what are the repercussions of first accepting an offer and then declining for some reason?

in practice, usually just some ill-will; let's face it no-one is going to force you to join , resign and work your notice! it's also highly improbable that you'll get sued for breach of contract unless you're at a level where the news affects the share price! it's just one of those thing that happen and get written off

Minimal repercussions if you give them as much of a heads-up as possible (i.e. not the day you're meant to start work) and obviously as long as you don't intend to apply there for another job in the next couple of years.

dont join!!! i did that joined, served notice and went out...my reasons were somewhat different though as the job was completely different to what they described. New job: a colleague's wife worked at the firm i left...

“Some ill will” needs more clarification. I have had two situations like this in the last two years: summary is that you have to be pretty clear that you never want to join that firm in future as both employers were seriously upset. We were pretty cheesed off too. Plenty more employers/agencies out there perhaps but the actual pool of employers you might want to join….and agents you might want to deal with isn’t actually that great. Damage limitation is to give them as much notice as possible and a decent reason.

Well, you have to look after number one at the end of the day. I couldn't give a toss about any given company for the simple reason that they don't give a toss about me. They will happily kick me out with a week's notice during probation on any manager's whim, so why treat them with respect? Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander! The job market is a jungle, and if you start a job only to find it unsuitable and then get a better offer elsewhere, then go the other one. It doesn't matter if you just spend a couple of weeks surfing the net and then hand in your one week's notice. Milk them like a cow. But when you really do find the job you want, then make sure you do your best.

"“Some ill will” needs more clarification. I have had two situations like this in the last two years: summary is that you have to be pretty clear that you never want to join that firm in future as both employers were seriously upset. We were pretty cheesed off too. Plenty more employers/agencies out there perhaps but the actual pool of employers you might want to join….and agents you might want to deal with isn’t actually that great. Damage limitation is to give them as much notice as possible and a decent reason."-------------------------------------------------------Ok, but what if someone accepts an offer from company A and then a week later gets another, much better offer from company B? Can you honestly blame the candidate for going for the better offer? The job market is a MARKET - meaning that you are there to offer yourself to the best deal you can find. Is this not what business is all about? Sometimes you do have to be a ruthless bastard, for the simple reason that otherwise you will invariably get a raw deal. As for agencies, don't get me started......glorified salespeople who only care about their commission payment. I try to avoid agents as much as possible, bloody parasites.

Marcus - are you on twitter? i'd like to follow you. Lately you're posts have covered the following...British women - too much feminist bollox to make good wivesrecruitment agents - parasites that care only about their commissionThe job market - its ruthless - you have to be a b$tardIT in the 90's - Any old plonker could do well in it - not like today.Shirts - they should have a pocket for your pens and mobile phone.Are you Richard Littlejohn? Jermey Clarkson with a hangover? Short and underpaid? You DEFINITELY work in an IT solutions role.