Rejecting a job after accepting offer?

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Specializes in ICU.

What's the best way to tell a job you won't be working for them after all?

This is all very hypothetical right now. I just accepted a new job because my first job, which I have currently stuck out for 10 months, was horrible and in the middle of nowhere, and I finally lost my ability to cope with it all in April.

The problem is, now that I have accepted the new job in the new city, which I really just applied to out of desperation, I am second guessing whether I should have even applied there at all. The job looks wonderful and has very low turnover, I did a shadowing interview and I liked the unit... but I am a little terrified of moving to yet ANOTHER new place where I know no one and have no family or friends to help me along. I did that to get my first job, and in the end I couldn't handle it because I was never able to integrate with the people in that town and was totally isolated. I don't think this will happen in the new city, because it is a much younger and hipper place with more things to do, and isn't isolated in the middle of the deep South like my first job was, so I will likely be able to make new connections more easily. However, my base pay in the new hospital will only be $0.50 cents more than I was making as a new grad, and the cost of living is exponentially higher, so with higher rent, only a tiny raise in pay, and more things to spend money on... I think moving there alone may be a financial mistake as well as another potential situation where I am isolated again, which I don't think I can handle.

I applied for a couple of hospitals back home yesterday, and have already been invited to schedule a phone interview with one of them. Should one of those work out, I think I will move home where I have people that I know, I will get paid more (they start their new grads higher than this hospital is offering me with some experience), there will be even more to do because it's an even bigger city, and the cost of living is lower. So, if that happens... how do I tell the current job I've just accepted that I won't be working for them after all? Is there a polite, correct way to do that so I won't burn a bridge?

Hi calivianya

First, congratulations on the job you have, the job you're deciding on, and the prospect of one at home. I know you will make the right decision about what is best to do, and I hope in some way that this can help.

My friend had a similar problem, she had excepted a job as a new grad to a small hospital on a ward she was okay with, but then a day after received a call from her dream job, at her dream hospital. She took her dream job, and called the other place to resign.

Another friend, was working in a position for 2 months when she got a call, interview, and job offer at her dream job. The only problem was it was 100 miles away. New city, new friends, new housing situation. She accepted the offer and rents a small studio out for when she works, then goes home on her days off to be with her hubby. (She let them know through an email.)

So, I guess you have a decision to make. Is this your dream job (the one you currently accepted)? By taking this position did you agree to terms of employment (like a year of working)? If you already agreed or signed something, maybe ask hr what would happen if you break it. I would only do that after you know you have a job waiting at home. If you get a position at home, and take it, the most professional way is to write a letter of resignation, and deliver it personally.

Good luck. The decision you make will be the right one, I have every confidence that you will chose what is best for you.

Specializes in ICU.

Every job I've held so far, and every one I've applied to, has been on my dream unit - so that doesn't make the decision any easier.

I signed a contract with the job I'm leaving, but I've been so unhappy with it I'm more than willing to deplete my savings to be rid of it. The one I just accepted the offer on has no contract for me, so that does make it a bit easier to leave before I start, I suppose.

Thanks for the advice and the anecdotes. :)

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