Perhaps a Cautionary Tale re Honesty

Perhaps a Cautionary Tale re Honesty

Anon (guest) 16 Dec 2010 21:48

After talking with mentors and reading on here, the general consensus is always to be open and honest during the process. That is, tell a place you are interviewing that you have an offer. Or if you get an offer see if another place can move things up.

Well, I got an offer from a place I really like. Then an interview offer comes in and they tell me to let them know if I have an offer so that they can move things up. So I do. Well, that completely backfired. They emailed today saying they are yanking me from their short list because of the offer and that they don't think the timing will work.

I guess it is their loss.

anon4 (guest) 16 Dec 2010 21:54

Wow. That seems really surprising, and and kinda icky. Was the place you got an offer from significantly better than the place you were going to interview at? I sat on a search committee once that almost decided not to make an offer to their top candidate, because he was a "star" and would have his pick of jobs. Well, a very vocal few made a passionate plea to always strive for the best, and they did extend the offer. He accepted! If that original majority had decided not to take a chance on that "star" we couldn't now claim him as a member of our department. I wonder if some of that was going on? Perhaps they were afraid of the competition or just figured they'd lose?

Anonymous (guest) 16 Dec 2010 21:59

I am truly, truly sorry for you. I'm sure this isn't the outcome you wanted or were led to expect. I've never heard of anything like this happening, though I have heard of schools saying "we can't move up our process, so decide if you want to interview or not." I hope you like where you have your offer and I hope that this means, in some way, that you dodged a bullet.

Anon (guest) 16 Dec 2010 22:04

I was shocked, and my mentors are also expressing disbelief.

The school for my offer was a lesser school (R2) and this (the one that canceled) was much better….so it wasn't the "star" thing.

I do love the place I got an offer from, and this is making it easier to make a decision I guess.

anoners (guest) 17 Dec 2010 02:20

Chances are…you are better off. I have never heard of a school that is seriously interested in someone yanking an interview because of another offer (especially from a different level institution). Either you weren't high enough on their list, or the place has some serious issues that you may not want to touch…

Anoun (guest) 17 Dec 2010 02:26

What school was it that dropped you? Is there a reason to protect their identity? Maybe exposure will prevent other schools from following suit. Just a thought.

anon! anon! (guest) 17 Dec 2010 04:50

I agree with Anoun. Places like that deserve to be outed.

been there (guest) 17 Dec 2010 02:32

I think honesty is still the best policy. You got a glimpse of what the place might be like. And you can live with yourself as a decent human being not having manipulated the system.

Anon (guest) 17 Dec 2010 17:28

Thanks everyone! I am trying to look at it positively….how supportive would they be during tenure if they're not willing to woo me now?

anon again (guest) 17 Dec 2010 21:19

If you truely believe that honesty is the best policy it is likely that you would not be a good fit in a department that does not also feel the same way.
Best of luck in your new job!!!

search veteran (guest) 30 Dec 2010 16:42

Let me start by saying that I'm not involved with either of these schools. That being said, I'm not so inclined to cast stones at the interviewing school. The O.P. says that he/she has an offer in hand from a school he/she really loves. Presumably that offer came with a deadline. The O.P. would be a fool to turn down a good offer without another offer in hand. The interviewing school knows this. Most searches can only bring in 2-4 candidates. Why go through all the considerable effort involved in interviewing if they know they will not be in a position to make an offer before the competing offer's deadline?

This reasoning doesn't hold, of course, if the offer was open-ended and the O.P. had the luxury to take time to interview elsewhere and wait for the other search to conclude. If that was the case, the O.P. should've made it very clear when talking to the second school that there was no time pressure involved.

In any event, Anon, congratulations on your offer from a place that you are happy with. You've won the jackpot! Try to focus on that and not on the might-have-beens. :)