Hi All,I dont know how many of you had faced this situation, but your advice and honest opinions are highly appreciated.I have got an offer from a top firm and I have accepted it with hesitation, signed the offer and contract letter and negotiated a start date to complete notice period with my current employer. The problem is I was not happy with the offer from the beginning as it was not only less than my current package and I didn't like the way they have discussed with me the package and it was like a cut throat attitude, either take it or leave it..Now I have got an another offer that has more benefit to me in terms of work, travel, salary etc and from my reasearch I found out that this firm is better than the first one I have got. If i go back now and inform the first firm that I am not going to join them, will it affect me anything legally as I have signed the offer and contract letter? The offer and contract does not state any conditions that I must join them. I know that ethically it is not the right thing to do, but I am not enthusiastic enough to join the first firm mentally. Also any advice on how politely and professionally I can inform the first firm reg. my intentions?

This situation is much more common than you might think and has been discussed on this forum a number of times.The first firm will not want you to join them unless you are absolutely sold on joining them. The last thing they need is to force someone to join them who will then mope about and not have the energy levels or enthusiasm needed to serve their clients - and who will drag down morale in the office. I'm not a legal expert, but the worst that I could see happening is that they force you to join them and then you have to work out your notice period (which would be terrible for morale in the firm so I can't imagine any firm actually doing this).You need to be decided in your mind whether you want to give firm 1 an opportunity to improve their offer - or whether you would still join the new firm 2 even if firm 1 were to match or better this new offer.Then just call and steer them accordingly. If you decide on the former then you should be clear about this when you call - "your whole attitude to negotiating my salary and giving me a take it or leave it offer has given me serious cause for concern about my remuneration prospects with your firm. Having been through the process with another top firm I've had a totally different experience with them and you've just left me with the impression that my career will not be best-served joining your company."Might be worth you paying for a 15 minute consultation with a lawyer on this, just to be sure of the ramifications - though I'd have thought some Google searching on the subject would quickly turn up the liability you might face in such a scenario.Good luck, Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Thanks for your comments & suggestions Tony.