Initial job offer (probation) changed and is different in the contract? I have declined other job offers. Now they have changed my starting date too

Question

Here's my situation: I have had several successful interviews and gotten 3 offers from different companies, and decided to accept an offer from one of them.

The thing is this, they had initially offered me a salary slightly lower than my "bid", with a probation of 3 months and a review to my desired salary after that. It was written in email. I am alright with this arrangement as it was still pretty reasonable.

But after accepting the offer and declining other offers, when I was handed the Employment Contract, and it states that the probationary period is 6 months. I highlighted this to my interviewer, but she said that after checking with her colleagues, she "found out" that 6 months is a standard period in their company, and would do a salary review according to my performance after that.

How should I go about doing this? Should I push back, and if so, how should I go about doing it? I wanted to ask for her to stick to the initial 3 months as to what was agreed.

Do you guys think it's reasonable?

*UPDATE:

I have requested for them to adjust the probationary period as to what was first communicated (i.e. 3 months) as that was part of my consideration in accepting their offer amongst others. They stood firm by 6 months, and now also changed my starting date to January (due to internal shuffling and again, she just found out about it), when I was supposed to start next week (Start of December). She said that it might be too long for me and would completely understand if I chose to withdraw my application.

For me, I'm not too excited about the work I'll be doing there but the pay is fairly reasonable. And there will always be this doubt if I would be able to find other jobs. Also one important thing to note is that I have applied for PR overseas and am waiting for it to be approved, so I will be staying here for another 1 year tops if it gets approved, so there is a pressure of time—I'm trying to get relevant experience and save up as much as I can before immigrating.

All these errors aside, I have actually worked with them as part of my freelance gig and thought they were nice people. So I'm a little confused as to how I should go about doing this.

Would it be acceptable for me to accept their offer for now, and start looking for other jobs? I'm not sure if that is considered a good thing to do. Or should I decline it right now?

Answer 1

It's entirely reasonable as it was a factor in your choosing the position and you have other options. At this point it is still a negotiation, nothing is set in stone yet.

It's really a trade off between how much you want the job and how hard you want to negotiate, but it's not off to a good start when they change things at the last minute. If I had other options I'd respectfully decline. They should have been aware of company policy from the start, so this is rubbish.

Answer 2

Take this experience as a lesson and learn from it.

You should not quit your job or in your case decline a job offer unless you have already accepted and signed a written offer.

I would argue against pushing back as this company has at best demonstrated that they are incompetent and at worst demonstrated that they are deceptive.

Walk away and pursue your other opportunities.

Answer 3

This is a bad sign, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad company, at least in the parts you'll be working in. (Are you talking to HR here, or a hiring manager?) If you really want to work for that company, it's reasonable to negotiate.

At this point, I'd feel a little dubious about any promised review. Since the offered salary is only slightly below what you wanted, you could offer to accept a six-month probation period at a slightly higher salary. If they were willing to pay you your desired salary after a few months, they would probably be willing to pay it to you for the extra months. If they're not willing to give you a concession in exchange for a longer probationary period than originally stated, I'd take that as a bad sign also, since it implies that your interviewer doesn't even recognize the change as bad for you.

This is the most negotiating power you will ever have with the company. They've decided to hire you, and that sort of decision normally has a certain psychological momentum.

Answer 4

Would it be acceptable for me to accept their offer for now, and start looking for other jobs?

Normally this is frowned upon, but given the circumstances I think it's fair game. Theoretically, if you sign the contract, and end up not joining without giving enough notice, you could be sued for damage (different countries have different rules about this, so you have to check the local law). However, I've never heard somebody actually being sued for this.

But most importantly: YOU CAN GO BACK TO THE OTHER OFFERS! Go send an email to your second preference that you declined. In most cases, they wouldn't have found a better candidate yet. If you explain what happened, most hiring managers will be thrilled to offer you again. Just try not to sound disgruntled.

Answer 5

Walk away now!

You negotiated with the company, and they choose not to honor the terms that were agreed on. The company has back-tracked on it's promise, and presented a different contract that what was agreed on.

It's completely ok to push back and hold the company to the original negotiated deal, but I doubt they will honor it. If the company is already lying to you before your first day, imagine what they will do once you're on the payroll!

In the future, do not decline job offers until you've read the employment contract.

Immediately call the other companies and see if their offers are valid

Answer 6

I think this may be an honest mistake.

Anyway, after 3 months and you are still there, does your behaviour change? So I guess not. Next 12 weeks will be a brieze

Answer 7

You call the interviewer and nicely state that she had offered, and you had accepted, a 3 month review plan and if they cannot honor that agreement then you cannot start work with them.

Then you contact one or more of the prior companies that had given you an offer and accept one of those and forget this place.