. What do folks think about accepting (one week deadline), for 2008 summer starting job, but withdrawing acceptance if another better offer is made? Is it unethical? Would a company have a second thought if the situation was reversed? Are there legalities involved if no agreements are signed?</p>
<p>Maybe but I would agree with Bay’s husband. You’ll be right more often than wrong. Hiring is ususally a crap shoot anyway but my worst luck has been with people I had to cajole. Those are the ones looking for the next thing as soon as they start.</p>
<p>Life and death, no. However, from my personal experience the decisions that one makes early in life have a way to make it very difficult to change things later in life. As soon as one settles in an area roots begin to take hold. Sometimes they can be up-rooted, but not always without pain and compromise.</p>
<p>Janey, I think that pulling out of an accepted position because something better comes along is usually unethical, but I do think that there are exceptions and it depends on the circumstance. Just accepting a job as a back-up while interviewing for others is wrong, in my opinion. </p>
<p>Four weeks is a long time to make a decision, so I wouldn’t try to extend it much longer. Can he contact the other companies and see about interviewing earlier and getting a sense of where he stands right away? </p>
<p>At this point, though, I think he should just look at his options and make a decision.</p>
<p>My parents are both lawyers; they’re partners in the same firm. They actually first met when my father interviewed and hired my mother. My dad gave my mom a hard time and threatened to withdraw the offer because she wanted overnight to decide. Apparently he’s still the partner in the firm who really wants quick decisions from potential hires. It’s not as much a business factor–I’m sure they could wait a week–but they want to hire lawyers who have them as their #1 choice.</p>
<p>Let me play devil’s advocate here. It’s still early in the hiring season that he can take the risk of letting a sure job go by with the idea that another better one will materialize before he graduates. So the question would be: how does he feel about the two jobs in the Boston area? Are they clearly superior to the one that has already been offered? If yes, and he does have a chance of landing one, he may consider letting the D.C. offer go. If they are only comparable, then take the D.C. offer and don’t look back. After all, it does sound appealing.</p>
<p>Does he really not care about location? If he really prefers one location over the other then maybe he should shoot for the opportunities in that area.</p>
<p>“Dealing with an almost identical situation. What do folks think about accepting (one week deadline), for 2008 summer starting job, but withdrawing acceptance if another better offer is made? Is it unethical? Would a company have a second thought if the situation was reversed? Are there legalities involved if no agreements are signed?”</p>
<p>I’ve been wondering about this too; although, it’s about a regular job.
What happens if you accept a job that doesn’t start in 6 months, and then you decide you want to do something different. How is that looked upon? Does it matter?
It seems to me I can take a job and work there for a day and quit. So why can’t I quit before I start. :)</p>
<p>optimization theory says that if there is a delay on either party, than its best to, move on. If the offering party is asked for a delay, the offer should be withdrawn quickly because this party cannot win. The old age saying, “What is there to Think about? Take it or leave it. Don’t waste anymore of my time.”</p>
My father was married at the time, too! I only found this out a couple of years ago… I try not to think about the exact progression of events. All I know is that everybody is on good terms (my dad still calls his ex in-laws on birthdays and holidays), so I guess things went OK?</p>
<p>It is the same with internships as well. My son was given 10 days to decide. Fortunately, it is his dream company. One other company sent him a letter for interview with a reply to be given in 24 hrs, and also a big notice in bold letters that if you have accepted someplace else don’t apply (and he liked that company too).</p>
<p>Actually, I am with marite. If this is his # 1 job, go for it. Otherwise try to negotiate time and asks others to move up their schedule. With a red hot technical/finance job market, companies will accommodate. We do it all the time. Good technical/engineers don’t grow on trees. If they don’t budge roll the dice and reject/accept.</p>