Source
r/EngineeringStudents•
ut17

I'm not sure how to turn down this internship.

I'm a senior (7/9 semesters) and have been interviewing for summer internships. I've gotten a few offers and just accepted one. One of the companies I interviewed with rushed to make me an offer--at the time it was my first choice and I told them that. Well I just accepted an offer from another company (B) and company A just sent me their offer. They are a small company and normally would not make an offer this early, so they really had to rush to do so. How can I tell them I accepted another offer when they were so accommodating? I wouldn't care much if they were a big company, but they aren't and they really thought I would accept (I told them if they could make me an offer 3 weeks ago, I would accept)

Posted Oct 6, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

3322
WhyAmINotStudyingUCF/CREOL - Photonic Science & Engineering•

Just let them know. It's nice that they were accommodating, but their world won't be crushed by your rejection. It sucks when you find an employee that you want and they get sniped, but you just move on. Just contact them, thank them for the offer, and let them know that you've taken a position elsewhere.

51
terminus1256BA Anthropology, 2nd BS MSE•

No - if you did not sign the offer letter, the company should not have a reasonable expectation for you to join. If you had signed, then the situation would be different.

Verbal offers are not that big of a deal. As somebody who's worked in HR, if I make a verbal offer to someone and they "verbally" accept, I won't hold it against them if they end up not joining. It's the way the world works - if it's not in writing, it's not a done deal. Just calmly explain the situation to them and I'm sure they will understand. There are plenty of other engineering students for them to pick.

Now, if you had signed the offer and reneged - fuck you.

12
ut17OP•

No, did not sign anything or agree to anything definite! I wouldn't even really say I verbally accepted--they didn't know if they would have the budget for a summer intern, so they didn't offer me anything at that time. I just feel bad because they did go to some effort to get an answer on whether they would have a position available, believing that I would say yes.

3
ds580University of Louisville - ME•

In this case, I would thank them for their consideration and let them know something "unfortunately, I've already accepted an internship position elsewhere" and let them know that you would still be interested in a full time position when you graduate in May/Dec '16.

2
jewdaiElectrical Engineering•

An internship is like any other job, people hop all the time for a better opportunity, its not uncommon now in the tech sector to spend less than two years at any company.

With that being said, call, email or message in some formal/appropriate form the first company you got an offer from (thats if you're 100% certain your second internship will not fall through) and express to them the following:

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to work for XYZ organisation in the role of XYZ. At this time, XYZ position is not the right fit for me and I will be unable to join the organization. I wish you the best of luck finding the right candidate for the role.

Regards,

ut17

12
Matthew94EEE•

Loyalty or not it's shitty to change your mind after you've agreed to work for a company.

It's especially bad with such a cold and canned email.

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jewdaiElectrical Engineering•

tell that to the organization that doesn't even respond to tell you they are not interested in hiring you for a role until 2 years after you applied.

To most, for profit, organizations you are just a cost and lowering their profit margin. most internships, unless they actually pay you, are a cost to the company. A rare few companies use it as a way to cheaply "test drive" applicants or train them on their infrastructure so that when they graduate they'll be hired. This is mostly in the software industry as there is a high demand for developers but low supply.

Additionally, a canned sounding response is probably the best thing you can leave behind. (unless you want to make it overly positive) you are being honest with the employer and trying to be respectful of the opportunity but its not the right fit for you. Most employers would rather have a super ecstatic person working for them rather than someone who is just looking for a pay check.

9
Matthew94EEE•

tell that to the organization that doesn't even respond to tell you they are not interested in hiring you for a role until 2 years after you applied.

Just because they're shitty it doesn't give you an excuse to be shitty.

Additionally, a canned sounding response is probably the best thing you can leave behind. (unless you want to make it overly positive)

Or you can have a middle ground of positivity. Add some humanity to it.

3†
jewdaiElectrical Engineering•

there is no humanity in online job applications.

11
ertaisi•

It absolutely gives you an excuse, given that your idea of being shitty is to decline an offer after you said you'd accept. If you make decisions based on being a nice person when dealing with businesses, you will be taken advantage of. They have no loyalty to you, why would you give them any?

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ut17OP•

Yeah, I keep getting worried I'm leading companies on with expressing interest. But would you consider it changing my mind if all our previous talks were hypothetical? It seems unreasonable that they would expect me to wait to for them to figure out if they would even have an available position.

Next time I won't say, "If you made me an offer today, I would say yes." ...timing is important, and I didn't know when they would get back to me (my other offers would have expired before their timeline was finished).

Company A also said that they've had internships fall through several times in the past (on their end), so I'd much rather have the relative stability of Company B.

1
Matthew94EEE•

But would you consider it changing my mind if all our previous talks were hypothetical?

I don't really know what you mean by this and your "leading on" comment.

Company A also said that they've had internships fall through several times in the past (on their end), so I'd much rather have the relative stability of Company B.

Well surely this is an additional reason NOT to turn down the internship you've accepted? It sounds like a positive point.

Well I just accepted an offer from another company (B) and company A just sent me their offer.

You accepted an offer with B, am I reading this correctly?

You've accepted an internship with B and you think they will be stable. There isn't much of an issue here, it's an internship. You'll have tons of time in the future for other jobs.

0
ut17OP•

Hypothetical may have been the wrong word. I just feel like what I did was bad form, and I'm not sure if that's correct.

Company A: We think you're the best candidate from [school]. We might be able to get you an offer by January.

Me: I'd love to work for your company. But I am looking to make a decision a lot sooner than that, and I'd be uncomfortable turning down my other offers without a firm offer from you in my hand. If you made me an offer right now, I would say yes, but I am still interviewing elsewhere.

Company A: Okay, we will try to rush a decision for you.

I'm not considering turning down the offer I have officially accepted. I just wanted to figure out how to tell Company A "no" while also expressing that I appreciate that they rushed a decision to me. I don't want to burn any bridges.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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JeremyPriestUT Austin - Mechanical•

What? No... Not for an internship. And they've already accepted another offer. This is just bad advice contextually.

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waslakhani•

So you accepted a internship with one company and then accepted another companies offer. You are screwed if the second company finds out cause it shows that you aren't loyal and they will drop your internship.

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ut17OP•

I didn't accept the offer from company A. They said their timeline was about 4 months, I said I was looking to make a decision sooner thantold them that that. They didn't make an offer until today. I said that I really wanted to work for them and would have accepted an offer right then of they had offered it on 9/15.

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waslakhani•

Sorry I read that wrong. I would honestly talk to your co-op/ internship advisor. They will tell you what to do exactly. They are experts and will better help than anyone here. Good luck and congrats on the job offer!

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