Continuing interview after a job offer!?

I verbally got a job offer from company A. I said I really appreciate the opportunity and very excited to work for them. I never said that I "accept" this offer, but implied that I am going to work for them, but didn't signed the contract yet.

A day after I got this offer, Company B called me for an interview. I wish this firm contacted me earlier because I really admire to work for the Company B, and would definitely go with the Company B if I get an offer.

After speaking with my career advisor at school, I decided to let company A know about my current situation as a courtesy. I emailed them that I am still interviewing with other firms and would like to have more time to make a final decision for another week. However, they haven't responded to my email. So I tried to call them and left a voice message. It has been three days now and I am having a strong feeling that HR person is intentionally not responding to me for some reason.

I need advice on how to handle this situation wisely. I think the company A got upset with me and may give an offer to 2nd candidate. I think this could be possible because I haven't signed the contract with the company yet, and also they got disappointed that I am leveraging company A's offer as a back-up plan?

Since I am still waiting for the company B's decision and nothing is guaranteed, worst case would be getting none of the two. I would still take company A's offer if company B doesn't work out because I think it is still a good opportunity. How would you guys handle this situation? I am very worried.

Thanks.

 
Best Response

First off, your career advisor is an idiot. If you verbally accepted an offer, you should by no means inform the company that you are still interviewing around. It is one thing to tell the company that you have other offers, and they are your first choice, so you want to get an offer from them ASAP. However, you don't have other offers so any contact you have with the first company should indicate how excited you are to work for them.

That said, if you haven't signed an offer letter, you are a free agent and should interview at as many places as possible. Maximize your options obviously, but don't broadcast that to the company obout to make you an offer. Honestly, there isn't really anything you can do in this sitation other than interview around and hope you still get an offer from the first company. If you do end up contacting HR again, your words should only indicate how excited you are for the opportunity. I can't tell you how many people my company has rejected because we didn't believe they really didn't wanted to do what we do.

 

Your career counselor should be thrown in prison for incompetence. There's a strong likelihood that you get neither job. The immutable law of job hunting--it ain't over until you walk in on day 1. To tell a company that you're still looking around after an offer is maybe the worst thing you could possibly do. You think you're special? It probably came down to you and a handful of others and you were selected for completely arbitrary reasons out of the finalists. You're not interested? No problem. There are a dozen others who are.

Remember this in your life--your company will lay you off the second your NPV drops below 0. And they'll do it with no hesitation. Reneging on an offer isn't ideal, but you operate in a free market with employment at will. The f*cking offer letter you sign will almost certainly explicitly state that you are employed at will by the company and they can terminate your employment for any reason and no reason at all. Any company that operates under that philosophy can and will wreck your life if it suits them.

 

Nations and empires are built on naive people (don't want to be rude)! Nobody needed to know you were interviewing with company B even if you had offer from company A.

The career service doesn't care about you, all they care about is their name (which you shouldn't care at all).

Company A doesn't care about you and if you get an offer from company B and you want to take it, you shouldn't worry about their reaction.

If for some reason Company A doesn't want you anymore or their hiring needs change before you start working there, they won't hesitate to reject your offer and never look back...

You shouldn't give a shit about corporations at all, do what's best for... of course try not to back stab your team once you start working... until then, think only about your own benefit!

You made a rookie mistake, hope it works out for you.

 

This is exactly why I don't talk to career services unless it's for getting my resume into the OCR process.

This is all a game and you just played a game-losing move. I hope the company forgets what you told them, but damn, it's time to keep hunting for a job.

Good luck.

 

Wow... OP hope you hear back from company A and/or company B.

General points to keep in mind - Always get the written offer/contract first - verbal means jack - Firms that gave you an offer (verbal or written) don't want to hear you're interviewing elsewhere. It sends a very clear message that you aren't that interested, or at least they're not first pick. Unless you were a clear winner, they'll go with someone else - Really, the only time you want to tell another firm you have an offer is to a firm you're still interviewing with (e.g., telling company B you have an offer elsewhere) to expedite an interview process. If it's a competing firm, it also validates your worth (e.g., hey firm A wants this kid, maybe he's really good)

 
Kanon:

Wow... OP hope you hear back from company A and/or company B.

