

Ask HN: How do I gracefully accept one offer over another within the same company? - endtime

I happen to have two teams within the same software company making me offers for a summer internship, and the company has asked me to to choose which team I would like a formal offer from.  The teams do reasonably similar things, and I think they actually interact on occasion, despite the fact that this is a pretty large company.  This means that A) I can't really make a decision based on the actual work, since it's pretty similar; and B) I may end up interacting with the team I decline.<p>I think I know which team I'm going to go with.  One of the teams' managers got in touch with me right away, he seems to have a good attitude and sense of humor, and he put me in touch with a former intern who sent me a long and extremely positive e-mail about the team.  The other team's manager didn't get in touch with me for a couple days, and when he did I just didn't get the impression that he was excited about his work.  He didn't seem like he'd be as pleasant a boss as the first team's manager.<p>So my question is this: How do I present what is basically a personal decsion without it seeming...well, personal?
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cperciva
I think the phrase "I think I'd fit better with team #1" is probably what
you're looking for. When you get right down to it, "fit better with" just
means "I made the decision based on personal factors", but the phrase implies
that you're considering how said personal factors would influence your ability
to do useful/good work... which is at least slightly deeper than merely
picking the people you like the most.

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endtime
Thanks. I was kind of planning on saying something like that, but thought
someone with more experience (either from my side or the manager's) might have
a better suggestion. Oh well, I guess it's a good problem to have.

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aneesh
Don't worry about it. Manager #2 realizes you have choices to make, and won't
take it personally. Just be cordial in your reply, like cperciva said.

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endtime
Thanks. :)

