New job but need to withdraw... WWYD?

[sheseeseashells]

Just looking for some advice tbh.
I'm due to start a new job in a couple of weeks. The recruitment process and all the background checks have taken so long. It's almost 3 months since I accepted the job. Haven't received or signed the contract yet - they told me I'll get it to sign on the first day of employment (they said that's the law).
Meanwhile, I've just been offered an internal transfer with my current employer. This internal transfer will be a great opportunity, more money and is very close to home for me.
How do I tell the other employer (the one who offered me the external job) that I'll no longer be taking up that job? They paid for my DBS check and have put a lot of resource into the process of recruiting me, only for me to pull out at the last minute... Feeling terrible and rather guilty about it.

You may be asked to cover cost of dbs but 3 month recrprpcrss and still no contract is a piss take.

Just email them and explain that an alternative position come up that you will be accepting.

It's a bit awkward but you're not committed yet. Send an email with apologies as soon as possible.

Try not to worry about letting them down. You’re not committed (no contract) and something else came up.

Maybe this will encourage them next time to commit to new recruits sooner.
I have always signed employment contracts in advance of starting works. So I don’t believe their line about “it’s the law”. If you don’t see the contract, how would you know with certainty that you’re happy to hand in your notice and begin working for them?!

I've done this before . It doesn't feel great but they had to accept and I was so relieved when I had told them . Interestingly they are always advertising the post so it clearly wasn't a good one

A DBS costs about £65 so not the end of the world.

If you're going to withdraw do it quickly, be factual but polite eg during the course of the on boarding process an alternative offer has been made" so you don't burn your bridges.

One thing, as you're quite a long way down the line be prepared for them to make a counter offer and consider what you'd do then.

Posters that say you have no contract are wrong. The contract was formed when they offered and you accepted the role. A piece of paper (which actually they do only need to provide on day one) is evidence of a contract, but it is not “the” contract.

That said, people pull out of jobs all the time, it is unfortunate for somebody but it is one of those things. I would merely send your apologies and I doubt anything further will happen.

Dear employer,

Due to a change in my circumstances, I need to withdraw from the job. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to work with you and look forward to trying again in the future,

Yours name

This happened to me. I tried to be a big girl and call to tell them in person but the person I needed wasn’t in so I was advised to email. I sent a long grovelling email and never got a reply 😬

Politely contact them and decline the offer, believe me you will regret it if you don’t. You owe them nothing, look after yourself.
You will never settle in the new job knowing your present employer was offering you a better job.
I went through a ridiculously long 12 week recruitment, many others during this time had pulled out and gone elsewhere. I regretted leaving my old job within a week and to this day wish I had pulled out like the others.
If they send you a bill for DBS , so be it , I left my new job after three weeks the DBS came out of the three weeks pay.
Is your new job NHS ? They usually take an eternity to recruit.
Don’t feel bad , as soon as you’ve done it, it’ll be one less stress and you can forget all about it, which will take ……five minutes! 😁

You just politely decline, this happens frequently in places where recruitment takes so long, other opportunities naturally arise, anywhere that takes that long knows it's a risk they are taking if they can't/won't fix it.

Civil service; I'm looking at you.

You do not have a contract with them, so email the external employer and inform them you will not be taking the job and give apologies.

They may ask for you to cover your DBS, but just do that and be done with it. Then go get your new terms for the contract of your internal transfer (if needed).

It's fine, just as before you signing on the dotted line they can withdraw the offer, you can also withdraw from accepting it. Just tell them and take the job you want to do more. Guessing due to the length of recruitment process and checks it's public sector, loads of people withdraw.

Don't feel bad, they're the ones who dragged their feet, you don't have to feel beholden to them if you got a better offer in the meantime.

Just be careful you may be burning a bridge you want to walk over in future. Having said that, your new offer sounds like it is better for you. You need to weight up the short term pros and cons and ultimately do whats right for you. Most employment contracts allow you to give a weeks notice in the first month and you haven't started yet, so although they may be disappointed/annoyed it just the way it works and they'll get over it soon enough.

*Should say short term and long term

Get your current employer’s offer in writing before you do anything else though!