Got job, offer removed then given back?

[ShreddedNerves122]

Few months I got a job starting after Xmas. Looking forward to it, no conditions attached etc etc but contract not yet signed. Have not applied for any other jobs.

Today got a call saying it was being taken away as there is a new ban on recruitment? Then got informed a few hours later that I had it again!

Don't understand! Is it a test? Can they do it again? Not sure whether to apply for a couple of other roles and see how I get on!

Sorry that should say few months ago

If it was offered a few months ago, why is the contract not yet signed?

If you don't have anything in writing, there's not a lot you can do, but I think you need to clarify whether or not you have an offer and when you're starting!

I'd be chasing the contract asap and not giving in notice anywhere else till it was signed and sealed.

The ban on recruitment may have come in after they verbally offered you the job - maybe the person rescinding it didn't realise you had accepted the offer if no contract is now on file.

Were they generally good during the recruitment process or does this look like one more in a trail of issues?

I definitely definitely have an offer but unfortunately can't sign contract yet as they need to run several pre-employment checks before starting.

Really frustrating though!

They were v professional during the recruitment process horny

I would be very careful about accepting it. Recruitment freezes usually mean that a company is financially unstable and can end up resulting in redundancies, which are never good news for new staff.

Recruitment bans happen as standard in some of the large banks, always around this time of year, stopping people from hiring until January. Probably happens in other industries as well - it's to ensure the firms hit budget targets. It sounds like a blanket ban was put in place and you were notified (along with anyone else the agent was dealing with), then whoever is specifically hiring you in that firm has gone down the route of getting a dispensation specifically for you so that you can still join (probably because you have the offer).

The same happened to me a last year - corporate job, swanky offices etc. I was offered the job on a Thursday, and they rang on the following Monday to say there was now a ban on recruitment. They eventually range me almost 3 months later to offer me the job again. Knobbers! I would carry on applying for other vacancies. Have they given you any idea about the time-line?

booyaka it's a bit of a strange one, it's not a recruitment freeze per se. More like that that specific area of the company are putting a ban on people of my level (quite junior) entering?

Sorry not to go into more detail, don't want to out self.

Afaik they are a v successful company (top 100) and v rarely make redundancies.

Just feel a teeny bit shaken!

Get the contract OP.

Otherwise look for other stuff. They sound really bad.

Sounds like they were told about a recruitment freeze, and either a) it doesn't apply to offers already made and they assumed it did, and then found out otherwise, or b) it does apply to offers made, but they then managed to make a case for an exception.

Thanks everyone, yeah it's a bank/corporate-type job. Just not sure why they informed me it had gone only to give it back again! But either way I'm pleased but sitting tight. No official confirmation until end of January though I think (I'm starting mid Feb!)

Verbal contracts are legally binding. Eg. in teaching it happens often: they offer you the job by phone on the same day of the interview, you have to accept or decline on the spot and you are legally bound by your word (and so is the school). The actual physical contract you might not even see until you start, and this might mean that you had the interview in May but will only start in September. This said, I would as for a confirmation of the offer via email.