Backing out after accepting an offer
This topic has been "beat up" a little bit elsewhere, especially in more of the IB forums, but am curious in RE given how small the industry is.
So here's the situation:
Got an offer from Company B, my second choice, in the middle of last week. Its a good job and definitely a step up from my current role. It's more similar to corporate RE but unique in the sense that the company actually buys into property and is planning to do some development in-house.
Company A is my first choice and I've been in touch with them for about 5 months and have had updates along the way for the role. Its with a developer and pretty much a dream job for me, basically what I've been waiting for career-wise.
I got an update from company A two weeks ago that they were going to reach out to me soon about the next steps of the interview process. I've already done one in-person with them, so I'm expecting at least one more interview till they can make an offer. Because they are my first choice I let the hiring manager know of the offer and the deadline I'm under, but haven't heard anything from them.
I'm confident that I am a strong candidate with company A and could lock down the offer. However, because there's no official offer from them yet and I haven't gotten a response since letting them know about company B's offer i'm a little weary about what to do.
I'm planning to ask for an extension on the offer deadline for company B until I get an update with company A. I don't think it'd be great to accept company B's offer then back out after company A finally comes around.
Any of you guys been in a similar position?
TLDR: have an offer from 2nd choice, 1st choice has been quiet or slower to move, and am concerned if 1st choice comes around with an offer after having accepted 2nd choice.
Ugh you are probably a pretty weak candidate for them, otherwise they’d move faster
I'm guessing weak in comparison to who they've found recently? i thought that since i have an offer from somewhere else, showing that I'm in demand, would further interest them to move things along quicker, plus i was regularly in touch with them, updates every couples of weeks. I'm wondering if potentially he hasn't just seen my email? it has taken him some time, as in days or more than a week, to get back to me. I'm wondering if I should reach out to my other contact to see if it even caught their eye at all.
Not true. Some companies (especially smaller ones) move slowly on offers because a lot of the coordination is among deal guys. They want to do deals- not talk to potential candidates. It depends on the individual company.
You either like a candidate or not, there is no coordination needed
We hand out offers within 2 days for the right candidate
They obviously treating the op as back-up, don’t be naive
This is my hope, that's he's just wrapped up into a deal right now. However, that could just be wishful thinking at the moment.
Agreed w/ SponsorPromote.
It's probably a bad idea to tell Firm B that you're waiting to decide whether or not to accept their offer because you're waiting back to hear back from Firm A. That will be understood by them as you not really wanting to work there. This is unless Firm A is so much bigger and more prestigious than Firm B (BX type) that it'll play in your favor.
Bottom line, and I'm not generally a proponent of reneging, if Firm A is your dream job and they offer you, you should renege on Firm B. At the end of the day, you making a wrong decision wrt where you work has more acute negative repercussions for you than it does for the firm that you're yet to work at. If you weigh out the costs and benefits, and your life will be improved if you accept Firm B's offer w/ the ability to renege and jump ship to Firm A instead of taking Firm B's offer and removing Firm A from consideration, you should do the former and not let some feeling of disloyalty to a place that has never paid you and at which you've never worked prevent you from doing so.
I don't plan to disclose to B anything about A, but simply to ask for more time to think about the offer. B only gave me a few days to decide which frankly i don't think is enough, something closer to a full week is what I'm asking.
I'm planning to roll through that game plan you outlined if it does work out that A comes around.
It sounds to me like you are not that far down the road with Company A (one round), and they are too early in their process to move heaven and earth to accommodate your timing. Agree with above that asking for an extension is inadvisable at this stage in the process. If you had disclosed your other options earlier in the process, it might be different. I think you risk giving Company B a sour taste on your commitment, for a backup option that feels like far from a guarantee.
This is where I am confused with A, lots of mixed signals coming from them because we started things off fairly early, as in months ago, and I'm confused about when they plan to lock things down. A lot of other firms I've spoken with are moving things quickly but am lost about where A is standing at the moment.
I'm in the process of being in the same boat as you. I have already signed with one company and will soon be declining them. Take advantage of this hot competitive labor market while you can.
Go ahead and sign the offer instead of risk being left empty handed. Push the start date back as far as you can. But definitely be sure to decline in the most polite way possible... the real estate industry is small. I think most people will understand if you declined for a better role/company. It's best to decline before starting than leaving after you just joined.
My advice is if both jobs are steps up, then decide if you want them individually and not in relation to each other. If you can't honestly say you would take job b by itself (e.g. It is only a marginal upgrade), then stay where you are and wait for job a. If you are interested in job b and decide to take it, then commit and drop the interview process at job a.
