Verbal offer, do you have to accept it? situation, interviews, recently, forward, moving

kasinkei

I recently got a verbal offer, the firm requires me to accept it before moving forward with paper offer. I am not comfortable with it and have more interviews to go to. But they want me to let know immediately. What you would do in this situation?

NakedPuts00

that is wrong. I've never seen that before

How can you accept a contract without seeing it in writing?

dmrktrading

Take it, then continue interviewing. They don't own you

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Walex

They just want to know whether it is worth the trouble to go and write up an offer. You can still have a little back and forth on details after you've accepted a verbal offer, but if there are major disconnects (compensation, responsibilities, etc.) then they want to negotiate that at the verbal offer stage.

Insisting that you accept immediately is a bit of a red flag. Often times companies want to do that to avoid you thinking about it too much. They might do that if they have someone else they can turn to if you say no, or if they want to keep you from asking for more for fear that you might lose the offer.

DarienHacker

Should I worry there is something shady going on? Is it possible that recruiter is creating the problems?

himanshumh

I'm not sure it's shady... but it may indicate that your employers are going to be jerking your chain all the time once you're on board.

BS's advice is good too. Maybe accept the offer and keep interviewing. If you quit after a few weeks because of a better offer, your name will be mud at the shop you're at, so if it's a big-name shop, then you may be concerned about burning bridges, but it's pretty standard in the industry for that kind of thing to happen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 01:02PM by bchadwick.

himanshumh

You mean it happens a lot in this industry that somebody accepts an offer and only decide to leave after a couple weeks.....?

Palantir

I don't know exactly how often it happens, but it happens often enough that it isn't a complete surprise when it does. It is by no means "unthinkable."

You are likely to be burning bridges if you do it, though, so it needs to be a substantially better offer. But remember, most companies will not be afraid to axe you if they find a better/cheaper option. The money business is very Machiavellian. Personal relationships and trust do matter, but lots of people are feigning it to squeeze out as much as they can from people.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 01:19PM by bchadwick.

rohitdoshi

For example, if you accept an offer from Goldman, and after working there for a couple of weeks, you got better offers and decided to leave. Then your name is on the black list that you would never be able to work for Goldman ever again.

PalacioHill

Your offer must be in writing.