Interview after accepting offer?

I am a non-target student and I accepted a FT offer for a smaller bank (firm 1) in an IB role, but am also very late in the process of a more notable bank (firm 2), albeit in a different IB role. Firm 2 happens to have one of the better groups in the space that I am interviewing for and it seems interesting to me.
 

When I accepted firm 1’s offer quickly, I did so because it was the only thing I had on the table, though it seems like a great opportunity to get hands on experience and the comp would probably be the same as firm 2. Furthermore, when doing the first round interview for firm 2, they were unsure about their timeline and I thought it might extend into the exploding deadline I had from firm 1.

I’m unsure on whether I should continue with firm 2’s interview process because it might backfire and I’ll be left with nothing. Firm 2 might also give me the chance to lateral down the line, and as a whole it is viewed higher than firm. If I don’t get firm 2, I am almost certainly going to firm 1 as I do like it. I’ve never really been in this scenario so I’d really appreciate some advice. Hope this wasn’t too vague.

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

You should for sure continue to interview I think.

I'm only in doubt because I might not know some nuance that's particular to your situation, but if these are two totally unrelated firms there's no harm in continuining to interview. There isn't an HR matrix where all the HR from different banks input the candidates they gave offers to that will catch you out (if something like that is your concern). 

Be careful if there's something I'm missing (e.g. the firms are Mizuho and Greenhill where HR recruitment may well be merged).

You did exactly the right thing to accept the first offer you got (you need certainty, especially in this market).

 

It's safe to continue applying (with the same caveats as before); again as you suspect there's no overlap. I appreciate the reluctance you have to maybe do it from an emotional / gratitude point of view too (genuinely), but I'd always advise people to act in their own self-interest here - it's a business relationship. My bank (and probably all banks) expect that there'll be at least a bit of candidate attrition (there are people with offers at BAML who will re-interview at MS or GS) - it happens literally all the time.

Congrats on the first offer by the way!

 

You don't even need to give them a reason. Just say you'd like to be removed from interview process.

They might ask why, and you can ignore them or, if you prefer, say you've accepted an offer elsewhere (which isn't innaccurate), or have personal reasons, or your cat got sick. It's very unlikely they'll pursue you for an answer about why you withdrew from the process.

 

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