Making job choices is tough.. Did I make the right one?

[Double J]

I had two interviews this week. One was Monday, and the other one was on Friday. I would have arranged for the interviews to be closer together (like one on Mon, the other Tuesday) but couldn't do it because of school conflicts.

 

To make the story short, the one on Monday was for a part-time, 2-month internship at a bank . It was related to marketing/research, which is something I want to do. The only problem is that the pay for the internship was very low ($8/hr, about 47% less than what I was making at my last internship). Supposedly upon completion of the internship I would be offered a school credit (since this is something the bank is doing with my university's career services dept) but later on they said it wasn't possible since I was 3 weeks into the semester.

 

Even though I didn't really need the credit, I think it would have been a major turnoff if I did and this happened. I think the bank should have arranged for everything to be taken care of ahead of time. Otherwise, what they should have done was compensate for it by increasing the salary a little, but they never did.

 

The bank called me on Wednesday to formally extend an offer to join them. I told them I needed a few days to think about it, and what I was really doing was buying for time because I had another interview on Friday. The bank said ok, but that they wanted an answer by noon Friday.

 

I went to the interview on Friday for the second company, and it turns out that the company is one of the biggest market research companies in the world. It offers part-timers benefits after six months, and since I want to be in research I think it was a better option than the bank, considering the bank doesn't even specialize in that. The interview went well, and they said they'd get in touch with me again on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

On Friday afternoon I called to ask the bank if they could give me until Tuesday to make a decision but it too late. Since it was after 12, they had already given the job to the second candidate who was interested. Again, although the work for the bank seemed interesting and relevant to my career, the pay was really bad, the internship was only 2 months long, and I think I was academically overqualified (they wanted a junior with a 2.7 GPA, Im senior with a 3.95). The marketing department for the bank consisted of 5 people or so. The big company has more employees, paid training, opportunities for career advancement, offices in 6 continents (50+ countries). The second big company is the type of company I would have wanted to go to upon completion of the 2-month bank internship. Instead I get the chance to go to a big company like this already now if I get the job.

 

Do you guys think I made the right choice? Is it usually better in the long term to go for a bigger company than a Joe Shmo one?

 

Thanks in advance

[Amberr]

Hi Double J,

 

My first piece of advice is, don't spend a lot of time worrying about whether you made the right decision. Once you make a decision, you have to move on. And besides, your situation is quite common. It's almost a Murphy's Law sort of thing about the timing of job offers.

 

The second company certainly sounded more promising, except for the fact it wasn't exactly the line of work you were looking for. Since you were only gambling over a 2-month gig, I think it was well worth the risk to try to hold out for the second offer. If the offer from the other company doesn't come through, you just have to find something else.

 

Don't get discouraged. Job hunting isn't easy. A lot of times it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

[Tigris]

I think you made the right decision. You have to think of the future and not just the present.

 

Let us know what happens with the second company.

 

Good luck

[mgirl]

If something in your gut said don't take the first job, then you did the right thing. I have turned down offers only to get more suitable offers later.

[fragmint]

i think you went with the right one. dont worry about it and good luck on your new job!