| Don't ask for more time; this company gave you a deadline for a reason, they want to pressure you. Asking for more time only tells them that at this moment in time their offer doesn't interest you, and you'd like to shop around. Every company believes they are the best place to work and what they offer is more desirable than other businesses and the ego of a large business is especially big, by asking for more time you might hurt their ego, they may only want people who desire to work for such a firm like themselves. Do not ask for more time, interview as much as possible, and accept the job offer the day before or on the last day -- I think accepting the offer on the day before the last might convey that the clock didn't just run out for you. If you get a much better offer later, take the new offer, it might not be the best move but this isn't so much a question of ethics so much as it's a question about burning bridges; nobody looks favourably on people who in hindsight only accepted because their ideal job wasn't yet available. These people will remember you and although they may understand the reason why you would do that, or they may do it or have done it themselves, it wont matter as you have wasted valuable time for everyone in the decision making and training processes. Carefully choose whether you want to burn the bridge or not. |
The other thing to do is check with your school's intern/co-op office and see if they have a minimum amount of time for a job offer. As I said before, my first job offer was 24 hours, but the school requires all employers operating through the school's listing service to give 2 weeks. If there's such a requirement you can use that as leverage to extend the date.