It’s interesting to me to hear how negative the views are on this thread.
When my daughter was a senior in college in 2010-2011, the students who got early job offers were considered the lucky ones. They knew months ahead of time that they had good jobs in their future. They wouldn’t be living in their parents’ basements and making lattes for a living.
Has the economy really improved so much since then that what was seen as a blessing in the class of five years ago is now seen as a problem?
I agree with checking with the career center on guidelines about turning down a job after accepting it. In the business world (finance and healthcare) where spouse and I have operated for over 25 years each, it happens (not often thankfully) that someone accepts a job and later calls back to say they have changed their minds are are accepting a different (presumably better) offer from somewhere else -= or, when they told their employer they were leaving, were suddenly offered a promotion and a salary increase for which they were staying. Or even have started the new position and left after less than a month for the same reason. Obviously, we hate that because we’ve turned down good candidates. But it’s happened more than once and i have never seen any repercussions against the applicant. I don’t see how D accepting a job offer (especially one that forces her to commit after a few days) precludes her continuing to interview and accepting another, better offer - unless her school’s career center specifically prohibits that.
I should add that I was offered, and accepted a position when I was finishing business school. I was called several weeks before my start date (and well after the peak of the interview season) to say that the job offer had been withdrawn because the company had fallen on difficult times and wasn’t taking in any new recruits this season. I was offered NO compensation at all. (I should have reported them to the business school and I suspect they might have been barred from recruiting on campus in the future), but I received another better offer shortly thereafter and was glad to have ‘dodged the bullet’ working for the first company. My point is that this works both ways. D can’t be forced to work at a place she’d rather not, even after acceptance, and an offer of employment can be withdrawn, even after acceptance. Until the contracts are signed, you and they don’t have much leverage.
^^ Adding to N’s point above, it’s a good idea to negotiate a signing bonus. In addition to compensating you if the offer gets rescinded, it can help a poor college grad with moving expenses. IIRC my signing bonus for that first job after college was in the 10-15% range and got used for my first/last month’s rent and deposit on a car. After all was said and done, I probably had less than 1k in the bank after moving in to my new place and parking my new car in the garage.
But remember that signing bonuses (or relocation expense reimbursements) often can’t be given to the new employee until the new employee is actually working. Companies seem to have difficulty finding a mechanism for providing this money to people who are not yet on the payroll.
So the flat-broke college graduate may need to borrow money from the Bank of Mom and Dad to cover the first/last month’s rent, minimal furniture, deposit on a car, etc., and then pay back the loan after the company issues the bonus or reimbursement.
Many large companies will not negotiate individual signing bonuses with potential employees as they often hire a lot of people who start with the same basic salary structure/package. While I guess it is OK to ask, I would not push it as it may be viewed as a turn-off by some employers. Really, it depends on the employer, the situation etc.
Every company has it’s own policy. Every applicant (or current employee) can exercise a veto power towards the company policy. Do not like the policy, do not obey it. In this specific case, do not like the policy, do not accept an offer, there are many after you, who will. This is simple and straight forward and I myself done it several times. Did not like certain aspect of my job(s), found the other jobs.
Many companies will not offer up signing bonuses unless potential employee asks for it. It is the case at my current large employer and others I know of. It is really how you ask for it.
Last year one of nephew got a job offer in Chicago and he was going to move from Ithaca to his new job. There was no bonus offered, so I told him to ask his new employer to help out. They gave it to him after he asked.
Another nephew was offered a summer internship which required for him to take a train and taxi to work everyday. The pay wasn’t great, but the experience was going to be good. I told him to ask his employer to pay for his transportation and they agreed.
In both of those cases, my nephews asked very politely and were very gracious when the employers agreed.
Some companies offer a signing bonus or reimbursement of moving expenses as part of the package, without the applicant having to ask. It’s not unusual for a new graduate to get one of these things or the other.
But the point remains that you can accept an offer, continue interviewing, and reject the initial offer if a better one comes along. That’s how it works in the business world. Unless your school says otherwise, this would seem to be the best option. The fact that the initial company doesn’t like it, is not your problem.
There’s a way to start your career off in an ethical fashion (vs. accepting an offer which you have no intention of honoring by showing up for the first day of work). Tell the recruiter that you are thrilled to get an offer, are very interested in the company, but have a few other interviews already scheduled and are not prepared to turn off those other options until you’ve had a chance to explore them. Ask for an extension on the offer.
How hard is it to behave honestly???
I’m not sure why you consider the suggestions in post nos. 19 and 28 unethical. We are not talking about students who accept offers they “have no intention of honoring” but rather, students who receive an offer from, say, their number three choice employers when they still have outstanding interviews with their number one and two choices. Unless the on-campus interview program has some sort of rule requiring students to drop all remaining interviews when they accept a job offer, students who follow the advice in post nos. 19 and 28 are acting well within the rules of the game. As a practical matter, how is this any different that showing up for work the first day, but continuing to send out resumes in hopes of finding a “better” offer?
