I received the following interesting email from a third party recruiter (TPR) colleague:

I heard recently from several candidates that recruiters have told them, even after they have accepted an offer somewhere else, that there is no problem withdrawing their acceptance in order to accept an offer from another company. I just placed someone at a large CPA firm and she was actually told by an internal recruiter at the Big4 firm that it is OK to turn down an offer that you already accepted in order to take a job somewhere else for more money! I was shocked that this came from a Big4 firm and this is not the first time that I have heard about recruiters telling candidates that it is OK.

My response

Interesting! You're asking two questions: 1) is it OK for a candidate to rescind an offer and 2) is it OK for a recruiter to encourage a candidate to do so? I take it that this event cost you a hefty commission? Let's put that aside for now because it is likely to color your judgment. OK?

Could you answer the two questions posed above?

My take is that it's an integrity issue. I'm not very interested in question 2. I am interested in question 1. For me it's easy. If I accept an offer then I will honor my word and do what I said I would do. Rescinding is not honoring my word. This gets messy for some people because of the $ involved. My coaching to a candidate would be don't accept an offer if you have another one pending that interests you. Ask for more time. In this market you can always get more time and if you can't then you should wonder why not?

And his follow-up response

I agree with your assessment. In this particular situation, my candidate has kept her word and has told the other firms and recruiters that she has already made her decision. However, in the past, I have certainly worked with candidates that have lacked this integrity and follow through on their commitments and it has cost me my commission. By the $ aside, I agree with the root of your response: it is a matter of your honor and integrity. Any candidate that would do this, whether to me personally or if I hear about him/her doing to another recruiter, will not be someone I will represent in the future. If they are willing to compromise their integrity and go back on their word once, they are highly likely to do it again and it is not worth my time and energy to work with someone like that.

I also think it is an integrity issue when it comes to a recruiter recommending that a candidate rescind an accepted offer just for the sake of more $. I agree with you that if the candidate has another offer pending or is not 100% excited and committed to the first offer, then they should not accept it until they are ready to make the commitment.

Other Thoughts

I didn't explain in my response above why I'm not very interested in question 2. Ultimately the candidate is responsible for their choice and encouragement by a recruiter to rescind an offer is a bit of a red herring. But it is a good question: is it OK for a recruiter to encourage a candidate to rescind an offer? My take is that it is not. Of course it will take a high level of fortitude and integrity for a recruiter to not do so!