Jessica Booker

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Yes, you can accept and then renege if required.

You should look at the terms of both your TC and VS offer to see if there are any terms that would stop you from doing the VS if you have accepted the TC. Depending on what they say, you might need to disclose to either or both firms.

Generally though, if there are no terms in either offer, you won't need to disclose it as you are not an employee of the TC firm until the contract starts.
 
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Jessica Booker

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Thank you so much, this is so helpful. I don't think there was any mention in my VS offer letter. I will be sure to check the contents of the TC offer letter when it arrives.

In your experience, is this a common situation to be in?
It isn't rare but not necessarily something that happens a lot.

The other thing you could potentially do is explain to the TC firm that you have a VS coming up and would they consider extending the offer period until that scheme ends. However, if this TC is starting within the next 9 months or so, they might not be willing to do this because they are likely going to need to ensure the vacancy is filled.
 

James Carrabino

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It isn't rare but not necessarily something that happens a lot.

The other thing you could potentially do is explain to the TC firm that you have a VS coming up and would they consider extending the offer period until that scheme ends. However, if this TC is starting within the next 9 months or so, they might not be willing to do this because they are likely going to need to ensure the vacancy is filled.
@aetheriius congratulations on your VS and TC offers! As @Jessica Booker says, there should be no negative repercussions doing what you are proposing, apart from leading the first firm to be unimpressed when you renege. Also, I should mention that I personally know multiple people who were very upfront with firms where they had TC offers and asked for permission to keep their offers open so that they could do later vac schemes in order to make a fully considered decision. I don't see any harm in asking the firm where you have a TC offer if they would be willing to allow you to do this, as the worst that could happen is they say no. I hope that helps :)
 

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