I was first interviewed by Chris, the MD, on the 25th September. Following this, we had four more meetings (one presentation, and the rest general chit chat). They all went well, and he offered me a job on 6th November, with the promise that the contract would be ready by December. December came and it was delayed to January, and then February. I kept chasing and was finally sent my offer letter on 11th March (interestingly, this only came through when I mentioned I was interviewing elsewhere as I hadn't heard anything).
I signed the contract on 16th March, with a start date of 1st May. So I handed in my notice at my current role, with the understanding I had a legally binding contract.
Chris emailed me out of the blue on 8th April saying that he was revoking the contract because "unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, the agency client base and revenue has been significantly impacted by the worsening economic outlook". My final day of work at my current company was on 11th April, so this was a huge shock.
When I finally managed to get him on a call and question how the situation came about — given that he had offered me a job just a month before — he said that at this point in time they weren't able to forecast business even six weeks in the future. When I asked if he would honour the notice period of my contract with notice pay (one month) and reliance losses, he told me that he wasn’t in a financial situation to do that, and that legally he didn't have to either. Whether the legalities of this is true or not, I think it’s pretty poor for a business that describes themself as ethical to leave a young person hanging out to dry like that. He did not even sound remotely sympathetic of my situation. I left the call feeling really upset and hugely anxious about what I was going to do for income. However I did flag with him that I would be getting legal advice as I had a signed contract.
Three days after this, Chris asked me for a call. He said that having thought about it, he actually wanted to re-offer me the job. He said he had reviewed his situation and was actually in fact in a financial situation to hire me. I was shocked to say the least, and asked to have some time to think about it.
The following week, I said to Chris I would accept the offer if he could extend the probation period notice to one month rather than one week (as I was now in urgent need of a new job). Given the unpredictability of his actions, I felt that I needed more than a week’s notice in case he fired me and I needed to secure a new job. I don’t think this is unreasonable in the slightest.
Chris said he would think about it, and came back to me the following week. He said he couldn’t do that, because he didn’t want to “set a precedent for changing contracts” (the irony was clearly lost on him!).
Having some time to reflect, I actually think Chris never re-offered me the job. He knew I wouldn’t accept given the heightened risk / unpredictability associated with the role, and so this was his way of getting out of the contract without me taking legal actions — as he created a situation where I rejected the contract, not him.
After this whole horrible situation was over, I have spoken to multiple recruiters who said that this kind of behaviour from Chris didn’t surprise them in the slightest. He is renowned in the industry for being sneaky and dishonest, and has not paid recruiter fees on several occasions.
Obviously far from ideal, as I am now out of a job and searching for new opportunities because of Chris’ irresponsibility, I actually think it was a bullet dodged. I would never want to work for someone who treats people the way he did.
