A friend of mine interned at Skadden last summer and has a job offer from them to start this fall. He said that new graduates are being offered the same arrang

A friend of mine interned at Skadden last summer and has a job offer from them to start this fall. He said that new graduates are being offered the same arrangement -- a lump sum to postpone his start date by one year. He doesn't think he's going to take it, for a few reasons. I don't blame him; I would be really worried that the job would disappear over that year. They say it's safe, but it seems a lot tougher to lay off existing staff than to lay off someone who hasn't started yet.