<p>My friend come upon a good and bad situation, and she could use some advice if anyone is willing to offer. I told her I would post on this forum to get some advice, but I'm using a different user name for confidentiality.</p>
<p>Here's the situation:
She recently interviewed second-round with a big four accounting firm, and they pretty much offered her a summer internship on the spot (yeah, I'm jealous). She's really interested in working at this firm, but he hasn't had the opportunity to even consider any other places because all the accounting firms recruit and interview so early.</p>
<p>The other places she's considering are very competitive - places like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and other banks.</p>
<p>The accounting firm that sent her an offer requires a response soon - sooner than she would be able to interview with the banks.</p>
<p>The dilemma is that she has two options:</p>
<p>1.) Accept the internship offer and have the security and assurance of knowing she'll be set for the summer.</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>2.) Leave the offer open and have the option to interview with other places for summer internships and hopefully get more offers. If she doesn't get any other offers, then she may or may not be able to revert to the original offer from the accounting firm, provided they haven't already filled it.</p>
<p>Ethically speaking, it wouldn't be a good idea to accept the accounting firm offer and continue to interview with other companies, so I don't think she would do that.</p>
<p>Anyway, what do you guys think? What would you do in this situation? What should I tell her?</p>
<p>I would advise against accepting then declining, it burns any chance of possibly interviewing there full time and makes you as well as the college you represent.</p>
<p>If she can't get an extension on the offer, I would take it. It's an internship so not the end of the world and she wouldn't have to worry about the future.</p>
<p>Question: Why apply for accounting if there's no desire to take the position?</p>
<p>My response. Take the offer. In a market like this, there's no saying what is going to happen. I just wrapped up my summer internship in nyc and I have to wait up to 3 months for an offer because of a new expense initiative that requires a special committee to approve hiring for jobs in my division. I left in august before the collapse of the market and a 100% drop in my firm's stock price.</p>
<p>After fall recruiting, I only managed to land 1 BB S&T analyst(only one available) interview and a risk analyst interview. A few other small time shop jobs but nothing of interest. I may be heading back to the internship drawing board and utilizing any contacts I have available.</p>
<p>I go to a tier 3 target if that helps you to understand my situation.</p>
<p>tell her to take the offer. it's an internship, not a full-time job. it MAY turn into a full-time job, but that's besides the point. at least she can guarantee herself that she will gain some experience this coming summer which she can later use if she wants to apply for a full-time position at another company. do not accept and decline. it makes her look bad, and her school too which affects future students. it just isn't ethical.</p>