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My mate was hired for a high-level private-sector position after months of unemployment and most of our savings was gone. He'd lost his previous position to government contracting snafus (by the government) and the Republicans' slash and burn budget cutting and furloughing. As soon as he accepted the new position, the feds got the funding for his position again and asked him to return, but he'd accepted another and what looked to be much better job, and he was pretty demoralized by the way the government yanks contractors around as if they aren't people with families, but just numbers on a page (much like the private sector treats people now). He also turned down three other jobs for this new one, moved ahead of me to the state where the job was, shipped his car and a lot of his things overseas, had large sums removed from his first few weeks of salary for all the usual deductions plus retirement savings, and then three weeks after he'd arrived, the company decided not to fund his position and the planned project after-all and laid him off.
His time there cost us more than he earned! Also, after paying more than $1000.00 into our share of our medical premiums and the stupid FSA program, we never even had the chance to use our insurance or the money we'd paid into the FSA! We just lost it all.
He got another job right away, but we still lost money on the first one. The company wasn't willing to reimburse him for anything. There was no recourse either, because in at will states, employees can be let go at any time for any reason without any protections for the employees.
I was offered a job as a grant-writer/fund-raiser by a not-for-profit organization. We had already negotiated salary and a start date. A rule of the organization's by-laws required them to inform the board of another organization (which held a mortgage on a piece of their property) of any hiring they were doing. They were under the impression the notification was a mere formality. When they told that board they were hiring me to fill the open position for which they had advertised extensively, an executive from that group said, "Wait a minute, my wife would be perfect for that job." The non-profit board felt forced to withdraw their offer to me and they gave the job to the executive's spouse. She didn't work out and the entire organization ended up being restructured two years later due to a financial collapse (some of which was due to the wife's incompetence).
I still have every faith I could have done that job successfully.
In my experience, maybe just bad luck, but every single company that has given me an offer took a long time to get me a written. The last 2 offers I got it was a solid week (5 business days) between verbal and written. If you think about that, including weekends, that's a long time I had to wait. That leaves a huge grey area for a company to possibly change their mind
To answer my own question - no it hasn't happened to me before, but I am afraid it will with this current opp. To be more specific, I received a verbal offer this morning, was told it would be pending reference checks and to send the him (hiring manager) my references ASAP so he could call them ASAP today. I know I'm using ASAP a lot because he kept saying ASAP himself. He told me if all went well I would expect a written offer by EOD. Well, he never even called any of my references (so obviously no offer), and it has me wondering why he kept telling me to send them to him ASAP when he didn't even make any calls...
I know someone is going to say 'well he probably got caught up in something and just got busy'...seriously pple, he told me ASAP many times, he knows his own afternoon calendar schedule, something just seems a bit odd here
So anyone have any bad experiences? Or is it just the norm to wait forever...
It takes time to check references and do a background check. It can takes a couple of weeks to do that. Not everyone is available all the time.
To answer your question, no, never had a job offered that was rescinded. Don't know anyone that has had that happen either.
If they require a drug test that can take longer too, because you have to schedule it, get the paperwork and then they have to wait a week or two for the results.
I am currently waiting on my written offer for a grant-funded position (Stable federal grant, though). Two weeks ago they told me HR needs to process the grant before I can sign the new hire forms. THEN it will take another two weeks MINIMUM for the background check to process. I may even start on December 1 at this rate.
The thing is, OP, even if this has happened to others, that has no bearing on your situation. So reading about this happening to others is just going to cause you to panic more than you already are. The scenario you describe is common. The job opportunity is your #1 priority but it's likely that you are not the employer's #1 priority, but rather, one of many things they need to handle this particular day/week.
Thanks for everyone's responses. Just to clarify - this company does not do background/drug tests of any kind. My last job did a major background check and the whole process took almost 2 weeks cause it was done by a 3rd party. The only 'check' this company does is this reference check which they do internally.
Either way, I know it's been 1 day, but that doesn't change the fact that they were emphasizing and repeating that they would get it done ASAP yesterday. He literally said 'please get me references ASAP so I can call them later today' and I checked with my references at night and they never got a call
You're placing too much emphasis on the fact that the VP asked for the references asap, so they could be checked asap. He's not the one getting on the phone making the calls, and he has no idea what the workload is of the person who is calling the references. It was said, but it's not something you can hold him to.
Put it out of your mind and keep looking. Hopefully you'll hear something today, but if not, it's not the end of the world and doesn't mean they aren't going to hire you.
You're placing too much emphasis on the fact that the VP asked for the references asap, so they could be checked asap. He's not the one getting on the phone making the calls, and he has no idea what the workload is of the person who is calling the references.
You are wrong. The hiring manager, the person who told me to give him references, is the one making the phone call, not HR or anyone else. How do I know this? Because when I talked to HR they said 'we are waiting for him to call and verify your references'
My mistake, but it doesn't change the fact that unexpected things come up during the day that can throw your planned tasks out the window. Give them a minute.
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