Your suggestion to ask for an extension is a reasonable one, but what happens if/when the employer says “no?”
I’m inclined to agree with @AlexanderIII . Is acceptance of the first offer is a contract that excludes additional interviews? If so shouldn’t it come with some consideration ($$)? I only had that one class in business law, but I don’t think you can lock someone down without providing something in return. Some may say “what you’re getting in return is a JOB, bonehead!” but what we’re really talking about is the candidate forgoing, in this case, 4-5 months’ worth of job seeking - the peak time - in exchange for really nothing but the likelihood (not a guarantee) of the job.
It’s not a contract- and nobody can compel a kid to show up for a work for a job he doesn’t want. My point is that accepting the offer- while continuing to interview- seems like a sub-optimal solution (and we don’t know if the college will even allow it- most career services offices have guidelines on how to manage multiple offers, etc.) It is MUCH easier to ask for an extension than to be duplicitous, no??? My company’s recruiters ask “have you accepted any other offers?” before we schedule a second round/visit to our offices. If the answer is yes- we politely tell the candidate that we can’t interview them once they’ve accepted another offer. If the answer is no- but they actually HAVE accepted another offer- well, how is that not duplicitous?
You can have five offers in your hand and continue to interview- if career services allows it. Once you’ve accepted an offer, as far as my company (and others are concerned) you are off the market.
Here is an example of what one college expects from both students (not to renege on an offer-considered unethical) and employers (not to put undue pressure on students, to follow guidelines), etc. Click on Polices-Campus Recruiting , on the left of this link. http://www.career.vt.edu/ I’m sure most colleges have similar written polices that can be checked out.
Is anyone else reading this and thinking how great it is that these companies are hiring kids right out of college?
The Virginia Tech policy seems a bit one-sided in the employers’ favor. Students are told it is unethical to “renege” on an offer they’ve accepted, but employers are under no obligation to accommodate students who ask for an extension of time to consider an offer. All the policy requires of employers is that they not put “unreasonable time constraints” on students to respond to an offer. So if a student asks for a reasonable extension to respond to an offer and the employer says “no,” the student has a tough decision to make.
Life isn’t always fair, so I can’t get too worked up over the one-sided nature of this policy. It seems to me though, that if I were in charge of Virginia Tech’s OCI program, I would push for a rule that employers couldn’t make offers before a certain date (with that date being about a week or so after the final interviews are conducted). This would ensure that students aren’t forced to make a choice until all the on campus interviews have been completed.
The Virginia Tech info does advise students that they should contact the Career Center if they feel the employer has not acted ethically so maybe there is recourse to students if an employer is placing undue pressure on them to respond to an offer. Perhaps, they would block an employer from future Career Fairs if they were getting a lot of complaints about it but who knows. I took a look at UVa just now. That one also talks about the need for employers to avoid high pressure offer techniques. But , they also say that if the employer has adhered to guidelines and one of their students reneges on an offer, they want the employer to contact the Career Center immediately. I’m guessing part of the issue could be that Career Centers want to attract good companies to their school and I doubt it looks good if their students renege on legitimate offers ( and could effect future recruiting if lots of their students are doing that). But I don’t know and other schools I’m sure handle things in their own way,
A few points:
The point I’m trying to make here is that you should think twice – and maybe even more than twice – before discouraging your student from participating in early on-campus recruiting. The student could be giving up some very good job opportunities.
I think you will find that most career centers on campus have a similar policy - here is the one for Northeastern:
Reneging on a Job Offer
When a student accepts a job offer from an employer, either verbally or in writing, that is considered an agreement between both parties. Reneging on a job offer is considered a breach of contract, which also affects the university’s relationship with the employer and can put in jeopardy not only after-graduation hiring, but co-op opportunities as well.
If an employer reports that a candidate has reneged on a job offer, the candidate will be subject to the following actions:
Immediately dismissed from On-Campus Recruiting
Career Development will email the dean of that student’s school, informing the dean of the matter
Student will be suspended from using Career Development services and the use of NUcareers
Do NOT accept a job offer if you intend to continue interviewing. When you accept a job offer, you are agreeing to work for that specific organization. If you receive an offer and are NOT ready to accept it, you may speak with a member of Career Development to review options and devise a plan to address the situation. The counseling staff is trained to handle these matters, so take advantage of their experience and expertise.
When my D accepted a job offer in the fall of 2011, there was some sort of contract to sign, and she received half her signing bonus in January 2012 (the other half once she started working). This is a large consulting company, some of the other major ones did not have future employees locked up that early, so she missed out on the opportunity to compare. It has worked out well for her.