I’m a junior in college. My lab instructor (who works full time in the field I’m interested in working in) contacted a friend of his to let him know I was interested in getting a job at his firm over the summer. At the time this was true, however, my summer semester schedule changed suddenly and taking the job would add an unreasonable amount of my time to my already long commute (about an hour+ daily added on).
Just for context this is in the American south and its a relatively small company (30-40ish people by my estimate), I’d be talking to the owner directly. I’ve never spoken to him and he knows nothing about me other than my school and my first name, my only contact has been getting CC’d in on an email from my instructor. This is a firm I would definitely be interested in working for post-graduation.
Should I follow up with him to tell him I won’t be contacting him about the job? If so should I explain the situation at all or just be concise and say I’m no longer interested? I don’t want to waste his time or make my instructor look like an ass for referring someone that ghosted him.