Handling job fly-backs and multiple job offers

Sometimes a BBA is in the enviable position of receiving a job offer while at the same time being involved in the recruiting process for one or more other companies. This can sometimes lead to a difficult situation of having a scheduled fly-back (or other significant recruiting event) when the student is close to accepting an offer from another company. Students need to realize that this is a good thing, not a bad thing — but it can quickly become a very bad thing if the student does not handle the situation correctly. In a recent situation, a student accepted a job offer and then cancelled on a non-refundable ticket for a fly-back at the last minute without following up with staff at the School who had worked to build the Ross relationship with that company. This left the recruiting company with a very bad feeling about the level of maturity of our students and left staff at the School with egg on their faces for standing behind the maturity level and integrity of the student. This is what's known as a Very Bad Thing.

There are many facets of this situation that the student needs to be aware of when they consider what to do in this situation. (From here on down, I'll assume the student is a female for the ease of explication.)

• The student is a representative of the Ross School and the University of Michigan. The student needs to remember that she is not out interviewing on her own; she is an ambassador of the School and the University and needs to conduct herself as such.
• The student is the beneficiary of the relationships that the School and the University have maintained over many years, or that we hope to build in the future. Companies do not come to Ross to interview specific students. They come because we have built up these relationships and because they have had good experience with our students in the past. Current students should be aware of this good will that has been built up over many years and do their best to build it up rather than simply to draw on it or to use it up.
• Staff in OCD, the BBA Program Office, the Women's Initiative, Student Life, and elsewhere throughout the School sometimes draw on the relationships built up over time and put themselves on the line for students.
• Industries are small worlds unto themselves and word travels fast about a person's integrity. People never really know what the future will hold. Even if the student is turning down a position right now being offered by person A at company B, the student might later want a job in the future 1) at company B, or 2) at company C (where person A might have moved to). You just never know when you might cross paths with the person sitting across the table from you. Further, people do not quickly forget being treated poorly or with a lack of respect. Being put in a difficult position is one thing — but not handling it with delicacy, tact, and respect is quite another.

For all of the above reasons, when a difficult situation comes up, a student should work with OCD (or with other staff throughout the School whom she might have been working with) to attempt to resolve the difficulty. Believe me, these people have seen these situations many, many times. The wrong approach is to back out at the last minute and hope that no one will notice. People will notice and the School will hear about it — and the relationship might be irreparably damaged. This may not hurt the student right now, but future students will lose an option. If this happens too many times, then future students will be in a real bind and the School's reputation will be badly hurt.

So, for everyone's sake, think about the bigger picture and work with the School's staff. In the long run, you and the School will be better off.