<p>I was just offered my dream job in the city in which I have been hoping to reside. I accepted a different job before I got this offer, interviewed with both companies before either offer. The second company I didn't hear back from for many months, so I assumed I was out. There is still 5 months before I am supposed to start with the first company with which I accepted. I know the school's career center doesn't agree with reneging offers, although they are supposed to be helping us find the best career choice for ourselves. I was wondering if I do renege and the first company contacts the school, could the school contact the second company if they found out about the acceptance? I'd assume no because it is privileged information and they legally can't give out information without my consent. I could understand them wanting me to explain the situation to the first company in order to save face for the school, but I'm wanting to make sure it wouldn't come back and cause the second company to renege the offer. The two companies are in completely different industries and completely different sections of the country.</p>
<p>I'm not wondering about ethics, because I believe that we are in college to find the best opportunities for ourselves. Therefore, if one company gives a super early offer and has a fast approaching deadline, even after extending it, then things like this could happen.</p>
<p>Step one: Talk to your schools career center and discuss the dilemma. Quite frankly, the other company’s offering you a lot more money and are in different industries. They should understand after you persuade them. If you don’t do this, your school might ban you from using their career resources (career fair/interviews at my school) if they find out about the reneg.</p>
<p>Step two: Talk to company one. Discuss the situation. Apologize for all the inconveniences that you’ve caused them. You’re going to burn this bridge but perhaps its worth it. Don’t bring up the other company’s name.</p>
<p>If you want to get into ethics, consider that your decision will be a black eye on your school and it’s possible that the recruiters will not return next year. Your decision could negatively impact the current Juniors even though they did nothing wrong.</p>
<p>That said, sometimes you have to walk away from an offer and I agree with the above suggestion to at least talk to your Career Services department first. If Company 1 offered significantly below market rate for your major, make sure to tell Career Services. Some schools will ban (or at least warn) companies for offering well below market value.</p>
<p>to add on… your situation is very difficult and also very understandable, and the topic of reneging on accepted offers is highly debated. It is likely that your school will ban you from using their career center, as stated above; the policy is generally that once you accept an offer, you are obligated to withdraw any outstanding applications you have so that you don’t even get into this situation, regardless of how much better those potential jobs are.</p>
<p>As for the information, it is in no way, shape or form privileged. If you are interviewing for a company and they happen to have a recruiter who knows someone at the company you will renege on, there is no reason to believe they wouldn’t share information about you.</p>
<p>For what to do… I would actually talk to the new company first. Explain the situation, and ensure that they will not rescind their offer if you renege on another acceptance. THEN talk to career services, then the first company and, lastly, accept the offer if it is still valid. The worst thing you can do in a situation like this is try to hide from the truth… I’ve heard too many stories about people who do things without being up front about them.</p>
<p>I won’t give you a recommendation. It’s a question with no clear answer. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>(One note: If you go to a pretty good school, your decision will likely not influence the company’s view of your school. The company I reneged on still actively recruits here)</p>
<p>(Note #2: Salary should not be factored into your decision. This should not be a deciding factor in selecting internships. Think about how much you would gain out of an internship from a professional/career standpoint.)</p>
<p>“As for the information, it is in no way, shape or form privileged. If you are interviewing for a company and they happen to have a recruiter who knows someone at the company you will renege on, there is no reason to believe they wouldn’t share information about you.”</p>
<p>Pertaining to that, I was asking about the school giving out the information. I know companies can talk to each other. I know FERPA keeps the school from releasing academic information. I wouldn’t inform the first company who the second company was.</p>
<p>"(Note #2: Salary should not be factored into your decision. This should not be a deciding factor in selecting internships. Think about how much you would gain out of an internship from a professional/career standpoint.)"</p>
<p>This is for a full-time job. There is more than the salary involved. Location and industry I think are very important. I’ve heard it can be hard to switch into a different industry farther into your career.</p>
<p>I’m wondering, just because I have no experience with finding a job and am trying to learn more about the process, but would it be appropriate to try to negotiate for more money at the company where you already accepted, or would it be considered too late for that since an offer was already accepted?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>talk to your dream company. Explain that you accepted your first job offer many months ago, but that you want to work at dream company. Tell dream company that you are planning to tell the first company you can no longer work there, but you want to make sure things are squared away with dream company and everything with your situation and plan is fine from their point of view.</p></li>
