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'My Job Offering Was Rescinded — After I'd Given Discover'

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Dear Boss,

Well, it happened to me: the dreaded rescinded job offer.

Everything was going great with the interview process. I had gotten to the reference phase and provided data for five people who I knew would represent me well. I got a call the post-obit week from the 60 minutes manager, and she asked if the hiring director would be able to speak to my previous boss.

My previous boss had a personal vendetta against me and fabricated my time working for her actually difficult. Eventually, I was moved out from under her to a different team within the aforementioned department. And so when asked, I just told the Hour person that my previous dominate and I didn't have a good human relationship, and that I could non rely on her for a reference.

After that conversation, I got a provisional job offering, contingent on a background check, and and then a terminal offer, containing the following clause: "This final confirming offer remains contingent on satisfactory receipt of a reference from your current manager as of this letter of the alphabet date." I asked the HR manager for the new job what that was about and she told me that I should give my notice at my current job, then follow up with my manager's contact information.

At this point, it's a washed deal, right? My current manager and I haven't always seen centre to eye, but I take always been hard working, professional, and respectful. I gave my discover and asked my director if she would be able to give me a positive reference, and she agreed she would. She seemed genuinely happy for me that I would be moving on in my career, and it was a positive interaction.

That was last week. This morning, I got a phone call from the HR manager for the new job to tell me, quite unceremoniously, that the offer had been rescinded. She was as well unable to tell me why, as she "didn't have all of the information," but she wanted to let me know correct abroad that the offering is off the table.

So now I'm in the awkward position of having to ask for my chore dorsum — which of course is in no mode guaranteed — or face up having to desperately scramble for a new i. My question is, what exercise I do now? Do I contact HR and demand answers? Practise I outright ask my boss if she said anything negative about me? Do I take any legal avenues to pursue? The state I live in is an at-will land, but the new employer basically encouraged me to quit while at that place was a contingent offer in the works. Finally, what should I have done to protect myself and what should I do in the future to forestall this state of affairs from happening?

That employer has put you in a terrible position.

The hiring company never should have encouraged y'all to resign from your current job while the offering was withal a contingent one. After all, what is the betoken of that final reference cheque if HR was sure it wouldn't hear anything in it that could change the company'southward heed? It had to know there was a hazard it would larn something that could brand the company pull the offer, then urging you to quit your chore in the meantime was extraordinarily thoughtless and irresponsible.

That said … regardless of the hiring company's enthusiasm, ideally you would have explained to its Hr that yous would look to resign until the offering was final and didn't have whatsoever contingencies attached to it. Merely I understand why you didn't; peculiarly if this is the first fourth dimension you were dealing with a contingent offering, yous might not take realized that they're truly not final, and certainly the employer's condescending attitude about it didn't aid.

As for what happened, it sure does seem like your electric current manager said something that gave them pause. That doesn't mean she gave you a negative reference, though. References aren't pass/fail; they're nuanced, and it's possible she said by and large positive things merely said 1 matter that alarmed the hiring company (and she might not even have realized it, if that's the example). For example, reference checks nearly always ask well-nigh the candidate'south weaker spots, and if the weakness she named happened to be something that's crucial for the new job, that could torpedo the offer even if the remainder of the reference was glowingly enthusiastic.

But it's also possible that this isn't nearly the reference at all. Maybe a stronger candidate emerged at the last minute (which would be an incredibly crappy reason for it to pull your offering after encouraging you lot to resign, but information technology's possible), or maybe the company is reconsidering the office birthday, or mayhap someone in the new company gave notice and that person was offered this job to keep them, or who knows what. We tin can't know what happened because the employer is refusing to tell you anything.

Every bit a general do, employers won't usually tell you if they accept a concern almost your references (in part because most people who provide references would stop beingness candid if they knew their feedback might non be kept confidential). But seeing as the visitor urged you to quit your job, information technology owes you more than of an explanation than "something inverse, and nosotros won't say what."

Unfortunately, there's no way to insist information technology give you lot one. You tin try, though, and it might prompt more disclosure from the company. You could say something like, "You told me to go alee and resign my job, and I did that at your prompting. That'southward left me in a terrible position, where I now don't accept a job at all — despite having had one that was perfectly stable until you told me to give notice. Given that following your instructions has left me unemployed, I'm hoping for more of an explanation of what happened." If that doesn't get yous anywhere with the HR person, try the hiring manager. Ethically, they should requite you lot an answer — although that doesn't hateful that they will.

You besides should talk with your dominate. If you'd prefer to stay, tell her that! This is an awkward spot to be in, because she's going to wonder whether, if she lets y'all rescind your resignation, yous'll simply go out for a different chore a few months from now. But she all the same might prefer to continue you for now rather than accept to scramble to find someone new. (I would go along job searching anyway, though, at least until you get a better idea of how things with your boss play out. There's a risk that even if you stay, you'll end up at the elevation of a layoff list if your employer needs to make cuts at some point, considering it will figure that you're planning to exit anyway … which is all the same one more than reason why this situation is atrocious.)

Whether or not to directly inquire your dominate if she said something in the reference that led to this is a trickier question, and it really depends on what y'all know nigh her. If your sense is that she's a decent person who would be horrified to hear that this happened, that could even work to your reward if it makes her feel more obligated to continue you on. But if your sense is that she's probable to get defensive or take umbrage at the notion that she obstructed the offer, information technology might non be in your interest to enhance the bailiwick.

As for legal recourse, in most states what happened is generally legal unless the employer operated with deliberately fraudulent intent. There is a legal concept called "detrimental reliance," where you'd fence that you lot relied on its offer to your detriment. However, those claims historically accept been hard to win, partly because, since employment is usually at will, you could have been fired on your first day without legal recourse (thanks, America) and in this case the company did tell you lot upwardly front that its offering was contingent on the reference. That said, talking to an employment lawyer in your state could be useful.

Frankly, your situation illustrates the large trouble with contingent job offers: They're very risky for the applicant. Even if yous hadn't resigned your job earlier the reference check, you would have had to tell your dominate yous were on the verge of leaving (or she would accept figured it out when she got the reference phone call). So either fashion, y'all'd be in a vulnerable position with your security in your current job at take a chance before your offer was final. I'd like to encounter employers terminate using contingent offers altogether! Simply as a candidate, one pick is to push back on the contingency, explicate it could jeopardize your current job, and offer up plentiful other references (although that tin exist hard if you oasis't had many previous jobs or, as in your case, yous've already asked the hiring company not to contact a different managerial reference).

I'm sorry this happened, and I promise you're able to piece of work information technology out!

Social club Alison Green's book Ask a Manager: Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work hither. Got a question for her? E-mail askaboss@nymag.com. Her communication column appears here every Tuesday.

'My Job Offering Was Rescinded — Afterwards I'd Given Notice'