Received an offer. Should I take it???

aqueoushumour01

GoldenEye wrote: »

I have been in this situation. I applied for an engineering grad job but got offered two different graduate roles within the same company. I turned down both job offers and ended up unemployed for a long time!
You can always accept the job, gain valuable employment experience and leave later. That was one thing I didn’t consider. Trust me, unemployment is difficult to explain to an employer!

Graduate jobs are VERY hard to find. Reports say that only 10% of all graduates actually get on graduate schemes. Graduates are going to find it harder from now on, especially under the current economy "crisis".

Though I agree with some of the other posters that say, "follow your heart", it wouldn’t be the worse thing in life if you take the job. I speak from experience when things went frequently wrong, though life has worked out extremely well for me!

Good luck!

so did you apply to graduate schemes the following year?

I've got two assessment centres lined up for march so things are looking at bit brighter.

You're right that it would look good having the work experience but I'm worried that I'd find it difficult to move into insurance at a later date if I accept the offer. I'd start in september and then be applying for things a couple of months later so I'd need time off to attend interviews etc... I wouldn't fancy explaining to my employer that I wanted to jump ship so soon after starting!

Thanks for your advice. It is worrying that by turning down this offer I may find myself in the same situation although I'm not sure I should accept a job just because it's the only thing on offer at this current point in time.

GoldenEye

Yes I applied the following year. I then went back to University, graduated again and applied once more. In total I rejected four graduate job offers and accepted two. Location wasn’t a problem for me, more like the type of job on offer.

As for being in the same situation as me well who can tell? It’s a risk you take. I took another risk last year and I’ve now got a brilliant job with an excellent company. If you’re very confident you will find a job in insurance then I think it’s a risk worth taking. It’s up to you!

cazziebo

aqueoushumour01 wrote: »

I thought that a signed offer forms a wrriten contract and therefore an agreement to work for the company unless they find something wrong with the references. Isn't this the case??

People accept then decline offers all the time - I know I have, and many people have done it in companies I've worked in.

This is particularly common with graduate jobs - we know that candidates are likely to have many irons in the fire and the resourcing plan reflects this. Pink shoes is right - you now have a leveraging tool in your armoury when you go for other jobs.

good luck - hope you are successful whatever you decide to do!