<p>Contract does not have to be in writing, if it is we don't have this debate. It's very clear cut if it's in writing. But I remember the Marvin's palimony, he promised to support her verbally. I think he ended up had to pay some money to his ex-girl friend.</p>
<p>It's been an interesting read -- my reason for starting the thread was to see if standard operating procedures had changed and, I guess, the "jury's still out." What I take out of this is something we all need to keep in mind ... college students seeking internships (or even their first "real" job) are just that, college students and not savy job seekers who have been through the process before. When speaking to them, we have to make our needs very clear, either I need an answer right now or I can afford to wait a few days.</p>
<p>This really was a good learning experience for DS beginning with the corporate travel office through the discussions with the recruiter and finally the dealings with the PM. Did DS misunderstand anything? perhaps ... Did he make mistakes? sure ... Was/is he just as busy as the PM? definitely.</p>
<p>citygirlsmom: believe we're going to have to agree to disagree. "You suspect the PM wanted to fill her positions before the good applicants were grabbed up...gee, that seems kind of smart" Smart maybe -- unprofessional, definitely.</p>
<p>the palimony case does not apply, as in this case there was no contract...period...the applicant did not accept with the acknowledgement of the other party</p>
<p>its like me saying, hey, I will take that apartment with without actually telling the landlord and him telling me, yes....</p>
<p>I agree that there was no legally binding contract. However, there was a promise that was broken, and/or a lie. That's morally repugnant, even if not actionable.</p>
<p>For whatever reason, something went wrong here. So maybe something can be gained by the student. Could the student contact the project manager and/or his human resources contact and communicate that he is disappointed in the result, understands that the company needed to move on, and ask if it was the time factor or some deficiency on his part? This might accomplish two things. First, he will learn what he might have done wrong so as not to repeat the error. Second, he might be able to mend some fences and explain that his lack of contact was a misunderstanding (or w/e). </p>
<p>It would be a shame to take nothing from this experience.</p>
<p>lkf725: Will pass your suggestion on -- Thank you. Wife and I talked the situation through a couple of times with DS ... yes, he was disappointed (throw in some initial 21 year old anger, too). But, as I said in an earlier post, he learned a lot from the entire experience.</p>