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Is it wrong to accept a job offer at one place, then take a different job?

Chocu1a

Chocu1a

Golden Member
Long story short, I was offered a descent job with this company. I accepted the offer & put in my notice. I am supposed to start this Tuesday. Yesterday(Friday), I get a call back from another place I interviewed with & they offered me a better job and the one I really really really wanted. The second offer is closer to home, better hours, same pay & benefits, but I will be the Executive Chef, not Sous Chef like the offer I accepted.
I understand it is kind of douchey, but is it wrong?
 
As long as you give your normal notice of resignation, there should be no problem. The idea is that as long as you give the new employer enough time to hire someone else, then you're fine.

If you are expected to give 1 month notice when resigning, then as long as you tell them you won't be starting at least 1 month before the agreed start date, then there should be no problem.

However, giving only a few days notice is considered unprofessional behavior. How much of a problem depends on how difficult your job is to replace and how professional you need to be. If this is a low-end job, then you'll piss off your prospective employer, but what are they going to do about it?

On the other hand, I do a very specific job and am very difficult to replace, and jobs in my field only come up very rarely - maybe once every 3 months in the country; my current employer and I have agreed a 6 month notice period precisely because of this. I have seen people in similar positions who have pulled out of a job after giving less than appropriate notice, get reported to their professional licensing boards for "unprofessional conduct". But then, in a small field like this, word can get around; I know pretty much everyone else in the country that does a similar job on first-name terms. If there's gossip, like a new kid stiffing an employer (and by extension, their colleagues), then that word would get around quite quickly.
 
Standard notice is two weeks. I already gave & worked out my notice at my current job.
So, you think I should give two weeks notice at a place I have yet to actually start working?
 
Chocu1a said:
Standard notice is two weeks. I already gave & worked out my notice at my current job.
So, you think I should give two weeks notice at a place I have yet to actually start working?
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That would be the "professional" thing to do. The question for you is "does it matter". Yes, it's an asshole thing to do, but what have you got to lose if they start to get pissy? If the answer is "nothing"....

You could always speak to them and say that you don't want to start, but that you would be willing to give 2 weeks notice. See what they say. They may not want the hassle of someone only working a few days, and just tell you that they'll cancel the job. That's what I'd do if someone in your position called me. It's more hassle than its worth doing anything else.
 
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Chocu1a said:
Long story short, I was offered a descent job with this company. I accepted the offer & put in my notice. I am supposed to start this Tuesday. Yesterday(Friday), I get a call back from another place I interviewed with & they offered me a better job and the one I really really really wanted. The second offer is closer to home, better hours, same pay & benefits, but I will be the Executive Chef, not Sous Chef like the offer I accepted.
I understand it is kind of douchey, but is it wrong?
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Its borderline... But it is your option.

If you can accept the offer you want without making an enemy at the place where you have already accepted, then it is no big deal.

In general, you need to do what is best for yourself and your employer needs to do what's best for themselves.

If its better for you, then you can always call the place you don't want to work at and let them know that your situation has changed and you won't be able to go to work for them.

As I said, its borderline, but its not as borderline as if you had already started working for them. (Don't even think of working two weeks and then quitting.)

Optimally, you would like to let the first place down in such a manner that they still like you and would consider hiring you again in the future.

Best of luck,
Uno
 
Companies have no loyalty to you, so you shouldn't have any to them. I would call them and just tell them what happened. Be professional but don't feel bad about taking s better job. Most companies will not hesitate to get rid of you to save a penny.
 
Starting the job and then quitting would be worse than telling them something better came up. Their going to be pissed either way so it doesn't really matter. Things happen and they'll find someone else.
 
i was in the same exact situation as you are, where i gave my 2 weeks notice on a friday, then the following thursday got an offer from the company i REALLY wanted to work with, and ended up taking that job. the initial company i was supposed to go to wasn't that upset with me and they understood, but i had also told them the situation i was in when i interviewed with them, that i was in limbo with another company.

however, the recruiter that got me that initial job was pissed and sent me some "threatening" emails telling me how unprofessional it was blah blah blah, and i basically said "look, i gotta do what is best for me and my family so i'm taking the other job" and also told him how unprofessional and threatening he sounded, and he replied apologizing to me.

so do what you gotta do for yourself don't worry about what the initial company thinks about you. they will forget about you in a couple days and find someone else to replace the spot you were supposed to take.

EDIT:

and on the flip side, i know 2 people personally, who had gotten offers that were taken back AFTER they signed them. 1 of them the guy was supposed to start on a monday, and literally that friday they told him that he couldn't start because they lost the funding. and this was a big company - lockheed martin. the other one was my buddy who was going to give his 2 weeks notice later that afternoon, and that morning he got a call saying the same thing that the company had lost funding for his position. both were with companies that were government subcontractors.

so on the other side of things they will do it to you, but you move on when it happens.
 
