I accepted a job offer but now I want to back out

[coolchic88]

Hello there. I am a New Grad RN. I finally received a call back from the job of my dreams which is a med-surg respiratory unit at a hospital! This hospital happened to be the place where I also did clinicals and it is only 15 minutes away from me! My problem is that a few days ago, I accepted a position at an allergy clinic because I was not sure whether I would get the job offer from the hospital. How do I tell the allergy clinic I am withdrawing my acceptance without burning bridges??? HELP!!!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I assume that when you say "call back," that you mean you have an interview scheduled. I would not be backing out of the allergy clinic until after you have a solid job at the hospital. If it's just an interview, that is no guarantee of a job.

How long until you actually start working at the allergy clinic? Will you have already started working before you find out if you really have a job at the hospital or not? That makes a big difference in how you would handle it.

[coolchic88]

Oh my mistake, I forgot to put that the call back was a job offer. I already had the interview and my references were checked. Any advise?

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I did the same thing when I graduated CNM school. I felt terrible, and gave notice to the other job as soon as I had an official, signed offer from the job I wanted. It's business, and all you can do is handle it as professionally as possible. However, I would NOT rescind your acceptance at the other job until all your T's are crossed and every single I is dotted.