Backing out?

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FlakyFriend
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:36 pm

Backing out?

Post by FlakyFriend »

I've accepted a job at what everyone would consider to be a "'top tier" school but have yet to sign the contract. In the meantime, a school in a more desirable location (Europe) has opened up and I think I am very competitive for it. Would school A find out if I applied for the job at school B? I'd hate to lose the opportunity at school A unless school B was a sure thing, but I'd rather be at school B if I had both offers in hand...

Am I an a** for even thinking like this?!?
expatscot
Posts: 307
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:26 am

Re: Backing out?

Post by expatscot »

You could - but in all honesty, this sort of thing is really frowned on. You will have verbally accepted the position and then gone back on it, and if the school then contacts agencies like Search etc to let them know you backed out you'll find it much more difficult to get a similar role in the future. They will also likely have put a limit on when you can sign the contract before they withdraw it - if it's a genuine "top tier" school then they won't have a problem filling it - so you could well find yourself with no offers at all and it being difficult to get another place.

I always think "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" applies in this position.
secondplace
Posts: 191
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:40 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by secondplace »

If you were to flip this and think about in terms of the school backing out because they had a better candidate than you, how would you feel?

Exactly.

So, it's up to you. You can keep your word and honour the contract or you can be untrustworthy, let people down, and risk losing everything.
shopaholic
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:42 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by shopaholic »

I know someone who was banned from Search for backing out.
Lastname_Z
Posts: 120
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 12:17 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by Lastname_Z »

secondplace wrote:
> If you were to flip this and think about in terms of the school backing out
> because they had a better candidate than you, how would you feel?
>
> Exactly.
>
> So, it's up to you. You can keep your word and honour the contract or you
> can be untrustworthy, let people down, and risk losing everything.

Except that schools do this all the time...
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

If you/they dont have a written contract then its just their "miscommunication" that their is an agreement. Until an agreement has been executed, youre free to do what you want, including withdrawing your acceptance and moving forward with any other IS you want.
There isnt a way for the new EU IS to find out, there is no black list or clearinghouse of IT appointments. If you get the EU appointment the worst the original IS can do is talk to your associate, to which you reply that you didnt have a contract with them. Then the premium agency will do what it wants. They could stop repping you and refuse to rep you in the future, though those types of bands are usually of a short duration (1-3 years).
However, I would agree with @expatscot that you probably dont have a whole lot of time to pursue the new IS, as your current IS is going to expect you to return an executed contract in at most a few weeks, and they will think nothing of filling the vacancy with their next/backup candidate.

No your not a DB, youre being smart, smart people are receptive to variable change. Scenario 1 was acceptable for variables X and Y at T1, when those variables changed at T2 only defective people would ignore them.
'Your motoring down the seaside road at 55kph on a late spring afternoon at Time1. In a reactive moment, now Time2, your visual sensors detect a large 8 wheeled transit vehicle of significant mass on a parallel intercept vector along your line of movement' Do you: A) Alter your movement vector to avoid intercept with the mass. B) Reduce your velocity assuming the intercept mass will also reduce its velocity negating the intercept impact. C) Continue along your intercept vector to the point of Time3 where your mass impacts the oncoming mass at the approach velocity of 55kph?
As we can see there is a variable change in the scenario (the inclusion of a mass on an intercept vector). Are you going to continue with your course of action at Time1 because of principal? Principal and an empty sack is worth an empty sack (or in the above scenario being squeegeed off the road and deposited into an empty sack). Only Darwin award worthy individuals choose option C.

@secondplace

ISs do this all the time.
FlakyFriend
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:36 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by FlakyFriend »

I didn't go through a recruitment agency at all and without being specific, I have a unique skills set/credentials that is highly sought after both in the US and abroad.

I wasn't given a deadline on the contract that I'm aware of.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@FlakyFriend

Then as one might say to the Goblin King, "they have no power over you". You can safety do whatever you want, just dont tell the EU IS about the other IS and do as you please. Keep in mind though that at some point the original IS will have to move on and appoint someone at sometime, which one would pun a pocket pick, they would have to do as some time.
You could also just execute the contract for the original IS, and then pursue the EU IS and when they offer you a contract, accept and execute that contract as well, and then decide at any time to let whichever IS you want know you are withdrawing your acceptance of the contract or just dont bother to show up. If you can act with impunity, you dont have to really make choices, you really dont need ours or anyones counsel.
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by chilagringa »

PsyGuy wrote:
> Then as one might say to the Goblin King, "they have no power over you".

Excellent reference.
secondplace
Posts: 191
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:40 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by secondplace »

@LatnameZ and @PsyGuy

Perhaps I have been lucky but no school I have worked at has operated in this way.

Also, two wrongs etc.

It's for each person to operate according to their own moral code. Mine might be different to yours.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@secondplace

How would you know? Even if the IS as a whole is expecting a new IT, and they then rescind the contract, leadership can create any excuse or rational they want, and then announce they have found another IT. Maybe you are just lucky.

Moral codes would be great if both sides practiced them, but this is why evil always wins, good will play by the rules and evil never intended to from the beginning.

My moral code is to minimize suffering, and to do whats in my best self interests since A) no one else will, and B) theyre my interests and I am my self. If your code necessitates additional suffering for you to endure because of words on paper or a bumper sticker or "principals" which you think builds something called "character" or that you will be repaid by something called "karma" then I have a story about a burning bush in the desert you need to hear.
secondplace
Posts: 191
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:40 pm

Re: Backing out?

Post by secondplace »

@FlakyFirend - Given my position in the schools I have been in, I would hope to know something about the ethical practices, or not, that happen.

For me, morals start at home and in the mirror. Am I happy with my conduct? Am I happy with the way I have chosen to act in a given situation?

Again, my choices may be different to yours. And yes, I act on my own principles and apply these to each situation. Am I right? I'm not sure that question enters into the the dialoguge. I do know I am happy with the choices I have made.
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