Moral Dilemma?

[Guest]

Just a quickie...

Is it wrong to provisionally accept an offer from one company, have an interview with another and take the latter offer?

It seems completely morrally wrong, but I'm not sure.

[eddiegrice]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

I don't know about morals but it has been discussed elsewhere that until you sign a contract with one company you are free to decline provisional offers and jump around to suit. In my view there is nothing wrong in having safety nets in place.

[penfold]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Until you sign a training agreement you are not legally bound, and even then if you decide to bail anytime before actually attending college, you are very unlikely to suffer any consequences for breaking the contract. Morals in this case are for pussies and losers; look out for for number one, because nobody else will.

[GDOutlaw]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Its true, I had to do it. The first company were pressuring me to sign and return the forms, but I was waiting on the answer from a later interview I had had in the mean time.
I had already signed a provisional agreement but was much more keen on the second company. Anyway, the second company said yes so I emailed the first to decline their offer. Never even heard back from them acknowledging the email, but they didnt seem to expect me to show up for them at college.

[Guest]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

I had this dilema as well. I had already accepted an offer from one company with no official paperwork signed at the time. The other company who I was waiting for who said they would give me an early answer which the "early" went well past into further comissions of the other company, so I had to chase them up finnaly came back with > quote
> "Once you have informed a Company that you have accepted, even if this is a verbal acceptance, this is still a commitment to a Company. We cannot step on another Companies toes. If you'd have said to them that you'll consider their offer this would have been different because they would've understood you were considering your options. "

Weather this is correct in the industry or not, this email was sent after I had sent an email basically letting them know I was taking the offer which was given to me by a company who wasn't messing me about (obviously in polite words) However an email I was sent back gave wording that suggested there was a way out, so i sent one back and received this.
Thanks for my ramble aha, but shows that 4 years of wanted something can puff in your face and companies can mess you around weather or not you think they can. Simple early phonecall or email would never have hurt anyone.
But never the less, what has been done has been done. I am happy who I am going with in septmber Its my gateway into a life long career which I can say probably on behalf on all cadets yet to start we are all extreamly excited.
Just watch your back now and again

[dawg]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Until you sign a training agreement you are not legally bound, and even then if you decide to bail anytime before actually attending college, you are very unlikely to suffer any consequences for breaking the contract. Morals in this case are for pussies and losers; look out for for number one, because nobody else will.

Training agreements vary, some are very simple and contain wording, such as "either party may withdraw from the contract at any time"; so sometimes, you can. Others are very verbose and suggest that a long drawn out bureaucratic process has to occur for you to get out, but ultimately, this is not indentured labour like in olden days.

As alluded to, morality and business are reputed to bear some comparison with oil and water: trust your intuition.

[Randomist]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

dawg is right that different companies have varying commitments on contract. And a verbal agreement is in theory sound. But without anything in writing signed by you (or your legal guardian if you're U18) then holding it up is sketchy but not impossible.

Best situation to be in is that you don't give a hard and fast answer one way or the other until you've made your mind up. There's nothing wrong with that safety net though, if anything it's kind of practical

[YoungMariner]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Be honest above all, and you'll get the respect from the company for that. If you decide the other offer is better, explain that to the company and politely decline the previous offer. Do whats best for you, but be honest and professional.

[Superdandroid17]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Unless you have signed up proper I do not see any problem. Companies know that cadets are going to have more than one offer and will be used to people going with another.

[dawg]

Re: Moral Dilemma?

Be honest above all, and you'll get the respect from the company for that. If you decide the other offer is better, explain that to the company and politely decline the previous offer. Do whats best for you, but be honest and professional.

I would add that being exceedingly polite, complimentary to the staff involved, and using weasel words, can go a long way... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word
As Groucho Marx is reputed to have said, ?The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.? (some have accused some companies of using economics to be economical.)

Bearing in mind that companies know how things work, you wonder why they don't make the system a bit more like the UCAS one where you state your preferred unis and courses (substitute sponsors and disciplines), and have some coordination about offer acceptance deadlines - they are frequently reported to know each other (to what extent, is anyone's guess...); moreover, they all have to use the same system to process their cadets anyway.