So my situation is as follows:
I'm in the process of preparing to consulting interviews. I'm not yet ready and need about one more month of preparation. I feel about 80% ready for the interviews right now.
I very much want to get an offer from a specific firm, let's call it Firm A. I've networked quite a bit within Firm A and have an insider consultant that assured me I'll have an interview as soon as I'm ready.
In the meanwhile I have a friend working at another very prestigious consulting firm, let's call it Firm B, Firm B's recruitment process takes place in a couple of days, and my friend really wants me to apply as the next recruitment cycle will be far into the future.
I'm much more inclined to work at Firm A than at Firm B, but assuming I get a rejection from Firm A I'll still be highly motivated to work for Firm B.
Assuming I go through Firm B's recruitment process in the coming days and end up with an offer:
1) Is it possible to stall the acceptance for ~2 weeks and in the meanwhile interview with Firm A?
2) Assuming it's not possible to stall the acceptance of the offer, how unethical will it be to accept Firm B's offer and then interview with Firm A? Potentially getting an offer there too and rejecting Firm B's offer after accepting it?
Is there any other option I have not thought about?
Looking forward for you insight, thanks.