Would people with experience in dealing with competing offers/timelines chime in on how to balance offers being given while still in the process at other firms? This seems especially relevant now given the more staggered processes occurring for 2021. Any insight is greatly appreciated.
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This may not be advice that can be applied to all firms in all industries, but if a company gives you an offer with a tight deadline you should take it. Once accepted you can still keep recruiting for "better" choices. Let's say you get an offer from an MM in March and they want you to accept/decline by April, but you know that the process with a BB would be finished by June. Come April, take the MM offer. If by summer you also get the BB offer and really want to go there, simply cancel the MM offer. There's a 99% chance you'll have burn the bridge with the MM forever, but if it was for a better firm then it may be worth it. I would do this only if you get a worse offer first.
In cases where the option are very similar, then fuck it. You can always move. E.g. If a top BB makes an offer and asks you to accept before you would be able to hear back from another top BB, then accept it. Shouldn't make too much of a difference and you certainly don't want to burn bridges with the top firms of your industry.
I think the main concern is thatwhether MM would get mad and report to the BB which in this case you could lose both offers
Of course not. Firstly, you don't disclose where you got the competing offer from when you reject the MM. And secondly, there is absolutely nothing illegal/immoral about doing something like this. Some may say it is rude, but that's about it.
Off topic but do we think summer analyst recruiting timelines is just promoting this? I know recruiting for some MM has kicked off and elite boutiques / BB starts later. I feel the accelerated timeline is actually hurting the first movers as they will lose talent later in the cycle when people reneg...
uhhh, I think there was a post on WSO last year about some kid reneging on a firm and got caught so he lost both offers, the thread also mentioned a couple of serious consequences and how you could get caught
Happy to look over it if you can find it. Not saying is can't happen, but I think generally its quite rare and the consequences are non-existent/minimal in most cases.
Timelines are the main point in competing of such type offers. And it is necessary to mention them here.
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