Say yes to offer and then opt-out?

Question

What would happen if you say yes to a MBB offer (if you're not able to push forward other MBB firm interviews) and then say no if you get an offer with your top choice? I assume you'd be blacklisted by the first firm and shouldn't bother applying ever again and would have to return any signing bonus but are there any other consequences?

Answer 1

Hey,

Few ways you can look at this:

If you are damn sure that the current offer/option is NOT the right one for you, why say Yes in the first place? Wait it out for your top choice. Yes, there is a risk that plans dont work out and you are back to square one.
Say Yes and back out. Risks are- reputation, doors closed for that firm at least in the short-term, any notice period & financial impact. If you execure on this, make sure you do it uber nicely, apologise and provide a good explanation. You dont want to walk away with any hard feelings or mis understanding as you never know how paths cross in future
Negotiate nicely with the current firm to give you more time to sign/consider their offer & hope that your top choice falls in place. If not go back to #1 or #2 above. I did this in the past and it worked :)

All the best!

Answer 2

That's correct. Of course you need to consider reputational risk. Also, remember that you had to pay taxes on that bonus, so receive x % of the actual bonus, but have to pay the full amount back (I don't know tax law, but something to consider/check in terms of implications).

Answer 3

Hi there,

If you do so without signing a contract – there won’t be any legal repercussions by definition.

If you signed a contract:

Some companies have penalties if you do so (haven’t heard about that for MBB but know some Tier 2 do so)
You have to consider local law for other possible issues. Having said that it is highly unlikely the company is going to take any measure – it would be too risky in terms of bad publicity if you would ever make it public

Best,

Francesco

Answer 4

It would purely depend on the contractual terms of your offer but I've seen situations like this happen several times where usually they will just let it go with no penalty other than returning any sign on bonus or benefits you had already received. I guess a "consequence" could be that you would not be welcome by the same firm again but not sure if that's something that would be of concern.