If you accept an offer and then back out, that specific company will blackball you. That in itself isn't the issue, the issue is that 1) people have long memories and they move around; so 5 years down the line when you want a new job, but the hiring manager of the team that you backed out on is now at your top pick company and may be in your reporting line/interview panel, you walk in with a blackmark against you, and 2) everyone knows everyone in RE. RE deals with a lot of money, but is a very small world.
As an example, I've interviewed at a place where I had 9 individual interviews and each of those people knew 2 to 3 people that I've worked with at previous companies. And it wasn't like they all knew 1 guy at 1 company, it was that each of them knew multiple people at multiple companies.
The industry is too small, especially once you specialize, to have people lurking around questioning your integrity.
Here's where things are at right now: The position with company B is still good because of the kind of exposure it would have but I am not entirely sold on it because it will be as "Analyst" in the form of a more glorified paper-pusher. The modeling and skills I want to build are somewhat there, but I'm not seeing a total guarantee or at least a large capacity of it. To better explain this job its with a well-known large CRE firm that has a consulting arm and is to work with one big corporate client in helping them acquire RE and be occupier at the same time. This client has the strength to buy property, in the form of all equity, so there's that aspect of it. Live transaction work. The team members in this group seem pretty removed from real estate industry and kind of view their job as truly just a "job" rather than trying to build a career. None of them are in any professional RE organizations in my region, nor do I feel they carry any close direct relationships to people I'd potentially cross paths with later. The only caveat is it's a large CRE company that may blacklist me if I took interest to at an opportunity of there's at a later time. It's possible but unlikely.
Company A finally got back to me, but can't produce a written offer for two weeks. This means it could be locked down before I even start with company B. Right now I'm not sure how to answer company A, as in should i be honest with them saying I plan to accept B, but will jump once A gets me something in writing? I'm trying to be careful with what I let them know of too.
If it matters company A is a boutique developer that has built a strong reputation in my region while company B is a large global firm that has a big scale in terms of real estate services but doesn't really own RE.
I go back to my original post. Don't accept B if it isn't a good fit by itself. It sounds like you aren't that enthused about it which means that in 9 to 12 months you will be looking again. Don't put yourself through that.
Decline the offer and stay where you are. Wait for job A to make a decision and if you don't get it, search for something that will end up more long term.
And definitely do not tell job A that you will renege on your accepted offer at job b if they offer you. That will make you look horrible in HRs eyes. If you decide to say anything, the only proper thing is to say, "I received a competing offer at another firm. However, the position with (job a) is my top choice. Would it be possible to speed up the process so that I can provide an answer to my other offer." If the answer is that it is going to take 2 weeks like you already mentioned, then the risk is on you.
Completely agree here.
Agree with this as well. The best part of a job you don't like that you've had for >1 year is that you can leave at any time. Best not to compare an offer to the job you have, but to handicap to your odds of getting something better within the next 12 months.
FOMO is hard to get over, but in this situation it doesn't seem like you are really missing out on all that much.
Additionally, you don't really want to be jumping every 12 months long-term. People will wonder and it generally isn't looked upon favorably(plus you can sometimes miss out on vesting schedule for things like 401ks or carried interest).
I think I mostly feel the FOMO because I'm not happy with my current gig and interested to pack it up and go. Company B is offering a great salary and bonus but I don't know that I'll truly gain because the benefits fall a little bit short and the high COL the job is in might eat up a lot of the pay.
I've been at my current role for more than 3 years and have been careful in my search to not hop to just anything. Do you think it would matter at all how I am positioned in my current job at all? As in would it matter that I've not truly been a front office position? I know RE views the back office-front office dynamics differently from traditional finance, but want to gauge your thoughts on it in this situation.
I totally get you want out of your current situation, but leaving one unfulfilling job for another isn't really a step up, it is horizontal at best and has potential to be worse. Doesn't seem worth it to me, but you will have to make up your own mind about it.
On the back office to front office thing. Pre associate, I don't really think it is all that much of an issue. I went from appraisal to loan servicing, to debt AM very easily. And I have a couple of friends that have made similar back office to front office moves (one was from accounting to debt Am to equity am; the other was corporate finance to debt PM to retail equity AM). It definitely took time and most of us were 28 to 30 before we got to where we wanted. We all have business degrees, but they are all from public schools so no ivy league degrees here.
I totally get you want out of your current situation, but leaving one unfulfilling job for another isn't really a step up, it is horizontal at best and has potential to be worse. Doesn't seem worth it to me, but you will have to make up your own mind about it.
On the back office to front office thing. Pre associate, I don't really think it is all that much of an issue. I went from appraisal to loan servicing, to debt AM very easily. And I have a couple of friends that have made similar back office to front office moves (one was from accounting to debt Am to equity am; the other was corporate finance to debt PM to retail equity AM). It definitely took time and most of us were 28 to 30 before we got to where we wanted. We all have business degrees, but they are all from public schools so no ivy league degrees here.
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