Should you tell a company that you already signed another offer but might renege it?
Already signed an offer with company A. Interviewing with company B that has more exciting work. Should I tell company B that I might be reneging on company A’s offer I have signed? I’m worried about if the company somehow finds out I lied and want to go the honesty route, but then again company B might just refuse to extend an offer because of this. Also to note, these two companies are funded by the same VC firm. Because of this I feel like there’s more network connections between the two and word might spread. Any advice?
If you are telling them right away you are openly admitting you have lied to company A that you will join them (as you consider not to).
Reneging offers is ofcourse not illegal, but in the industry one of those ethically unacceptable things. First, if I was hiring you, I would really rethink about hiring someone who is ready to renege offers. Two, yes if they are startups, then it is likely the information can pass along. Overall, it is advisable not to, but it depends on the circumstances. There was someone here on blind who had to do it for family reasons, and that's probably fine.
Yeah in my case it’s the space that company B is in, and is something I’m passionate about. I took company As offer because I was failing interviews in that space and didn’t think I would be able to. Company B got to me late. Both companies are very good, but it’s the difference between working just to work and working on something I’m personally very excited about.
You will probably be black listed. But if you really think it's important go with B. Find a nice way to tell A. Don't lie because of my point #2.
Don’t tell anyone anything. Accept what you believe is right for yourself.
Definitely don't tell them the status of the other offer. Deflect and wordsmith carefully without lying. Maybe the biggest danger here is how you handle company A. Best case: B gets you an offer you accept, gracefully reneging on A Worst case: You piss A off, they rescind and B doesn't make an offer (or only a bad one) + ill-will to people @ A &/or B It all comes down to how you navigate this minefield of your own design. Good luck!
I really do not understand about ethics... I can shop around as much as I can before i join. Most of companies do not care about their ethics in case of wrong doing they either say sorry in social media or let go executive with heavy severance package. Is that ethics ?
It’s all at-will employment so reneging, while a shitty thing to do, isn’t illegal. You could potentially be pissing off a future boss though but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ who knows
Unless you are a big shot nobody will know about it
I guess so. The other worry is if company B asks for company As offer letter if I’m trying to negotiate with company A numbers, and the date of the letter won’t match up. Another reason I think honesty with company B might be better?