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I am currently in the process of applying for a job for which I am a current contractor. It's pretty clear that I will be receiving the job within a few weeks, but I have plans to return to school in three months. So I would only have the time to work this job for 2 months. It's a junior analyst position at an established company.

While I think it would be rude to take this job for 2 months and quit. I am doing very poorly financially and can't afford to be without a job until school starts. I understand that by doing this I am burning a bridge with this company and all of the people it will affect. Do the consequences go past this? Is there anything else I should consider before making this move?

I don't plan on putting this on my resume.

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    This seems to be an unnecessary risk to take. If you intend to go to school in 2 months, why not tell the company that and ask them to extend your contract for two months?
    – DJClayworth
    Nov 8, 2014 at 20:21
  • My current contract ends at the end of the month. This position would entail me moving to a different department and they are looking for someone to work full-time.
    – user29452
    Nov 8, 2014 at 21:03
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    I've gotta agree with @JoeStrazzere here. If you don't intend to stay you shouldn't take the job unless the employer KNOWS this up front. Coming in for two months means you're likely to take their money without getting much done, AND force them to spend all the money on hiring someone a second time. I think that's more than just "rude" -- it's fraud. Maybe not actionable, but fraud all the same. You'd better hope you never apply to a company which has hired anyone who remembers this stunt... and that your name is not memorable, since stories get told.
    – keshlam
    Nov 9, 2014 at 14:52

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If it's obvious that the company expect you to work for more than two months, and you accept the offer knowing that you will leave in two months, the company won't be happy. And if you give the school as the reason, it'd be obvious that you knew when you accepted the offer.

Having said that, it's unlikely that it will lead to any serious consequences. At most they'll keep a record of you for a while stating that you left in a short time (this may vary between countries/companies, my previous company did), which may affect you getting re-hired, but that would be pretty much it.

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Play it by ear. There is no question that you need the money now, so go where the money is. If you have no money, you have no options including staying in school. After you worked for three months, review your options:

  1. Going back to school full-time - that's realistic if you have the cash reserve to make it happen. If you don't, remember the saying "no money, no options"

  2. Going back to school part-time - you are making progress toward your degree. Not as fast as you would like, but you are not starving and you are not homeless, and you are building up a cash reserve. Hopefully, your employer is accommodating and will let you have time off to attend classes. If you have the cash reserves and your employer won't be flexible about some time off for classes, that's an excellent reason for leaving

  3. Not going back to school for the time being - it could mean, not going back to school ever, if you are busy enough with work. I chose not to return to Columbia Engineering for a PhD in Chemical Engineering. On the other hand, I helped build a startup into the largest and most successful environmental planning firm in the New York Metro area, and I picked up an MBA from NYU's evening program along the way. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are still on the lam from Harvard, so far as I know :) The whole point of having an education is to achieve something with it - Education is not necesarily an end in itself.

Your management's happiness with you should be an immaterial consideration to you, given your situation. If you have no money and you have no options and you haven't proved yourself with anyone, the world will little note or care what happens to you. The only request I am making of you is that, no matter how you decide three months from you, you gave your employer the very best work you can in the meantime.

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