<p>Hey all, </p>
<p>I have a bit of a quandry and am not sure how I should handle it. I am at one job currently, where I worked during the spring semester at school. I began looking around for other jobs, in an attempt to get some more experience, with the thought that if I didn't get anything I could always go back to my job from the spring semester for the summer. I was largely unsuccessful, and only got one offer to interview, which turned into no interview at all as the company more or less gave me the run around, not calling me back until two weeks afterward, to tell me that they had filled the position they wanted to interview me for. Being that I felt I had nothing else for the summer, I told my current employers that I would come back. Literally a week after I did this though, I got a call the company I initially attempted to interview with, inviting me in for an interview for a different position. I agreed and will be going in tomorrow to do so. </p>
<p>Now for my question...
Say I do get an offer from the company I am about to interview with. I would likely take it, but how, if at all, can I possibly smooth this over with my employers in a way that they won't want to kill me. I hate to burn bridges at 20 years of age, especially in the business world. To further complicate things too, my fellow intern just informed the bosses that he will be missing six weeks in the summer for some sort of governer's school program (he will work as a counselor). Ironically, they said, "well, as long as you (referring to me) then I don't have a problem with letting Max go to this". </p>
<p>What should I do...does anyone have any experience or insight?</p>
<p>I think you have a moral and ethical obligation to work for the company you promised to work for, whether it was a signed contract or a verbal one. If you want your word to mean anything, start now.</p>
<p>In fact, you don't really even have a job offer from the second company. I think you *should have been * forthright with the second company, tell them you would love an opportunity to work with them, but you have already accepted an offer for this summer and hope they will consider you for next summer. (That's just my opinion; others may disagree).</p>
<p>Now this is all assuming that your first job is an internship. If your first job is not a learning experience and simply a student job, I don't see why you could not give your first boss two weeks notice and tell him that you have received an internship offer and you need to pursue that experience.</p>
<p>Oh, I have definitely considered this and even consulted a couple professors at school to get their opinion on the situation. My thing is this. I don't get paid much at this job ($7.50) an hour, and am only allowed to work 29 hours per week. Moreover, my job right now is as a financial advisor intern, whereas the position I am interviewing for is within the securities processing department at Mellon Financial. I am much more interested in banking than being a financial advisor, and thus, the Mellon job is more akin to what I want to pursue. I have had companies stiff me before, and even vented about it on this board once, with the common response being, "that's business...nothing wrong really occured here". Why then must I succumb to my word when a much better offer is presented to me? If I do get the position, I would unquestionably find a replacement for me( I already have a couple people in mind), and would like to return in the fall anyway, so where's the wrong doing on my part?</p>
<p>You might be able to make a case to your original employer that you have an opportunity for a full-time job and that you need to take that for financial reasons. Whatever you decide, it would be decent of you to give the employer you will not work for as much notice as possible to find a replacement for you.</p>