Can I accept a different job offer if I’ve already accepted another?

Questions from the Internet #4

Yahoo Answers –

Jake  – Can I accept a different job offer if I’ve already accepted another?

I have agreed to work for a company and arranged a start date but during the time I am waiting to start my new job another company has proposed a better offer and it may be tempting to take that (confused!!). Are there usually any implications in opting out the original offer?                       

Boris Epstein: Legally no, but morally and spiritually, maybe.  It all depends on you.  This is really a gut call.  Some people would be adamantly against walking away from an offer that they already accepted.  Their loyally, their ethics, their morality all stand in the way of them moving forward with any offer other than the one they already accepted.  Other people have no qualms walking away from an originally accepted offer and are in the mindset of I have to do what is best for myself.  Once again it’s a gut call; if it were me, I probably wouldn’t walk away from the original offer.  I wouldn’t want the ramifications of an employer doing that to me.  How would you feel if the company that made you the offer, set your start date and then in the meantime still continued to interview other candidates, found a better candidate and took back the offer they extended to you?  Let your conscience be your guide on this one.