Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

Being 'ghosted' by employer after job offer - please help!

106 replies

CarlyD156 · 07/06/2019 17:36

I would love some thoughts/advice. Last Fri (31 May) I was offered a job offer. It's a small organisation (no HR team) but the manager was very communicative, answering my questions on the emails. By Tues we had agreed a salary, which I negotiated to be a bit higher than the original offer.

I wanted to accept but felt like I needed to disclose things. 1 is that I already have leave booked for a 3 week honeymoon, some of which I'd have to take unpaid as I wouldn't accrue enough leave. The second is that I have a health condition that requires me to work from home one day a week. Of course, I could have waited til I had a contract to chat about this stuff but I didn't want anyone to feel 'tricked' and thought it'd be better to be totally upfront.

The problem is, since that email, they have ignored me! It's now end of Friday, so 3.5 days since I contacted them. I am getting really anxious and didn't want it hanging over me over the weekend, so I sent a friendly prompt this morning. But still nothing (it's now 5.30pm).

Has anyone experienced anything similar? What does it sound like has happened? And what would you do in my shoes?? I went through 3 interviews to get the role so I don't want to give up on it, but I also am getting slight red flags!

Thank you xxxx

OP posts:

itsonlyforevernotlongatall83 · 07/06/2019 17:46

Surely the fact you would need to work from home one day a week is something you should of disclosed and discussed during the interview process?

Kittykat93 · 07/06/2019 17:50

Yeah I think working from home one day a week is definitely something you should have brought up as soon as they offered you the job, before negotiating salary etc. I'd give them a call and speak with them.

PrincessMaryaBolkonskaya · 07/06/2019 18:00

Is it a job where working from home is ok?

hopeishere · 07/06/2019 18:05

The honeymoon thing is fine. We actually ask about booked leave at interview.

The having to work one day a week at home would be tricky. It might have been better discussed face to face.

PotteringAlong · 07/06/2019 18:07

Is it the kind of job where you can work at home?

flowery · 07/06/2019 18:07

Yes I think announcing after negotiating the salary up that you also need to work from home once a week might not have gone down brilliantly to be honest.

Hoppinggreen · 07/06/2019 18:09

Is working from home usual for this company?
If not then they might find a reason not to employ you. The honeymoon thing is fair enough but working from home 1 day every week is a bit of a piss take

TheInvestigator · 07/06/2019 18:10

Asking for more money and then waiting for them to agree before you drop the bomb that you need to work from home one day a week was a bad move. Negotiating salary is fine; but needing to work from home should have been discussed during the interview process. It's really cheeky to want more money and then tell them that you will work from home; you didn't even ask. You just told them you will need too. If it's a disability issue then they need to make adjustments but that needs to be discussed; you can't demand work from home.

sheshootssheimplores · 07/06/2019 18:21

I would say the silence is not a good sign OP. I would prepare yourself for them to retract the job offer on the basis of the needing to work from home one day a week. I suspect they didn’t want to go as high as they did salary wise and your sudden disclosure later has probably tipped the balance.

mumofwantwomany · 07/06/2019 18:22

Why didn't you say anything at the interview?

Shinyletsbebadguys · 07/06/2019 18:25

I'm afraid I'm with other PP in my case by suddenly announcing you have to work a day at home would have made me feel quite distrustful if it's a job that would be impacted by that.

I wpuld have felt you should have been upfront at the interview.

FriarTuck · 07/06/2019 18:27

Agree with others that you should have mentioned the WFH at interview, particularly as you've negotiated the salary upwards. I'm guessing they've gone back to their second choice and are waiting to see what happens with them first.

RomanyQueen · 07/06/2019 18:28

See if it's still advertised on monday.

PennyMordauntsLadyBrain · 07/06/2019 18:29

They’re potentially getting their facts straight from a employment lawyer/hr consultant regarding withdrawing the offer in light of your recent disclosure.

Negotiating a higher salary and then telling them that you’ll need to work from home without making it clear you’re open to any other reasonable adjustments that they can suggest probably hasn’t gone down well.

RustyNail · 07/06/2019 18:33

Three interviews and you didn't once mention the WFH thing? I wouldn't blame them if they retract their offer.

Hiphopopotamus · 07/06/2019 18:34

Honestly I think the way you went about that was in bad taste.

What is the health condition? I’m not asking to be nosy but it sounds strange that it’s a condition that means you have to work from home one day a week (But are fine the rest of the time)

Is working from home something that was discussed at interview as being a possibility?

DramaRamaLlama · 07/06/2019 18:40

I'm afraid I agree they're likely getting legal advice on the withdrawal of the offer.

For many companies, even if practicable, WFH is a no no culturally.

Bluntness100 · 07/06/2019 18:44

Is working from home ok for the role? I don't really understand what health condition means someone has to work from home one day a week?

I would strongly suspect they are considering retracting the offer. This really is something that should have been discussed at interview stage. The honeymoon is fine, it's irrelevant, but the working from home is a different barrel of fish and it would have been best to explain that limitation face to face, as they may not wish someone working from home.

Kittykat93 · 07/06/2019 18:45

I'm also really curious as to the medical condition which means you are fine to work 4 days in an office but have to work one day at home

flowery · 07/06/2019 18:51

I can’t believe you thought mentioning something like that after contract negotiations have finished counts as being “totally upfront”!

Honeybee85 · 07/06/2019 18:54

You should have mentioned the working from home for a day - demand during an earlier stage.
Not after negociating the salary. I have been a recruiter for over 10 years and would have been pissed if you did this to me. I would wonder what else might come up.

And if you deliberately had waited to tell me about it until after the job offer so you could accuse me of discriminating you because of your condition if I dared to withdrawl the offer after you dropped that bomb.

My advice to you is to give them a call on monday and simply ask if they have received your email. Dont ask if the offer is still on the table, this might off as weakness and insecure behaviour. If they decide to withdrawl the offer then let it have been a lesson learnt for next time.
Good luck OP.

LifeGoesOn01 · 07/06/2019 18:55

Its the WFH thats most likely the issue.

If no one else in the office can wfh thats it's probably going to cause issues with the staff already in place.

ImaginaryCat · 07/06/2019 18:56

Oh dear OP, I'm afraid if that happened to our company we'd be looking to withdraw. Working from home used to be de rigeur in our place, everyone did it 2/3 days a month. Then a complete dick took the piss, treated WFH days like annual leave. Unfortunately him being busted and getting fired coincided with a new HR director who hated people WFH, and used his case to ban it for everyone. We're still smarting!
So you can see why, against that background, our bosses wouldn't dare stoke the flames of ill feeling and jealousy towards a new person by hiring you into that environment.

ChicCroissant · 07/06/2019 18:58

As someone who has worked in HR, I wouldn't be too impressed with a candidate who communicated enough to negotiate a salary, and then dropped a demand to WFH one day a week afterwards if the job advert didn't say that WFH was a possibility. Have you declared the health condition at the application stage?

Nanna50 · 07/06/2019 18:58

I think they are probably taking advice or have dropped you. Why did you not mention your disability on application or interview? How does this mean you have to work at home one day every week?

How soon into the job role would you be taking 3 weeks out. If they are a small company how would that affect their productivity, deadlines, etc?

I think you misled your future employer and to negotiate a higher wage without full disclosure may cause me to question your integrity. I would be wondering whether you were a game player or what bombshell you would drop next.

I may even wonder if you were suitable for the role if you were so misguided to think it was ok to accept a job, negotiate more money and then add conditions

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread