Declining An Interview

I received a 2nd round interview today for a lateral position at a larger bank, but due to a couple of factors I'm rethinking whether I actually want to move banks at this specific time.

Would declining the interview request look bad on my part/affect future opportunities at that bank? The new bank would be a BB so I definitely don't want to unnecessarily close any doors.

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

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I'm an intern here so perhaps my experience is limited. However, I was in a similar situation. I had received an exploding offer but had interviews at several different banks scheduled - a couple superdays and a couple phone screens. I really liked my offer and was torn between signing it or to keep interviewing. I decided to sign the offer and respectfully canceled the interviews; I got friendly reactions from HR and the bankers at the firms so they seemed to react well to this. Concerning future opportunities and "keeping the door open", my thought process was this: I would rather "pause" my relationship with these banks and maintain my status as a candidate who was invited to interviews versus a candidate that went through the interview process and didn't get an offer which is a probable risk. I feel like if you were to reach back out to this firm in the future, you would have more credibility as a former strong candidate vs a candidate that was declined. This could be completely flawed thinking and I would appreciate feedback from others but that's how I handled it. 

 

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