how to decline an accepted government tentative offer

[Anonymous]

I accepted a government tentative offer a few weeks ago and the background check is still in progress. I just received a private sector job offer and decided to accept it for various reasons. I feel pretty bad to decline the government TO because they are very nice people. What is the best way to communicate this so that I do not burn the bridge in case I will apply to the same agency in the future? call the HR contact? call the persons who interviewed me? or by email? TIA.

[Anonymous]

This is not uncommon. People who cannot wait for the government process to complete. It's one thing if you have no left your previous job and can wait to resign your current job for an actual start date. But there are people who are unemployed or who have jobs that end before the government hiring process completes. You are not the first, nor will you be the last to be in this position.

You send a note to the people hiring you saying that unfortunately, you cannot wait for the background process to complete and need to accept a job that is available to start immediately. To that end, you have found another job that offers an immediate start date and you have decided to accept it. Tell them you appreciate the opportunity that they offered you, but that the delay is longer than you can afford to wait. Wish them luck in filling the position.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine to decline but will be hard not to burn bridges.

[Anonymous]

We had someone do this last year - just let them know that you received another offer and are withdrawing from the process. It isn't a huge deal. I mean, they will probably be upset to lose you but that's life, right? In our case, we had to report the position based on where we were in the process (post background check) and the fact that we had no other viable candidates. That was the most annoying aspect.

You won't burn a bridge at the entire agency since there are many different people who play the role of hiring official. Just let HR know. In our case, HR forwarded the email to us to let us know the candidate was withdrawing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had someone do this last year - just let them know that you received another offer and are withdrawing from the process. It isn't a huge deal. I mean, they will probably be upset to lose you but that's life, right? In our case, we had to REPOST the position based on where we were in the process (post background check) and the fact that we had no other viable candidates. That was the most annoying aspect.

You won't burn a bridge at the entire agency since there are many different people who play the role of hiring official. Just let HR know. In our case, HR forwarded the email to us to let us know the candidate was withdrawing.

Correction above.

[Anonymous]

The earlier the better!

[Anonymous]

It will be fine. Do what is best for you. Which agency?

[Anonymous]

Just let them know. You don't matter as much as you might think. They won't be happy but it's not because YOU are not coming, it's because they have to go thru the process again.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if you were the person who was selected over me. Were you one of 3 finalists? Banking agency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had someone do this last year - just let them know that you received another offer and are withdrawing from the process. It isn't a huge deal. I mean, they will probably be upset to lose you but that's life, right? In our case, we had to REPOST the position based on where we were in the process (post background check) and the fact that we had no other viable candidates. That was the most annoying aspect.

You won't burn a bridge at the entire agency since there are many different people who play the role of hiring official. Just let HR know. In our case, HR forwarded the email to us to let us know the candidate was withdrawing.

Correction above.

+1 Happens all the time. Some people can wait months for the hiring process, others can't. It's the cost of doing business as a Government entity.

[Anonymous]

Administratively, you call the HR person who sent over the TO but you inform the hiring manager/the person who got you in first as a courtesy. Be completely honest about why because most people are bad at giving BS excuses. More likely than not the reasons don't squander far away from the typical ones: commute, money, subject matter, responsibility. They won't be offended but bummed that they'll have to go through the process again (but there are plenty of fish in the sea from their perspective).

[Anonymous]

You are staying at your current job? Is that correct?

[Anonymous]

Is it ok to withdraw from a firm offer after it has been accepted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it ok to withdraw from a firm offer after it has been accepted?

It’s ok to quit a job— it’s certainly ok not to start one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it ok to withdraw from a firm offer after it has been accepted?

You’ll be burning a bridge, but that’s life. Once you accept and then back out, that’s when there are hard feelings. Why? Because once you accept they cut loose the other candidates.