<p>So I have an internship offer from company 1, they have set a deadline of about two weeks to accept the offer. Company 2 I am also interested is having 2nd round around the same time. I would hear back from Company 2 after Company 1 deadline. Company 2 is my preferred summer destination. What would you do? Is it wrong to accept Company 1 and then give it up for company 2 assuming I get an offer from Company 2?</p>
<p>I would:</p>
<p>Ask company 1 for 1 more week OR tell company 2 about your dilemma and see if you can move the timetable up.</p>
<p>I would not:</p>
<p>Accept an offer knowing that you might take another offer.</p>
<p>These recruiters know each other and the industry is much smaller than you might think. If I heard about someone backing out on an internship offer to go with another company, I wouldn’t even interview them.</p>
<p>Last year my son got a better internship offer four days after he accepted his first offer. He ended up turning down the better offer. This year he is facing similar situation. He got a good offer that requires a decision by early November. He has several other interviews with some going into second round but no offer yet. He likes to be able to compare offers but he might not have the opportunity to do so.</p>
<p>If you got these opportunities through your school in any way you should see if your school/career center has any sort of agreement companies have to sign as to when the deadline is for students to decide on accepting an internship/job. That way, a company can’t interview you during a career fair and then require you make a decision a week after that when odds are you won’t be hearing back from any of the other companies yet.</p>
<p>I would go with the company that knows how to make a decision. You don’t want to work for the company that lets good opportunities pass them by while they are still making up their mind. Tell company 2 that if they are interested in you they need to make you an offer by a date about 1 week from now.</p>
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<p>This situation happens all the time and the above is the correct advice.</p>
<p>First I would call Company 1 to see if they’ll move your offer back. But if they only gave you two weeks I suspect they won’t. An offer with such a short deadline is called an “exploding offer”, and it’s generally used when you’re going to offer the job to a second choice if the first choice rejects. It wouldn’t make sense to call the second choice interviewee three weeks after the interview, so they’ll want to keep you on a short timeline. However it’s very common for offerees to request a deadline extension, so don’t feel bad about asking.</p>
<p>If Company 1 won’t move the date, call Company 2 and explain the situation. This is also very common for companies so don’t feel bad. Explain that they are your first choice but that you’re worried about rejecting a job-in-hand for a potential job. This is completely understandable and they will probably try to move their timeline up if it’s at all possible.</p>
<p>Of course, sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to make the tough choice.</p>
<p>What noleguy and Banjo said. Do that. I did (for job and grad school, not internship).</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the advice, Ill try what Banjo said. Hope it works out well, but I am grateful either way, a lot of good engineering students haven’t gotten one offer yet.</p>