Accepted a job offer from one company and then got an interview with another one?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>So I accepted a job offer from Company A and signed all the agreements. However, sometime later Company B emails me and says they would like to interview me. And I went. I know this sounds unethical but Company B was a place I was really hoping to work for. I love Company A but the only reason I accepted so quickly was because I thought Company B wasn't going to even bother contacting me. These were my two top choices. I wish Company B interviewed earlier. I feel like I didn't have the proper information to make a holistic decision. </p>

<p>Now I don't know if I got the offer from Company B, but did I do something unethical? If Company A finds out, will they rescind my offer? I went to to the interview to see if I made the right decision. I mean, this is my career we are talking about.</p>

<p>Did I do something wrong?</p>

2

<p>When I was your age, I would have said you had done something wrong. Now, after seeing how businesses operate, I would say no! Companies have very little loyalty to their employees. You have to look out for yourself. If you get a better job offer from Company B, I would go for it. Maybe I am just cynical in my old age - it will be interesting to see what others think.</p>

3

<p>^ I agree. People are allowed to go look for other jobs. I do see how you can feel this way, but do you really want to wonder if you could have gotten the ‘dream’ job?</p>

4

<p>Ethically, you did nothing wrong. If you had contacted Company B prior to accepting Company A’s offer, you would have avoided all of this and perhaps be a little farther in the process, but you also might have missed this opportunity. But there is nothing unethical about interviewing with another company, and if Company A were to find out and care so much that they rescinded the offer then you should breathe a sigh of relief - because that company is psychotic and you got out easy!</p>

<p>Legally, I doubt you have any issues unless those forms you signed amount to a contract you cannot afford to break. I have never seen a contract like that for a new graduate, but I suppose it could happen.</p>

<p>Don’t sweat it.</p>

5

<p>It depends on the agreements you SIGNED. What do those agreements stipulate?</p>

<p>I would like to add that is is unethical and in very, very bad taste to change your mind after accepting and signing an offer.
Why? Imagine you got and accepted an offer from company A. So you finish college and are ready to start your job. But then the company contacts you and says “Sorry, we changed our mind and we’re giving your position to someone else.” You would probably be furious.</p>

<p>But if your agreements don’t legally bind you to them, you <em>can</em> change your mind.</p>

<p>In the future, the correct thing to do is when they tell you that you need to accept/decline their job offer by Date X, you should ask them for an extension.</p>

6

<p>

Ethics just refer to agreed upon rules, not right vs wrong - and ethically companies reserve the right to change their mind at any point, so I do not consider it unethical for employees to do the same.</p>

<p>

This exact thing happened to me - I was hired, the company lost the contract that they thought they had won, and my first day of work was being told that I didn’t have a job. </p>

<p>On another occasion I was hired for a position, but in the two weeks between my signing on and my actual first day someone with more experience showed up and they hired him too. They kept us both, we had comparable performance (according to them at least - I can verify only that we had identical throughput), and a month later I was called in so that they could tell me that I was being let go - too expensive to keep us both and they were going with the more experienced guy.</p>

<p>That was two of the three times I have been laid off in my life. Yes, I was furious both times. If that is the rules that companies play by, why would I play by different ones?</p>

<p>

Absolutely, but he missed that boat already.</p>

7

<p>Wow. I can’t believe these responses. </p>

<p>It was unethical to do what you did. The bottom line is you made a commitment and before the ink is dry you are ready to break that commitment. Let’s drop all pretense here. Your word is obviously not your bond. Your actions define you. So now you are defined as untrustworthy… unreliable. Your word is worthless… even when put in writing it’s worthless. </p>

<p>Do you really need to ask if you did the right thing?</p>

<p>Others can bitterly recite how they feel wronged by a company and claim that event releases them from any obligation to do the right thing. Cow pie. </p>

<p>We are only as good as our words. This was clearly not one of your best moments.</p>

8

<p>@cosmicfish:
I am not sure if your situations are relevant, because if the offer is signed and in writing and if it is a contract they cannot withdraw it.</p>

<p>If it wasn’t a contract (for the OP) then the OP can withdraw.</p>

9

<p>

Exceptional circumstances and bad lawyers notwithstanding, employment contracts almost always give the employer the right to release any employee at any moment for any non-discriminatory reason. Most employers currently avoid contracts as much as possible, because they are then actually obligated to the employee, and companies are willing to do that only in exceptional circumstances.</p>

10

<p>There is NO binding “contract” that guarantees work in this situation. Employers can fire/lay off at will, and employees can give notice at any point. It may be different for unionized jobs, but it’s not true for most engineering positions. When you accept employment, you are not giving your word to stay for any length of time, UNLESS you accepted a signing bonus or the company asks you to work a certain period in return for paying your moving expenses.</p>

<p>I also didn’t like it when my husband was let go five days before our second son was born (after giving him a big bonus three months before and telling him what a wonderful job he was doing), but the company did nothing wrong, ethically or otherwise. They just didn’t have enough work for him to do.</p>

