OT:Ethics on having offers from 2 employers

M

marlon2006

Registered Users (C)
I know we have smart and senior people in this forum, so let's see what you think about this:

Imagine I was interviewed by a Fortune 200 company, Company A. Next day Company B interviewed me as well. Apparently I did very well on both interviews. An offer from Company A should be my preference though. A HR manager from Company A tells me that it may take 1 week to make a decision and I am a very strong candidate.

Let's say I receive an offer from Company B first and accept it, saying I would join them after the 2 weeks notice. Then 1 week later I receive offer from Company A.

Is it considered ethical and professional if after saying to Company B that I accept the offer, 1 week later I tell Company B that I can no longer join them because Company A came with a better offer? I never had such experience before.
 
Ethics? Professional?

Probably not. But you know what is good for you. Just don't burn too many bridges. What happens if 2 weeks into A you find out that B would have been a better choice?

Reminds me of a story where a girl is torn between two men - one she adores and one that adores her. Her mother gave her a simple advice - go with the one who adores you.

It seems you adore A .. and B may not be that far off. Decisions .. decisions .. if you are a Soren Kierkegaard fan, you probably know his saying - if you marry a girl, or decide not to marry her - either way you would regret it some time in the future. Marriages and jobs are similar in my view.

Weigh your options carefully, and make an honest decision. If you decide for A, tell B very politely your reasons for going back on your decision. That way, you would not burn the bridges. Good luck!
 
Marlon2006,
I do not know if this still actionable at this time in your talks with organization A & B, but the proper thing to tell both companies is that you will give an answer to their offers at a precise date (when both offers came in). If pressed to say why, provided some false alibi (say you have important projects to finish in your current position and will know by this date how long it will take to finish them or what ever) but don't give them the impression that you're considering other options or trying to negotiate a better offer.

In a nutshell, what would be 'unethical is to lie and possibly abuse of your bargaining position so just make them wait. If both organizations are interested in you, a few week delay won't make a difference.


Cheers,

PD=Feb 03, RoW, EB3,
 
I think - this has nothing to do with ethics or professionalism...It's a matter of career choices....obviosly company A or B knows that you can reject their offer or better still, they know that you may join and submit a 2 week notice to quit!

I believe, U are just looking for a free discussion on this forum...for idling your time!
 
it has happened many times that some one accepts offer and then call at the last moment that he got a better offer either from somewhere else or from his current job...

its not big deal.....everyone is supposed to take care of themselves......its unethical to quit a job after joining just because you get a better offer.....but its not unethical to keep people in dark till the last moment.

marlon....u go ahead and accept both offer....make a decision and inform the other company that you have got a better offer (tell them some obscene amount....and if they are willing to match....you know what to do :)

usually companies like people who have cleared interviews...it does not matter if they declined the offer after accepting it.....
 
been there done that, oh boy it kills you atleast it did for me.

first of all don't think too much about ethics, do whatever is good for you and makesure you don't burn too many bridges, time is everything, see if you could buy sometime from company A

good luck man
 
Marlon2006,
Glad to hear that things are working great for you. I would wait to get atleast one offer in hand first; my understanding is that at this situation you do not have any offer with you. It is not clear whether you contacted company A's HR manager or they contacted you after the interview, it would also be helpful to know if it has been a week or more since you attended company A interview. I do not want to discourage you but company A HR manager response is not all that promising, I will be cautiously optimistic with company A in following ethics.

Try to talk to company B HR just before they send the offer and negotiate a start date after 3-4 weeks saying you have a unfinished assignment at the current employment. In the meantime if company A sends you an offer accept that and join that job immediately. If you don't like the job at comp A then join B. If you don't get an offer from comp A in 4 weeks then just forget comp A, i think that job is not for you. Good Luck !!!.
 
Companies will wait a few days, even if they won't say so. Once they make you an offer, it means you have been declared the winner of the available candidates, and they don't like to hire second best.

If you get the offer from Company B, just say you need more time to think about it and you'll get back to them at X date. If they insist on knowing why, it's OK to be honest and say that you're waiting for another offer.

If they demand an immediate answer, be firm with your stance. If it's just a week or so, they'll wait. Or you could say you need the offer increased to $Y in order for you to stop thinking about other offers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is a halluva situation. Ideal way to look for a job.
Make sure you be open with both company A and Company B and once you are sure you are selling your services at the best possible price to either of them you will be happy at the end of the day that you did not short-change yourself.

Company A or B do not worry till you join them. But once they know they could lose you, you can bargain and escalate the price. ( In fact, i believe they themselves should offer you more if they are dead serious about you)
 
I think this is wonderfull advise

dl1cd said:
Probably not. But you know what is good for you. Just don't burn too many bridges. What happens if 2 weeks into A you find out that B would have been a better choice?

Reminds me of a story where a girl is torn between two men - one she adores and one that adores her. Her mother gave her a simple advice - go with the one who adores you.

It seems you adore A .. and B may not be that far off. Decisions .. decisions .. if you are a Soren Kierkegaard fan, you probably know his saying - if you marry a girl, or decide not to marry her - either way you would regret it some time in the future. Marriages and jobs are similar in my view.

