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Edited

I was surprised because I was under impression that they constantly implicated that they would hire me upon graduation.

This is a bad sign, right? I had better treat this as a non offer?

Please don't quote my post.

This is BS. Id start looking for other jobs ASAP. Don't turn them down or say you're no longer interested, but I'd try to find something else on the double. If you get an offer, take it and tell your SA firm deuces.

Anonymous User wrote: This is a bad sign, right? I had better treat this as a non offer?

Yes. It is clearly a non-offer. It does not even resemble a cold offer.

(How many SAs did they have?)

Toni V wrote: Yes. It is clearly a non-offer. It does not even resemble a cold offer.

(How many SAs did they have?)

This is a very small firm and they had three SAS this summer and only I got this weird arrangement and other two got a straight "no at this moment" answer. They made it clear during the interview that they might not hire anyone at the end of summer.

What is a cold offer?

Anonymous User wrote:

Toni V wrote: Yes. It is clearly a non-offer. It does not even resemble a cold offer.

(How many SAs did they have?)

This is a very small firm and they had three SAS this summer and only I got this weird arrangement and other two got a straight "no at this moment" answer. They made it clear during the interview that they might not hire anyone at the end of summer.

What is a cold offer?

Others might be able to better illustrate and elaborate on ― “cold offers.” There are very competitive firms that are committed to maintaining a 100% offer rate (providing them an advantage in attracting the best and brightest). When an SA turns out not to be a good fit for the firm, the firm gives them a “cold offer,” thus the firm maintains its 100% offer rate. The SA in question is encouraged to seek other employment.

(A more optimistic explanation is that the “cold offer” is a shot over the bow, meaning that you better get it together.)

i don't think it's a non-offer. it doesn't sound like a traditional SA so i don't think it's completely bullshit either - just unfortunate.

it IS super shitty of them to hire 3 SAs though. if they can afford 3 SAs, there's money enough to just hire 1 SA with a guarantee.

pancakes3 wrote:i don't think it's a non-offer. it doesn't sound like a traditional SA so i don't think it's completely bullshit either - just unfortunate.

it IS super shitty of them to hire 3 SAs though. if they can afford 3 SAs, there's money enough to just hire 1 SA with a guarantee.

Nah, really small firms don't hire every year and don't know their needs far enough in advance to commit to hiring even one person after 2L. They also don't necessarily pay SAs market, so the cost of three summer SAs doesn't really mean much. If they made it clear in the interview that they might not hire anyone permanently, it's on the OP for taking the job. (I say that sympathetically, there's just not much you can do about it.)

In any case, it's a no-offer to the extent that the OP doesn't have a job, and OP, you can't count on it materializing as a job until/unless they make you an offer, so apply for other stuff ASAP.

This is not an offer. This is a "eh, you weren't terrible but we don't know what we need so don't count on anything."

This basically says:

"We like you but we might not need you. Feel free to start looking elsewhere and we can give you references."