General points to keep in mind
- Always get the written offer/contract first - verbal means jack
- Firms that gave you an offer (verbal or written) don't want to hear you're interviewing elsewhere. It sends a very clear message that you aren't that interested, or at least they're not first pick. Unless you were a clear winner, they'll go with someone else
- Really, the only time you want to tell another firm you have an offer is to a firm you're still interviewing with (e.g., telling company B you have an offer elsewhere) to expedite an interview process. If it's a competing firm, it also validates your worth (e.g., hey firm A wants this kid, maybe he's really good)

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Have you accepted your summer offer? You can interview/recruit at other firms until the deadline. If you've accepted, stop interviewing, you can burn bridges both at your company and with your school's OCR group.

I'm a little confused too - are you saying that you have interviews for roles that you don't want now but hope to leverage into something better for full time? If you're happy with the consulting offer you have, and it beats the other roles you're recruiting for, I'd take the offer. You can always try interviewing for APM/Strategy roles next year with this experience behind you.

If you decline your interviews - I would reach out and inform them that you have an offer deadline approaching. If you're not happy with the role they have you slotted for, this is the time to ask if they might consider interviewing you for the role you do want (have a specific and reasonable one in mind and explain how it better ties to your long term goals). If they say no, fuck em, apply again next year with a better resume.

 

Tech consulting junior year to Strategy consulting FT is not always an easy jump, esp from a non-target. I think doing a strategy internship or APM internship will help make the FT jump a lot easier.

When does the tech consulting internship deadline expire? As long as you have not accepted the tech consulting internship offer, there's absolutely nothing wrong with interviewing elsewhere. You should take the interviews with the tech companies. If you have already accepted the tech consulting internship, politely decline the tech interviews, but tell them you would be very interested again next year. They won't hold it against you next year.

The tech companies are asking for other offer deadlines so that they can expedite the process for you if necessary. Try to figure out when the tech companies plan to give out offers, so that you can ask the tech companies to expedite the process if necessary, and you can also politely ask the consulting firm to extend your offer deadline.

What you shouldn't do is to turn down the consulting offer to interview for better roles. Always have an offer in hand.

 

chdg145 and BreakingOutOfPWM: I have already accepted the tech consulting role. I do not yet know what work I will be slotted for the internship - IT Strategy / Digital were two areas I asked for but I could be placed in other groups. I am excited about tech consulting as the program is highly regarded but I understand that there is still a gap between this and FT Strat Consulting. The TC program has a good track record to MBA business schools">M7 and Top 15 MBAs.

There is no OCR at my school for any of these programs and everything has been set up by networking so I don't think if any of the other companies will ever find out. Because of this I have a limited network and I wanted to meet more people through this process.

One thought I had was ask if I can be considered for spring/winter interships and still interview without any issue. Thank you for responding.

 

You're asking a question that's difficult to answer. If you had time, you should've waited to sign the TC offer.

One might argue that you should do what's best for yourself. The tech consulting firm could suddenly rescind your offer for any reason. So getting as many offers from other companies as you can is only going to be in your best interest to find the best offer. There are cases where people do this and renege... but be aware you will likely never get to work for tech consulting firm again, and possibly burn bridges in the whole industry.

Others think it's pretty ethical that you would need to tell the other tech companies that you've accepted an offer. They are using resources to interview you as a prospective candidate, and interviewing with them when you have no intention of ever accepting can be considered unethical.

In reality, if you interviewed with the tech companies, TC firm would probably never find out. Even if you got another offer and reneged on your TC offer, your career will probably still be fine. BUT, in my opinion, just take the tech consulting offer. TC isn't bad at all, and it's not worth burning bridges, even if it's just a Summer internship for integrity's sake. Tell the tech companies that you appreciate their time but you're taking another offer. You can ask

1) Would they still be willing to talk with you this year even if you are going elsewhere 2) Are there winter/spring internships available you could interview for

 

Generally, product groups have more exposure to execution than industry group, particularly if your industry group farms its modeling, etc. out to an M&A group. That said, capital markets is a bit of a special case in terms of skill set.

 

your an idiot if you dont take the first one. you'll put yourself in a pickle, thats for sure. take the first BB and don't fuck over / waste the others' time.

-- "Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say."
 

If you don't want to be a dick and take a spot from someone else, you probably shouldn't wait to see if you get a spot that someone else wants. I know it seems like you could just reject the offer and then that spot will open up again, but there's a chance that the person who would have gotten that spot won't have the luxury of waiting for you to reject.

Plus for the firm where you just have a first round now, you WILL be taking a superday spot away from someone else if you go through the process. There's no real way of getting around that.

 

you will be taking interview spots; and the kid you took it away from could have gotten the job. plus if you get the SA offer and reject it that doesnt help you for FT

more importantly - spending that much time on interviews might hurt your grades; keep them as high as possible in case SA falls through, for PE later on, and for business school later on

 

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