11

<p>

Funny (or not), but the lay-off I DIDN’T mention above came exactly five days before MY first child was born - my wife still swears that the stress of the time is why she came early. This particular small company had been fast heading down the tubes, so even having survived one lay-off I was not surprised when I was caught up in the second one. A few months after I left it was basically a holding company for the IP - the CEO and VP’s plus a couple of admins, everyone involved in the actual product was gone.</p>

12

<p>I feel bad now. This actually didn’t happen. This was only a hypothetical situation I threw out there because I wanted to see what people’s reactions would be. I just read a recent NYTimes article about how Western-trained graduates aren’t hired by Japanese companies in Japan and one of the reasons the recruiters frowned upon Western graduates is because they have a “tendency” to switch employers quickly. I just wanted to see what attitudes would be seen in America about an American doing this. It seems like the reaction is mixed. Some of you guys are fine with it, some not.</p>

13

<p>Your posing a hypothetical situation and presenting it as real bothers me more than your original question. People take time on CC to try to help other posters. If you’re raising an issue for philosophical discussion, you need to make that clear.</p>

14

<p>If you wanted to start a discussion about the article, why didn’t you just post the article in the message and ask people’s thoughts on it? That way you wouldn’t have to fool people.</p>

<p>However, pretending like the situation is real gives people more desire to give their input, which could lead to a more interesting conversation.</p>

15

<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE: It’s a violation of the Terms of Service to have a second account. It’s even more serious to post under two accounts in the same thread. Timeouts, sometimes bans, are given for that.</p>

<p>That has happened in this thread.</p>

16

<p>Violation of site policy or not… I’m much more disappointed at the adults telling newly minted engineers they don’t need any morals or ethics… they don’t need to honor their freshly spoken words, promises or commitments.</p>

<p>Tell me, what is left of a man when honor is lost?</p>

<p>I tell any newly minted engineer the same thing I tell my own son:
“Do the right thing.”
“Your word is your bond.”
“Think of the qualities you’d want in a friend and be that person.”
“Follow your heart.”</p>

17

<p>

“Any moral or ethics”? This one issue determines if you have ANY morals or ethics? To reiterate - there is nothing ethically or morally wrong with interviewing for one company while working for (or about to be) for another. Doing so helps to keep companies honest, among other things - it is hard to know if you are being fairly treated if you don’t get a second opinion.</p>

<p>As far as accepting the second job offer goes - at what point does ethics dictate that you can leave to go to another company? A week, a month, a year, a decade, a lifetime? Bearing in mind that said company has probably made no guarantees to you whatsoever? If you KNOW that you are not going to stay, what is wrong with being honest about that? And if you are NOT going to stay, why not give the company time to find someone else rather than make it a surprise present DURING employment? </p>

<p>*"Dear Boss,</p>

<p>After accepting my position with your company, I interviewed with another company to which I had previously applied and received an offer that I consider superior to yours. Even though I like their company and employment package more, I have decided that honor demands that I take the job which you offered and which I now no longer want. Expect that for the duration of my time with you I will become increasingly more disgruntled as I seek ever more desperately for a way out that satisfies my honor. I am certain that this will affect both the quality of my work AND my ability to work with superiors and coworkers, but that’s okay because eventually I will get out of here, possibly by giving notice or possibly just by walking out as the frustration of what I gave up gets to be too much for me.</p>

<p>Sincerely,
Nota Realguy" *</p>

<p>FWIW, our HR department tells us that the first two years of an engineer’s career are a net financial loss - so if I leave within the first 2 years I will never have made the company any money, and unless I stay 3-4 years it is probably at best a wash for the company. And they still have to pay all the recruiting expenses for my replacement.</p>

<p>

Well, after telling a company that he has changed his mind and no longer wants to work for them, thereby relinquishing all honor, said man will no doubt fall into a depraved cycle of drug use, assault, and theft.</p>

<p>

Even if it is given in error? Or given to someone who you later find out asked for your word possessing knowledge of consequences that you could not reasonably discern at the time?</p>

<p>

I would prefer someone who is honest to someone who is honorable.</p>

<p>

If the fictional OP had done this, he clearly would have jumped ship.</p>

18

<p>cosmicfish,</p>

<p>You can spin it any way you want to, but in the end, the story is of a young man being disingenuous. </p>

<p>You imply it was an “error” and then laud him for his “honesty.” How convenient a twist of logic. </p>

<p>IMHO, that path is filled with nothing good. </p>

<p>Again, I must say it is a shame that such advice is given to the young. I can’t stop you from giving it, but I can post my dissent/disgust of it.</p>

19

<p>In a way, it is an eye for an eye. Employers themselves are also too often disingenuous.</p>

20

<p>The actions of others should not dissuade us from doing the right thing. Because one man fails us, we should fail all other men?</p>