<li><p>talk to your career center, and explain the situation. If the career center tries to strong arm you, be polite, but firm. Your job is to do what is best for you. The career center’s job is to do what is best for the school as a whole. Realize that those goals, at times, will contradict each other. It is not your fault or the career center’s fault… it is just reality.</p></li>
<li><p>tell the first company that an offer you can’t refuse, in your dream location, dream field, etc has presented itself and you are going to take it. Thank them for giving you the offer and apologize for the inconvenience it will cost them.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>broken - IMO, once you sign the paperwork that has your official offer and what you will be paid, that is what your offer will be. The time to negotiate is before that. I mean… you can always ask, but the chances are very low.</p>
<p>It would look very bad to try to negotiate using another offer after accepting an offer. You don’t want to give the impression that you reneged because of money. Besides, I imagine most firms would rescind your offer if you even tried to negotiate like that.</p>
<p>I was told another option by someone, but I feel like reneging would be more correct to do. The option was to go work for the first company, but telling them on the first day that I am putting in my two weeks notice. Then, after the two weeks, start working for the second company. I just feel like that is a lot more deceitful than being up front and telling the first company, giving them months to fill the spot. The career center couldn’t do anything against this because it is not against any code of conduct to quit a job with reasonable notice. But also, having an at-will contract that you only agreed to via email and never actually had paperwork sent to you to sign should give you the right to give them time to fill the position without putting them into a bind. </p>
<p>I know some people say an email is the same thing, but technically no one can verify who sent the email. An IP address can only link the email to a certain computer, but living with multiple roommates allows different people to gain access. I’m not trying to use that as an excuse, I’m just saying I don’t want to hear about how an email is the same thing.</p>
<p>I highly people from either company know someone at the other. I know it is a small world, but for the sake of the question we will assume they do not. Also, the only way for them to know about each other would be from the career center on campus to inform them. That’s why in the OP I asked specifically about the legality of the career center informing the second company if they find out.</p>
<p>No, no, no. Do not go down this route. It’s unbelievable and makes you sound incredibly immature. </p>
<p>Offer letters aren’t legally binding. The only reason they send them to you and have you sign them so that if later you claim “you told me my salary was X”, they can come back and say “No, we told you Y and here’s your signature showing that you agreed to it.” Email works just as well (after all, how can you prove that your roommate or a vindictive mailman didn’t forge your signature?). And absolutely do not show up and quit day 1. That’s even worse.</p>
<p>We’ve been telling you what to do all thread: go talk to your career services department and give them a warning that you’re going to do this. Give them the justification and ask them not to ban you from their services in the future. Then accept offer 2, and renege offer 1 as apologetically as possible. That’s all you can do.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean that to come across as that is what I was going to do with the email. I wasn’t planning on it, I have just seen it on the internet that everyone says an email can be binding - I didn’t want it to get into a conversation about that.</p>
<p>I did go and talk to my career center today and they said they were disappointed and wanted me to explain to the first company what my decision was and why I made it. They talked to me about the ethics of doing so, but ultimately told me it was my decision. I am going to call the HR person that I was in contact with at the first company and let them know. After, I am going to call and accept the other position. Hopefully the first company will understand and everything goes well with the future job. </p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s help. I think I was just freaking myself out about the school contacting the second company about it.</p>
<p>Good, glad it worked out. You have to do what is in your best interest.</p>
<p>It is not like you were hunting for other opportunities after you had accepted an offer…Company1 should understand if you tell them what you told us. It was your dream job, right before company 1 right? ;), AND you interviewed with them before you received and accepted the offer from company 1. Now you are getting offered a higher salary in a better location. If you tell them all that, they will understand and know you are not just being a dick. Make sure you stress that you interviewed with company 2 before you accepted company 1’s offer. They will think the worst of you if they think you were interviewing with other company’s after you accepted their offer or if they don’t believe you.</p>
<p>IMO, you should accept the second position first. Then tell the first company you can no longer accept their offer. This way there won’t be a time when you don’t have a position. Most likely, it won’t make a difference though.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree. I think it’s a very dangerous move to not tell the second company about your situation… if you tell them and they say that they cannot hire someone who has already accepted another offer, you will fall back on the first company without any issue. If you do not tell them, you start working and they find out what happened, it is not unreasonable at all for them to fire you. Remember, as much as it hurts applicants to renege on an offer, it could also hurt the reputation of the companies that cause these applicants to renege. </p>
<p>The last thing you want is to renege to the first company and have the second company rescind its offer based on your prior acceptance of another offer.</p>