I received a verbal job offer and accepted it approximately 3 weeks ago. At that time HR stated the written contract with terms of employment and salary would arrive within the next week. I sent a follow up email a few days ago expressing my continued interest in the position and a request for a possible date/timeline to expect the written offer. I have gotten no response from the company. The phone interviews, video interview, questionaire, and inperson interview timeline lasted almost 3 months. Along the way the company never met a time deadline as when I should expect a response or notification if I had made it to the next round. They were always off from 1-2 weeks due to delays. The job is supposed to start in January of 2018. It is a good company with a great reputation and reviews on Glassdoor, however, it's not very good with responding to communications or sticking to timelines. I'm pretty sure I have the job but the lack of response is worrisome.
My university placement office recommended that graduates continue interviewing as nothing is final until a written offer comes through. I had started the interview process with two other companies before the offer came from the first place. One of the companies has been very precise about sticking to predicted timelines and follow up after each step of the process. I have another phone interview with them this Friday and if that goes well then an in person interview would follow next week.
If the written offer for company 1 comes before a possible job offer from one of the other companies I plan to accept it. I am wondering if an offer comes from one of the other companies before I get a written offer from the first company what is the protocol for breaking the verbal agreement? Can/should I do this? Is there anything that legally binds me to the verbal agreement?