I've already accepted an offer at one of the big tech companies. I applied to a competitor because the offer was for a position that I don't exactly enjoy, and thought I'd be honest about my offer acceptance. They said they would like to honor my commitment with the competitor and withdraw my application.
In the United States, both employers and applicants can withdraw an offer or stop a job application process for virtually any reason, at virtually any time. The exceptions are e.g. anti-discrimination statutes.<p>"You accepted an offer already." is a legal reason to bounce your application. So is "You mentioned you're a Cubs fan. We like the Sox." So is "We have no articulable reason at all for not going ahead with you", as long as that lack of reason is not a cover for our true reason, which is that you're black/a woman/a veteran (in certain states)/etc.<p>You might have a colorable claim for detrimental reliance if it had happened in reverse (Company A withdrew a job offer when they found out you had talked to B, after you had e.g. moved to their city in reliance on their offer), but that doesn't fit the fact pattern you're talking about.<p>In the future, you should exercise more discretion about what important details of your dealings <i>with unrelated people</i> you share with people you're in a sales situation with. If a company makes a job offer to you, and you accept, but you subsequently don't end up taking a job with them due to them being unable to reach agreement on details of the work, from the perspective of your job search this is a no-op. You have no particular obligation to disclose that fact to people.<p>Also, you should know that "I recently accepted a job offer, but decided that I didn't actually want to accept it." does not communicate "I am a competent professional who will be a headache-free high-quality productive worker at your organization." That doesn't mean you're forbidden to do it (God knows AmaGooBookSoft would bounce an offer in a hot second if they thought it over and decided "Actually, we have better options"), but again, I would be very discrete on disclosing that in an interview.
You are drastically overcomplicating this.<p>The answer to the question you actually meant to ask is:<p>When you're given an offer by a company, and you're not sure you're ready to commit to it, because you want to explore other opportunities first, you simply tell the company that gave you the offer that you're not ready to accept.<p>Your prospective new employer will be candid with you about how long they can hold the position open for. Sometimes it's days, sometimes it's months.<p>Your prospective employer might, if they're on the ball, ask what you're waiting for and who you're interviewing with. You can tell them, or not tell them. I tend to ask candidates when this comes up, but I only get responses ~50% of the time, and I don't pry.<p>What you should <i>not</i> do is accept an offer and then continue to interview elsewhere. Accept when you're ready to commit. You <i>can</i> accept, then interview, then accept another offer; it's not unlawful to do that. It's just deeply unprofessional.<p>Finally: a prospective employer can, for all intents in purposes, withdraw an offer at any time. Not only that: they can hire you and fire you the next day.
Wait, I'm confused. Company A gave you an offer. You accepted the offer. You applied to Company B. You told Company B that you have already accepted an offer at Company A, and B responds by saying that they don't want to move forward in the application process, and you're worried that they're doing something illegal?<p>Am I interpreting you correctly?