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Let's be fair. OP, you may have no time to give your current employer 2 weeks notice. That's not your fault. Tell the 1st company that after careful consideration you have decided to take the Executive Chef job because it pays more and is closer to home.
 
You're probably not the only one they interviewed. Just tell them what happened and that you are taking the better job.
 
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MikeyLSU said:
Companies have no loyalty to you, so you shouldn't have any to them. I would call them and just tell them what happened. Be professional but don't feel bad about taking s better job. Most companies will not hesitate to get rid of you to save a penny.
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^ this. Do what is best for you, you owe the company nothing.
 
MikeyLSU said:
Companies have no loyalty to you, so you shouldn't have any to them. I would call them and just tell them what happened. Be professional but don't feel bad about taking s better job. Most companies will not hesitate to get rid of you to save a penny.
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This. It's your life to live.
 
MikeyLSU said:
Companies have no loyalty to you, so you shouldn't have any to them. I would call them and just tell them what happened. Be professional but don't feel bad about taking s better job. Most companies will not hesitate to get rid of you to save a penny.
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This x 1000. I've learned this over the years....everyone else here should too.

You should be the CEO....of YOU! I accepted a job one time only to be told 1 day before I was to start that there was a hiring freeze. Fortunately, I found another job quickly and it all worked out (for the better looking back on it). Point being that they didn't care to cut me before I made it into the door to save money, I don't see a problem for you to cut them before getting into the door to make more money.
 
lol some of the responses. "give them the notice that is required" "only if you signed paperwork" whaa? fuck no.

Call them and apologize. you aren't a super special snowflake and they will call the #2 person on the list they had and they will be fine.

It's not a good thing to do often though.
 
I would just tell them what happen, apologize etc, but don't say no to the better job just because you don't want to quit the one you just got. A job is a huge life decision, don't let something like this decide. The fact that the other job is closer to home and pays more is a pretty big factor.

Also since you did not start at the new one, it's not like they're half way through training, so it wont be THAT bad if you don't follow through, just an inconvenience. In fact, not that much, they might just go with the person that came in 2nd place. So no need to go through the whole process again.

Only thing though is if ever you do end up applying there again at some point they might not consider you because they'll figure you saw them as a "last resort" and when that other job popped up you "ditched" them.

Just have to remember that any employer have 0 loyalty to you. They are making a huge favor by paying you to work there instead of just outsourcing that job, and they're willing to stop any time. Not talking about the boss, lot of bosses will be loyal to you, but at the high up exec levels, there is zero loyalty. Employees are seen as a cost, and costs are constantly being looked at to see how they can be reduced or removed.
 
No problem taking the better job, happens all the time. The first place will just call the 2nd in line for the job and offer it to him instead. 🙂
 
Chocu1a said:
Long story short, I was offered a descent job with this company. I accepted the offer & put in my notice. I am supposed to start this Tuesday. Yesterday(Friday), I get a call back from another place I interviewed with & they offered me a better job and the one I really really really wanted. The second offer is closer to home, better hours, same pay & benefits, but I will be the Executive Chef, not Sous Chef like the offer I accepted.
I understand it is kind of douchey, but is it wrong?
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Why would it be kind of douchey? Companies fire people on the spot with no warning, so why should you tie your hands trying to be the nice guy in a world that is a shark tank.

nice guys get slaughtered by the sharks. be smart and worry about what is best for yourself.
 
MikeyLSU said:
Companies have no loyalty to you, so you shouldn't have any to them. I would call them and just tell them what happened. Be professional but don't feel bad about taking s better job. Most companies will not hesitate to get rid of you to save a penny.
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Yep, I've been saying this for years. It's especially true in this economy.

As an employee, you are selling your labour to the employer. Like any business, you ideally want to maximize revenue (income, marketable skills, prestige) while minimizing production costs (time/labour). So Restaurant B wants to pay you the same pay but at less hours, and a more prestigious role, of course you take it. It's a lot better on a resume to say you were an executive chef than just a sous chef. So it will hopefully open the door for better opportunities down the road.

It's a bit of a sticky situation if you don't want to burn bridges. However, I would just say a better opportunity came up and you're thinking of taking it. It's up to Restaurant A to put forth a counter offer if they really want to keep you. If they don't, they're not worth working for. Stuff like this happens and a professional should not take it personally.
 
Take the better job, being a nice guy doesn't pay the bills. If something happened and they no longer needed you, they would tell you to hi the road in a heart beat.
 
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