My job of 6 years was made redundant back in October last year. I took a few months off to care for a family member and started applying in January. I managed to land two final round interviews scheduled within a week of each other. At the time I wanted the job at Company B more than Company A because the commute was better, it was a bigger company and the overall package (better salary & benefits).
I had the final interview with Company A first and they verbally offered me the job on the condition that I cancel my final round interview with company B - in hindsight I wish I hadn’t told them when they asked, I was just being honest.
I told the recruitment agency I needed to think it over because of the reasons mentioned above. The agent asked if I would accept if they matched the salary at the other Company. After careful consideration I said yes but would need the offer in writing before cancelling my other interview.
Later that day I received a hostile call directly from Company A’s HR recruiter saying that they would not increase the salary and that I was lucky to be offered a Job as I’d been redundant & unemployed for 5 months I should be grateful to get a job offer. She said it was unprofessional of me to ask for a higher salary than what I was submitted for. I was shocked but I didn’t want to make things worse and explained that it wasn’t all about the money. She demanded an answer so I accepted it in a panic and asked for it in writing even though I felt this was already a red flag, I felt like I was being bullied into accepting the role. Has anyone else experienced anything similar before?
I told the recruitment agent that I was shocked & concerned about the way their HR spoke to me. He said he would discuss it with them and of course the HR recruiter denied ever saying what she said. This was sorted eventually, so I thought. They demanded me again to cancel my other interview which I agreed to providing they send me the offer in writing which they promised they would do. I naively believed them and cancelled the interview with Company B…something I regret to this day!
A few days later still no job offer in writing and then Company A emailed me and rescinded the job offer saying they didn’t think the role was right for me and that they tried to call me several times the day before. I was driving and at the hospital when they called me twice so couldn’t pick up which I tried to explain to them. They said that I was unresponsive, that salary was obviously an issue for me and that they were concerned. I tried to call and email them back but they ignored me. To this day I still don’t understand what I did wrong, I thought salary negotiations are allowed during the interview/job offer process?
Then Covid happened. I’m still jobless and it’s been hard so feeling rather desperate now. The job market is bad out there and so many people are unemployed too. I saw another job posted by Company A earlier this week, part of me came close to applying for it because there are no jobs out there. Do you think I’m mad and would you do it? Anyone from HR who can advise if they've employed anyone they've cancelled a job offer before? I know I'm probably just wasting my time and I wouldn’t normally think about doing something like this but these are crazy times we live in. I clearly need help 