I am seriously considering rejecting an offer made to me on campus almost 4 months back. The company gave me a couple of weeks to make up my mind and at that point, I went ahead and accepted the offer. But a few months later and with more research I have done about the industry (consulting), I don't feel motivated by the firm and the industry. If I join, I would almost certainly leave after a very short while and yes, I am looking at other companies now.I am hoping that I am not the only one in this situation. I would appreciate some advice about how I should proceed in this matter.

If you've firmly made-up your mind not to go for the position, I don't think there is any problem in you withdrawing your acceptance. From legal point of view I think they can take action against you but I'm 99.99% sure they wouldn't do that. I once phoned up my new employer to tell them I won't be joining them after all just a day before my start day! after getting a counter offer from my current employer. I think it happens quite often and HR people have learnt to live with this. If anything, they should appreciate you letting them know at this stage, since they spend so much time trying to convey to you what the job entails and they certainly don't want people who'll leave few months after joining them. So I wouldn't worry at all, just make sure you constructively explain the reasons behind your decisions and try not to avoid them. Otherwise don't worry about the rest. Good luck with your alternative career!

Provided you do not mind the possibility of losing the offer, I would recommend starting a dialogue with the firm in question. If your issue is partly the starting salary, you may well find there is scope to negotiate this up in today&#39;s market. Certainly at the time University offers were made this year the market wasn&#39;t as buoyant as it is now and my feeling is that most firms now believe they need more new joiners than they did 6 months back.<br><br>The firm in question will undoubtedly not want to lose someone within months of them joining, as this will leave them under-resourced and it will be too late in the day to find a replacement. If you part ways now you will be leaving them with the opportunity to find a replacement before the school year is over. And you may well find that they are prepared to improve their offer to you if you push a little.<br><br>From your personal perspective, it is not good news to leave a firm less than 24 months after joining. It just looks bad on your CV and firms you are trying to join will look at this track record of jumping ship and think &quot;what&#39;s to say this person will not abandon us in a few months&#39; time too?&quot;<br><br>This is obviously your call and you may end up without any job offer if you play your cards wrong - but having a dialogue with the firm will give them the opportunity to both up your current offer and also arrange for you to spend more time with their team to help you assess if they are the right firm to join.<br><br>Best of luck with this decision - and remember that once you&#39;ve got 2 years of consulting experience on your CV then in a buoyant market it is very easy to move on... Tony

How to explain you want to renege your contract? I got an offer from a consutancy several months ago, but I have now offers from 1 firm, and maybe another 1, in the financial sector. I have also the chance to do a PhD. I applied for these positions and had the first interviews before accepting the offer of the consultancy. I wanted to join the financial sector but I was also genuinely interested in this particular conultancy. Should I tell them I want to join a financial firm or it&#39;s better to tell them a difefrent thing, in order to try keeping the contacts with them? Is it enough a letter + email to explain it?Thanks