You can listen to a professional narration of this article below: Imagine withdrawing a job offer two days after it was made. This is exactly what we did. In June 2023 IMA was hiring for an Operations Associate position, and after a lengthy hiring process, we offered the position to Sam (not his real name). However, two days later, we had to withdraw the offer. This is not our usual behavior, so I wanted to write an explanation to Sam.
Wow - great advice! I love that you're discussing what you're reading as well. I'm always looking for good books to read so I'll be checking back frequently. Thanks for sharing all this.
As a 26-year veteran of many aspects of Wall St., I've followed your blog like a bird dog and quoted you weekly. Now, as a certified transition expert/career coach, I'm thrilled that there's an echo in your last two posts validating my methods . How have these most fundamental skills fallen off the home/school/work radar?
That would be quite painful for me if a job offer was withdrawn. If I expected meticulous attention to detail as an employer, I wouldn't have let typos or poor writing advance. If I can't readily reach references, that's a deal breaker. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I agree that it was foolish to express a desire to become more marketable and to be late for an appointment. It doesn't sound like he was enthusiastic about working.
I enjoy reading you posts, and benefit from them. Thank you.
I really appreciate this article! I volunteer a my local alternative high school and teach two classes: Personal Finance and Careers. This will become required reading material for the Careers class.
While I agree with all the tips here I think you acted too hastily in rescinding Sam's offer. Think back to when you were Sam's age how you might approach the nuances of workplace etiquette. I feel like providing some feedback to Sam and seeing how he did after 2 or 3 weeks would be more reasonable.
From your letter, it sounds like Sam didn't really care about the job, or IMA. Unfortunately this attitude doesn't hit me as very uncommon among young 20-yr olds these days. They haven't experienced a labor market where every little detail matters in getting a job. They think they're amazing ("me" generation) and that the employers should be thankful for them even applying to their jobs. I was a first time job seeker just after the GFC, and I have a feeling things were very different back then.
I may be wrong, but your advice to Sam, to scrub his emails and resumes of typos, is just teaching him how to become more well-hidden on first dates. In my experience, attention to detail is a deeply ingrained trait. I doubt that it can be adopted as simply a matter of choice.
Jun 23, 2023·edited Jun 23, 2023Liked by Vitaliy Katsenelson
So why, exactly, was Sam offered the job in the first place? You should have checked references before making the offer. You saw his resumes/typos before making the offer. And unless Cyrus specifically said "call me back" I'm not sure why he expected a return call for a 'welcome to the company' message. Also, I really, really hope Sam did not already have a job and gave notice before you decided the pull the offer. And finally, a pet peeve for me, I do not want people arriving overly early for appts -- that just interrupts my day to be notified they are waiting and then my schedule it thrown off. No, I'm not required to meet with them early, but I'm going to have a hard time getting back into whatever I was working on knowing they are waiting. Be 10 mins. early at the most!
Excellent article. I enjoy your writing and have read you for years.
Spell check missed an error: you intended 'mask' but wrote 'musk'.
Wow - great advice! I love that you're discussing what you're reading as well. I'm always looking for good books to read so I'll be checking back frequently. Thanks for sharing all this.
As a 26-year veteran of many aspects of Wall St., I've followed your blog like a bird dog and quoted you weekly. Now, as a certified transition expert/career coach, I'm thrilled that there's an echo in your last two posts validating my methods . How have these most fundamental skills fallen off the home/school/work radar?
That would be quite painful for me if a job offer was withdrawn. If I expected meticulous attention to detail as an employer, I wouldn't have let typos or poor writing advance. If I can't readily reach references, that's a deal breaker. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I agree that it was foolish to express a desire to become more marketable and to be late for an appointment. It doesn't sound like he was enthusiastic about working.
I enjoy reading you posts, and benefit from them. Thank you.
Great post here from which many people (applicants and recruiters) can learn, a great reminder for some key aspects, thank you!
I really appreciate this article! I volunteer a my local alternative high school and teach two classes: Personal Finance and Careers. This will become required reading material for the Careers class.
While I agree with all the tips here I think you acted too hastily in rescinding Sam's offer. Think back to when you were Sam's age how you might approach the nuances of workplace etiquette. I feel like providing some feedback to Sam and seeing how he did after 2 or 3 weeks would be more reasonable.
From your letter, it sounds like Sam didn't really care about the job, or IMA. Unfortunately this attitude doesn't hit me as very uncommon among young 20-yr olds these days. They haven't experienced a labor market where every little detail matters in getting a job. They think they're amazing ("me" generation) and that the employers should be thankful for them even applying to their jobs. I was a first time job seeker just after the GFC, and I have a feeling things were very different back then.
I may be wrong, but your advice to Sam, to scrub his emails and resumes of typos, is just teaching him how to become more well-hidden on first dates. In my experience, attention to detail is a deeply ingrained trait. I doubt that it can be adopted as simply a matter of choice.
So why, exactly, was Sam offered the job in the first place? You should have checked references before making the offer. You saw his resumes/typos before making the offer. And unless Cyrus specifically said "call me back" I'm not sure why he expected a return call for a 'welcome to the company' message. Also, I really, really hope Sam did not already have a job and gave notice before you decided the pull the offer. And finally, a pet peeve for me, I do not want people arriving overly early for appts -- that just interrupts my day to be notified they are waiting and then my schedule it thrown off. No, I'm not required to meet with them early, but I'm going to have a hard time getting back into whatever I was working on knowing they are waiting. Be 10 mins. early at the most!
I also just don't understand why you offered him the job in the first place: most of these warning signs were present BEFORE you offered him the job?
Thank you for this posting. My younger self could have greatly benefitted from it.