Reneging Internship

[Anonymous]

^^Me again. Employers renege on internship and even job offers ALL THE TIME these days so employees need to look out for their own best interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Similar dilemma for my kid. Just finished freshman year of college. Accepted a camp job a couple of weeks ago. JUST received an offer for an internship. Fortunately she feels guilty (has a heart), but will be taking the internship. Camp doesn't start for another month, so hopefully the resignation won't put the camp in too big a bind.

The camp has already vetted its staff, done background checks and rejected other applicants; they have set up the assignments with the campers and activites. WTF is wrong with you people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar dilemma for my kid. Just finished freshman year of college. Accepted a camp job a couple of weeks ago. JUST received an offer for an internship. Fortunately she feels guilty (has a heart), but will be taking the internship. Camp doesn't start for another month, so hopefully the resignation won't put the camp in too big a bind.

The camp has already vetted its staff, done background checks and rejected other applicants; they have set up the assignments with the campers and activites. WTF is wrong with you people?

And they could tell her to stay home the Sunday before day 1 because there aren't enough campers.

[Anonymous]

We had an intern do that, and she burned a bridge with us but I could see it was the right move for her. There won’t be any real long-term cost because that candidate wanted her career to go in a slightly different direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had an intern do that, and she burned a bridge with us but I could see it was the right move for her. There won’t be any real long-term cost because that candidate wanted her career to go in a slightly different direction.

How did that intern tell your company that she was backing out of the offer

[Anonymous]

This happens all the time. It’s just business. My son accepted a safety job in the fall to start after graduation. He got better offers and declined the safety job as soon as he could- they were fine. The job he accepted has about 40 other graduating students all due to start the same day. At least five have taken other positions and dropped.

[Anonymous]

Several years ago I had an entry level position to fill and called our favorite intern from the last year to offer him the job. He accepted right away. Told me later that he's been at orientation for a job he wasn't that interested in. Maybe he burned a bridge walking out of orientation but who cares. It wasn't the industry he wanted to be in.

Take the job that will best help you grow in the direction you want to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Similar dilemma for my kid. Just finished freshman year of college. Accepted a camp job a couple of weeks ago. JUST received an offer for an internship. Fortunately she feels guilty (has a heart), but will be taking the internship. Camp doesn't start for another month, so hopefully the resignation won't put the camp in too big a bind.

The camp has already vetted its staff, done background checks and rejected other applicants; they have set up the assignments with the campers and activites. WTF is wrong with you people?

Please, please, please don’t make your kid continue with a job that isn’t the right decision for them. I know you think there should be some ethics, but the company won’t think for a second dropping your kid’s offer if they decide it no longer makes sense. They may do that 24 hours before your kid is supposed to show.

You seem to think we still live in the 50s where companies were like family. We don’t. A kid may burn bridges, but as others have commented from the company side…they understand the current world of jobs.

[Anonymous]

I think an email should be sufficient

[Anonymous]

It’s fine. Nobody is even going to remember her name.

[Anonymous]

“I say she should definitely go with the internship that suits her best and look out for herself while still trying to be polite.”

This absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Happens all the time. Send a short polite email, I’ve recently received an offer for an internship this summer that is better aligned with my career interests. Unfortunately I am not able to continue with the internship at ABC. Thank you for the consideration.

It might blackball her but maybe not. If it’s a large corporation with many divisions or independent business units, she might still have a chance to get into another unit in the future. My DC reneged last summer for a better opportunity ($$) although she liked the company. Applied to another unit in the same company for this summer in another city and landed it. The business units doesn’t really talk to each other. She’ll be fine OP!

[Anonymous]

Will she drop for any of the other three offers or only the one she hasn’t gotten yet?

[Anonymous]

So she had a place that offered her a position quickly, went through expense of background check.
Then other places that "ghosted" her and dilly dallied around finally interviewed her and she bonded with the interviewer at one.

You are obviously going to tell her it's fine to stiff the first place for the one that ghosted her but that she has such a great first date with

Remember that. When a place tells you who they are (ghosting applicants) believe them. She is not going to want to work there after the summer and not clear how helpful they will be getting her established in her field. Bait anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happens all the time. Send a short polite email, I’ve recently received an offer for an internship this summer that is better aligned with my career interests. Unfortunately I am not able to continue with the internship at ABC. Thank you for the consideration.

It might blackball her but maybe not. If it’s a large corporation with many divisions or independent business units, she might still have a chance to get into another unit in the future. My DC reneged last summer for a better opportunity ($$) although she liked the company. Applied to another unit in the same company for this summer in another city and landed it. The business units doesn’t really talk to each other. She’ll be fine OP!

This response and the one directly above (and several others) are great responses. All employment is “at will” and this goes both ways. Your daughter should do what’s best for herself always, not for the company. It goes without saying though to be professional and polite in her response. Good luck.