Rescinded Offers: What To Do Between Job Offer Acceptance & Your Start Date

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

You Have A Job Offer!

Finally having a job offer after your post-layoff job search is a call for celebration. Now, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start to build your new post-career transition normal. While you may want to shout from the rooftops that you've finally landed and start celebrating, I suggest you play it cool for a couple more weeks.

​In most cases, accepting a job offer will lead to you starting that job just as planned. On rare occasion, something happens and that job offer falls through. Just in case, I suggest taking a few interim steps between the time you accept your job offer and the day you start your new role.

...And Now You Don't

So what makes a job offer evaporate? Oftentimes, this happens because of a substantial change to the hiring organization. For example, I have a colleague who accepted a job offer in early March of 2020, and then gave his notice at his current role. After the pandemic hit, his job offer was rescinded due to changing business conditions. In other cases, a rescinded offer may result from a leader leaving an organization, layoffs within the company, a decision not to fill a role, or the organization choosing to hire someone else. 

In most cases, accepted job offers result in companies adding new workers to their payroll. Although it is not a common occurrence, having a job offer rescinded is a huge setback.

My Rescinded Job Offer Experience

A few months into my job search, I was overjoyed when I received an offer for a Learning and Development Manager position. The hiring process had been all over the place (not uncommon for a startup), but now it was a done deal. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing my unemployment would end in two short weeks.

I made a "hooray I got a job--more details later" post on LinkedIn to celebrate.

A couple of days before my planned first workday, I got a call from the recruiter saying that my start date would be delayed. A few days later, I talked with the hiring manager, who told me the company was holding off on my start date until "the numbers came in" from their first quarter, and explained that this role was originally slated to start in Quarter 2. I asked her point-blank if this role was really going to happen. She assured me that it was not about if I would start, but when I would start, which would be within two months at the latest. She also committed to sharing regular updates. I left that conversation convinced that we were on track.

Two weeks after the date formerly known as my start date, I reached out to the hiring manager and recruiter for progress updates. A few days later, I received an email from the hiring manager with more assurances that I was the right person for the job and no new start date.

A week or so later, I got the call from the recruiter saying that a start date would not be coming. Ever. The company was going in a different direction—one that did not involve me. Even during this conversation, the recruiter assured me that I was still the hiring manager’s first choice—even though the role was now officially off the table. That was a hollow consolation prize.

The worst part was that I had just wasted two months of my life waiting and had no paycheck to show for it.

A New Plan

Remember, in most cases, accepting a job will lead to you starting to work for that company shortly thereafter. Although having a job offer rescinded is not a common occurance, it's helpful to think through your next steps as you navigate the time between offer acceptance and your start date.

Here are a few suggestions for your consideration:
​

• Rethink your standard operating procedure for what to do when you receive a job offer. I suggest keeping your social media accounts in job-searching mode until you start your new role. During that time, especially an extended wait, continue to talk to other companies, apply for additional positions, and interview. Then, after you work at least a day and as long as a week at your new job, update your LinkedIn and announce your new role.  ​
• When accepting a job, consider your next steps if the offer falls through. The act of thinking through that possibility will help ease your anxiety.  
• When the conditions of the job offer change, reassess. When changes to your start date or any aspect of the job offer become apparent, evaluate that information alongside other data you have about the role and projected start date. Make your decisions accordingly.  
• If your job offer is rescinded, take time to feel your feelings before moving forward. If you don’t take a moment and process your emotions, they will come out sideways at just the wrong time. Take time for self-care.​ ​
• Plot, scheme, and relaunch your search. If you find yourself in a position where you have announced your new role and the offer is rescinded, formally restart your job search. Begin with a new LinkedIn announcement stating that the position you previously accepted is no longer in play and ask for assistance finding a new role. Then, start doing those right things again.

Learn More

• The Layoff Lady: Job Search Insights By The Numbers After Layoff #7
• The Layoff Lady's Ultimate Guide To Answering The Question, "I Just Got Laid Off--Now What Do I Do?"​
• The Layoff Lady Book: Seven Lessons From Seven Layoffs: A Guide​