How Should HR Handle Candidates Backing Out of Job Offers? Let's Discuss Strategies and Solutions

Morning all!

Sullying of job offers is one of the foremost issues that companies face these days. You have senior as well as junior prospective employees dishonoring their contracts. By accepting an offer, a candidate makes a promise, and withdrawing from it amounts to a breach of contract. Moreover, the state of affairs is laden with moral and realistic impasse.

It is with the above in the backdrop, I have attached a sample strongly-worded letter to the consultant who provided me with one such candidate. The tone and the tenor of the letter will suggest to you that the employer/HR can take real harsh measures to address such candidates.

I request all learned members to share your views on the subject with me, please.

Wishing you a splendid weekend ahead!

Regards, Sandeep 9818218317

Dear VP HR Sandeep,

I am thinking of writing a letter to the companies who call the candidates for interviews and inform them after the interview is over that, "WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU." However, they never do get back, so in my case, they have literally wasted the candidate's time and enthusiasm by not informing him of the result. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with a candidate receiving multiple offers from companies and choosing one.

Why does the company invite candidates for interviews? To have a variety, right? So, the same right lies with the employee as well, right? To choose from a variety of companies.

An offer letter is just security for the candidate, indicating that a job has been offered. It is always mentioned in the offer letter that if you fail to join on or before dd.mm.yyyy, this offer stands invalid, a sort of clause.

When it comes to matters between the employer and employee, why are you holding the consultant responsible? A consultant is only responsible for consulting. I hope you understand the meaning of consultant; they are facilitators, and their only job is to ensure that the company receives resumes. They should not be involved in discussions or negotiations.

The consultant should inform you that for your requirement, we have this resume that matches your needs and assist in interview coordination. They should never handle the negotiation part to a third party like a consultant. It may sometimes prove advantageous, but sometimes harmful.

Thank you.

Hi HR for HR!

I feel we should not compare candidates not honoring the offer letter with organizations not giving feedback or not responding after an interview.

I agree with the fact that organizations look for more than 4-5 candidates for one position and select the best possible from them. In the process, candidates have to 'invest' some of their time and energy (nowadays traveling expenses are borne by the organizations). As a matter of fact, only one candidate gets the offer, with others either waiting for a response or understanding the message and moving on.

But when a candidate interacts with an organization 2-3 times and agrees to a joining date, salary package, and eventually accepts the offer letter, the organization, which has also invested time, energy, and money into the interviewing process, expects positive outcomes - the employee joining and delivering the results.

As organizations look for more than one candidate, candidates also send their applications to more than one prospective employer.

How about we compare candidates dishonoring the offer letter (to which they have agreed upon after 2-3 interactions) with the organization dishonoring the offer by informing the candidate on the stipulated date that they have decided to offer the job to someone else and not them, so please treat the offer as canceled.

Candidates have the right to select the job of their preference, but at the same time, they should be responsible for not making a commitment without proper evaluation. They should accept the offer only after making up their minds. The issue is not about candidates not accepting the offer, but candidates dishonoring the offer. Many times it has been observed that candidates do not inform about their decision not to join. The organization comes to know on the joining date that the candidate has dishonored the acceptance of the offer letter.

To a great extent, consultants are also to be blamed for this, which is a separate issue.

- Hiten

Somewhat agree with Hiten.

It depends on how the company, consultant, and the employee are linked and whether there are proper or clear-cut instructions between the three.

Reasons why employees accept offers and reject them:

1. Need for a better job and getting more than the current offer, the most common.

2. After receiving an offer, a candidate conducts extensive research on the company and its working culture. During this process, if they receive negative feedback from former employees, friends, or relatives, they may choose not to accept the offer.

3. They may accept the offer because during the interview, they feel compelled to agree or nod their head to everything, even if they do not actually agree with it.

4. Many are advised to attend interviews and, if selected, not accept the offer. This is often for newbies to gain experience with interviews, to prepare for future interviews as they approach their final semester, or to assess their standing by participating in interviews and evaluating their credibility.

These are the major reasons stated. Therefore, the consultant may not necessarily be held responsible for all the above reasons. 😉

True!

These are current realities. In point no. 2, you have mentioned the role of consultants is very important. If consultants do justice to their roles, point no. 2 would get eliminated (well, almost). The best we can do is to practice good moral practices ourselves and compliment and appreciate good moral values.

As such, demand-supply mismatch is a 'Macro level problem of Manpower planning' - My views. May share your views.

- Hiten