Weigh your options carefully, and make an honest decision. If you decide for A, tell B very politely your reasons for going back on your decision. That way, you would not burn the bridges. Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
is salary the only reason Company A is better?
In that case,if you are going thru a recruiter you should definitely try negotiating, tell him you love Company B, but the only thing holding you back is salary. He will do all the negotiating for you, because he gets a higher commission, or none at all.
If you are dealing directly with the company, let them know your strong interest and say you are very glad to get the offer and would love to work for them, and follow that up by asking are they at all negotiable on salary?
They will get the message, but since you have not demanded it, you have not risked losing their offer.
If they are not negotiable, they will tell you that, so accept the offer at that point. and when Company A makes a higher offer (everything else being equal) you can decide to leave, knowing that you would never have got that offer from B.

I think by asking Company B to wait a few weeks, you are risking them retracting their offer, because they may say why didnt you tell us before, we have an immediate need right now. Better to accept now, but show you would prefer a higher salary, than be left with no offers.

I dont think you are burning your bridges by leaving if you are polite and honest, since you already let them indirectly know that you were not happy with the salary. Just avoid getting into any arguments even if they try to start one, and apologize 100 times before leaving, say you feel terrible about doing this but you have family to support, etc.
Who knows, they might even make a counteroffer.
Memories are short in the corporate world, and HR comes across salary issues all the time. But if you leave confrontationally they will never forget, and if you need them again they will never hire you again. Most HR depts like nice and professional people more than skills.

I dont think marriage and jobs are the same, in the sense that a "divorce" or leaving a company is never necessarily permanent. I have known 1-2 people in all companies I worked that left and rejoined, and they were welcomed back, unless they left with a fight.

my two cents...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think by asking Company B to wait a few weeks, you are risking them retracting their offer, because they may say why didnt you tell us before, we have an immediate need right now.
Click to expand...
A few weeks may be too long, but they'll surely wait a week or 10 days, even if they say they have an immediate need and threaten to withdraw the offer.
 
As usual, helpful responses from our community except for a very silly response from banta4gc.

If we have people who are hands on oriented, then tried a project management job and regret that, please let me know your experiences.
Guys, this is a hard decision to make and although offers have not been in place yet, I neet to get ready in case they come and do my homework and research. HR called saying that directors liked me and Company A invited me for interviews with the technical team yesterday. Here it is:

Company A
Pros:
Fortune 200, big corporation. full-time, no travel required, Solutions Engineer position. Company encouraged me to finish masters study (they would pay 100% for it, what is very nice). When new project comes up, you can take training as a part of the resource. Since that is a position with the 'engineering/design' department, that tend to be lower stress than the job at Company B and it is considered a high profile position within the company.

Cons:
Since this is a big company, it seems that a great deal of project management is required when executing projects. They say that at least 60% of my time would be spent with project management and make others get work done.

Company B
Pros

I would need to do a combination of design work and hands on implementation. Senior Network Engineer job title. Company is expanding data center, therefore plenty of technologies to play with, including voip, bgp, wireless, routing&switching, etc About 10% project management only, what is great.
Cons

Stressful environment, on call all the time. Company does not send you for training let alone paying masters program.
Company does not value education and do not even require a degree for this job.


gcwhenever said:
is salary the only reason Company A is better?
In that case,if you are going thru a recruiter you should definitely try negotiating, tell him you love Company B, but the only thing holding you back is salary. He will do all the negotiating for you, because he gets a higher commission, or none at all.
If you are dealing directly with the company, let them know your strong interest and say you are very glad to get the offer and would love to work for them, and follow that up by asking are they at all negotiable on salary?
They will get the message, but since you have not demanded it, you have not risked losing their offer.
If they are not negotiable, they will tell you that, so accept the offer at that point. and when Company A makes a higher offer (everything else being equal) you can decide to leave, knowing that you would never have got that offer from B.

I think by asking Company B to wait a few weeks, you are risking them retracting their offer, because they may say why didnt you tell us before, we have an immediate need right now. Better to accept now, but show you would prefer a higher salary, than be left with no offers.

I dont think you are burning your bridges by leaving if you are polite and honest, since you already let them indirectly know that you were not happy with the salary. Just avoid getting into any arguments even if they try to start one, and apologize 100 times before leaving, say you feel terrible about doing this but you have family to support, etc.
Who knows, they might even make a counteroffer.
Memories are short in the corporate world, and HR comes across salary issues all the time. But if you leave confrontationally they will never forget, and if you need them again they will never hire you again. Most HR depts like nice and professional people more than skills.

I dont think marriage and jobs are the same, in the sense that a "divorce" or leaving a company is never necessarily permanent. I have known 1-2 people in all companies I worked that left and rejoined, and they were welcomed back, unless they left with a fight.

my two cents...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i am not a network guy so i dont have much of a gut feeling about your case..

but one of my colleague (network guy)...became a manager in my company after being a network guy......he found out that being manager of IT at age 27 is not a big seller.....he was having a tough time finding another job to replace his current one......

he did not like IT management.....because according to him its all about cost cutting...

so he quit this job....went to college...got a degree in managment(mba finance or something)......and now he is in a bank working on "corporate real estate".

frankly speaking i am being a developer will think 10 times before taking a purely project management or IT department management job......i would rather be a Tech lead.....or a Solution Architect all my life....but thats just me....

but i may change my mind if i happen to get a job in a purely IT solution provider.....there its a different ball game.....its a challenge to keep the projects in good shape....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top