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Before You Back Out On An Employer
Look, I understand. It’s an employers’ market. There are more candidates than positions, and that can sometimes lead to “settling” for a second or third choice earlier than you would like. Then when something better comes along, you have a decision to make. Do you honor your original commitment to the second choice employer? Or do you accept the better offer and back out on the second choice? We’re seeing more and more of these incidents crop up, and felt compelled to address them.\par
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Let’s make one thing clear. If you’re at the decision point I just described, you already made the decision. You’re taking the better offer. How do I know? Because the decision was made the moment you applied for that better job. Why would you, having already secured a position, apply for a different position that would require you backing out on the first, if you weren’t prepared to do just that? You wouldn’t. (There are exceptions and caveats to this general rule, but we’ll leave them for another blog post). \par
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That issue aside, the most important thing I feel like you need to hear on this topic is to include us in your decision making process. And as importantly, begin at the point when you’re thinking about applying for a different position, not just when you’re faced with the pseudo-decision. As you can tell, I think at that point it’s often too late. I would even encourage you to reach out before accepting an offer with a second choice employer.\par
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What might we say to you? What are the typical points you ought to be considering? \par
- You need not be in a hurry to secure a position. We often see students who in late fall/early winter feel as if they have to accept any job offer they receive. The fact is many students receive offers well into the late winter and spring. So don’t accept something early on if you’re plan is to simply continue applying for positions you would take over the one you have. \par
- Be creative and use your entire summer. Baylor affords you a longer summer than most law schools, so use that to your advantage. If you feel like you can’t say no to a second choice employer, see if you can work the first or last four weeks of the summer, leaving the rest of your summer open for more preferred opportunities. \par
- Always spend time considering the situation from the employer’s perspective. Once you’ve accepted an offer of employment, how would you feel if they continued posting the position and interviewing candidates, hoping to find someone better to replace you with? My guess is you would be in our office railing against this unethical employer, demanding we take some action. And you would be right to do so! \par
- Think about the long-term. This one can get you going in circles, but stick with me. You might make a case that reneging on your first employer and going with the preferred one is in your long-term best interest, since the preferred employer offers more (take your pick: money, advancement opportunity, mentorship, etc.). However, another view is that is actually short-term thinking, because in exchange for the benefits of the new position, you’ve risked damaging your professional reputation with the employer you backed out on. This may not sound too bad, but if you haven’t figured it out yet, your reputation as a lawyer means everything. Moreover, your integrity, trustworthiness and honesty as a lawyer mean even more. So what happens when the spurned employer tells his/her colleagues about you backing out? What happens when you’re sitting across the table from the employer in a case? Or you’re now in front of that employer who is a judge? These are the questions you should be considering, and that we’re happy to walk through with you. \par
- Be professional in backing out. Once you’ve made the decision to renege, there is a right and a wrong way to communicate and handle it. Even if we’ve disagreed with your decision, once it’s made we can still help you communicate with the employer and try to help you maintain the relationship and your reputation. There are no guarantees here, and no way to predict how an individual employer will handle the news regardless of how you break it. But there are some general principles we can work with you on.