With job fairs and interviews continuing on a rolling basis, the director of Career Services for Binghamton University’s School of Management, Chris Whitney, spoke to students Tuesday about professionally accepting or declining job offers.

During her presentation, Whitney outlined possible scenarios that come up following the interviewing process, ranging from negotiating offers to verbal offers over the phone.

Whitney emphasized the importance of asking for contact information and expanding networks. She said students should have the recruiter as well as two alumni in their network that will advocate for their character to the interviewer and act as future advocates and references for other job interviews.

When receiving a job offer over the phone, Whitney said students should always assume the person calling is someone who can change their life.

“Make sure the situation you are in is professional sounding. If you are in a noisy place, do not answer the call,” Whitney said. “Make sure your voicemail is professional. If you receive a verbal offer over the phone, ask them to forward it via email so you can take a look at it and make sure you understand what date it is they ask you to make a decision.”

She added that if an offer is made over the phone, students should ask the employer for more time to consider the offer so they can think it through and weigh the offer against other options on the table, if there are any.

Whitney said that applicants can use other offers to negotiate salaries, but warned that students should always be truthful about what their other options are.

“Don’t ever lie about the offers,” Whitney said. “They know.”

Whitney told students they should never burn bridges with an interviewer. She pointed to a story of an MBA student who interviewed and received an offer from a local marketing firm. The student believed the offer undervalued her talents and voiced her opinion to the firm in an unprofessional manner that damaged the University’s relationship with the firm.

“They have never recruited [at Binghamton] since,” Whitney said.

Jessica Kenyon, a sophomore majoring in accounting, hosted the event with a group of SOM students.

“The School of Management emphasizes so much about preparing academically and for interviews in general, we thought it would be beneficial to host an event where students could learn about what happens after the job offers start coming in,” Kenyon said.