Last fall, Crystal Stafstrom, 24, thought she could breathe a sigh of relief when she was offered a job on the retail analysis side of a consumer packaged goods company.
She was given specifics on the terms of employment and told there were some last-minute details to be ironed out before they would send the official offer.
A few weeks later, the company announced an indefinite hiring freeze. Stafstrom’s position was gone.
“I got a phone call from a guy I’d interviewed with twice and he apologized profusely,” she said. “He asked if I was still interested after everything that happened and I said yes. I haven’t heard from him again.”
With a faltering economy, even those with job offers may not be in the clear. Declining sales, budget restraints and company reorganizations are forcing some businesses to revoke offers, leaving job seekers floundering.
There are ways for you to protect and prepare yourself in case a job offer is revoked.
The No. 1 thing to do, according to Mark Petersen, director of the MBA/Graduate Business Career Services at Iowa State University, is to research the company beforehand.
“If the (job seeker) does learn of struggles or hear of some division closing offices, you certainly should be asking questions,” he said.
Wesley Thorne, assistant director for business at Northwestern University Career Services in Evanston, Ill., recommends building technical skills to set yourself apart from other candidates. He says employers want expertise in specialties like a computer software language or a special program in addition to traditional skills like communication and critical thinking.
“If a company has to eliminate a position because of the economy, they may not have to eliminate everyone,” Thorne said. “If they offer to hire three people and then can’t take two of them, they have a decision to make. I think one of the things to do is to think about taking an accounting, finance or IT course – something that will give them some skills or knowledge to further help them stand out from others.”
But if you do find yourself losing an offer, there are steps you can take to rebuild your search. First, try not to become overly frustrated or take the rescinded offer personally.
“The people I had spoken with were very excited to get me into the company,” Stafstrom said. “But remember that the people making cutback decisions don’t know your name and probably have never heard of you. It’s nothing personal.”
So as not to let frustration keep you from moving forward, Thorne recommends telling former and current coworkers, family and friends about the news. Often they are more apt to refer or advocate for someone who had an offer rescinded than for someone just looking for a job. Also, stay in touch with the company rescinding the position in case they are able to hire again in the future. Finally, contact employers for which you previously interviewed or received offers and ask to reenter their job pool. Brainstorming another list of companies who do similar things or are in the same industry can also jump-start a search.
“If someone is very enthusiastic about a certain company, it’s fine to say he would like to be kept in mind,” Peterson said. “Oftentimes there also might be a similar position in a different unit, so a person could be redirected into one of those. And if a person wants to move to a different company altogether, they can call every company they interviewed with and resurrect those contacts.”
Above all, remember that a revoked job offer almost never reflects poorly on a candidate. “In some cases a candidate whose position gets rescinded might even look extra solid for Company B because they were good enough for Company A,” Peterson said.
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