Is It Fair to Cancel a Job Offer After a Candidate Has Resigned? How Would You Handle This?

Here is a query regarding a situation that arose recently.

A Pvt. Ltd. company in Delhi/NCR selected a candidate for a particular opening in its recruitment department and issued her the 'Letter Of Intent'. The candidate, after receiving the Letter of Intent, also submitted her resignation and served the notice to her current employer. Now, this company, which offered the LOI, has sent her an email stating that they regret to inform her that they are canceling her appointment due to the results of the reference check.

Is This a Right Practice?

She (the Candidate) has already served the notice period after receiving the LOI. Now, her appointment in the new company is canceled. She has lost her previous job and will not be getting the job in the new company either.

Even if the reference check did not meet expectations regarding her performance, etc., the new company had the option of a Probation Period during which necessary actions could have been taken.

Please ponder and suggest something for her.

Best Regards,
Umesh

A Letter of Intent is a temporary document that demonstrates a willingness to do business. It doesn't authorize work but rather shows that there is the potential for work. In this case, serving notice to the LOI is like the employer has not provided any confirmation to the employee to work; in such a case, the notice period is applicable. During the period specified in the LOI, the employer can proceed with reference checks and other formalities and also has the right to terminate the employee (if any) if inaptitude is found.

Probation Period

The probation period is given after appointing the employee in the organization. The purpose is to evaluate the employee's performance. During the probation period, you will be required to achieve certain goals in order to become permanent. The benefits would be the same as those of a permanent employee. I suggest she read what she has been offered and act accordingly.

Regards,

Prima facie, I think the Pvt Ltd company you referred to has their recruitment processes all wrong—lacking foresight and concern for the 'other'.

Someone in HR at their end SHOULD have visualized such a scenario. On what basis can they expect a prospective employee to resign from the present job [serving the Notice Period comes later]?

Many companies now release the Offer [or LoI in this case] ONLY AFTER the Background Check (BC) is done successfully. That takes care of the situation at both ends.

Some companies release the Offer before the BC but clearly tell the candidate that it can be withdrawn if the BC comes in negatively.

Present Case Analysis

Moving to the present case, does the LoI have anything mentioned that the LoI will be cancelled in the case of a negative BC?

Also, did the HR mention what they found out in the report of the reference check that forced them to cancel the LoI—if not in writing, at least verbally? [Here I am presuming that what they mentioned is 'true' and didn't 'use' this point to cancel the LoI for extraneous causes—hope you get what I mean].

Frankly, whatever the replies to the queries above, I think this candidate also has to bear a part of the flak—she should have taken better care to realize the consequences IF the BC report is negative.

At this point in time, the only option she has is to look out for another job ASAP.

Analyzing the Negative BC Report

Also, it would serve her better if she analyzes the reason(s) WHY the BC Report is negative—what happened here COULD get repeated later AND land her into a BIGGER soup, IF the negative aspects that came out in the report are serious.

Unless these details are known, I am not sure if anything can be suggested regarding this aspect.

Regarding your point about the Probation Period, Sharmila Das has covered the right perspective about this.

Regards,
TS

Thank you for providing your feedback. The LOI does not have anything written that it can be canceled if the BC report is negative. It actually carries the future joining date. The HR in the cancellation mail did not mention the point as to what feedback was provided during the reference check.

The candidate, after receiving the cancellation mail, spoke to the HR of the new company and inquired about the situation. The HR told her that one of the candidate's colleagues had given such feedback. The reference check was done verbally with that colleague of hers.

How funny it is to know that the reference check is done with a colleague and not with any Senior/TL/Manager. And of course, this 'Particular Reference' for the reference check was not provided by the candidate.

Now there can be so many things like:

- The colleague might not be comfortable working with this candidate.
- The colleague might have some personal issues with this girl, etc.

My point regarding the 'probation period' was just to be a little caring about the career of this girl. As this Pvt. Ltd. Company had already sent the LOI and there were only 3 days remaining in joining, they could have gone for a proper BC. In case the candidate had already served the notice period, then being a little generous, they could have taken her and observed, advised, and supported her to improve her performance.

What do you suggest now?

Regards,
Umesh

Let's talk about practicality now. Since this girl has brazened out the situation, she should now take a little care in providing references from the right people.

To my understanding, the background check done with some colleague is a conjecture to me. However, from that perspective, the private limited company has not done their part aptly.

Now, let the lady know that she has done her job blamelessly, and she deserves to position herself in a good company.

What I mentioned earlier regarding the available options still stands: "look out for another job ASAP."

There's also another option—whether it's practical or not is for your friend to judge: rejoin the earlier company.

It looks like this company you refer to has a lot of work to do if they want to streamline their HR/Recruitment practices. But again, it's for 'them' to figure out.

Regards,
TS