Last couples of weeks, I have been busy interviewing candidates for Inspector-of-Works and Resident Engineers. One obvious fact is that there are not many non-bumi to choose from particularly those applying for the post of engineer. That is not surprising because very few of them are coming back these days. In fact, the other day at the Seri Bagawan Airport on my way to Shanghai, I met a young man who is a son of a church friend whom I knew since youth days. He told me he just graduated from a uni in Brisbane in electrical engineering. He told me at the airport that he was on his way back to Brisbane to look for a job there. The other Sunday after church, Yi Jeh also confirmed that he would be going to Singapore to work by May. In fact Sam has told me about this earlier already.
Well, back to my original subject of employing new staff members. Sadly, it turns out that I sort of have been "played out" by two candidates. One IOW whom I offered the job and who has confirmed in the interview that he would leave his company because there was no new job coming in. He accepted our offer and signed the acceptance in front of me. Two days later, he called to inform that he could not join us as his boss refused to let him go. He said that his company has a new project in Ranau and wanted to send him there. Of course with a pay rise as he revealed to me !
Then another engineer whom I was not very keen to take in, but he called almost everyday and sounded very keen to join. Finally, we offered the job to him and he signed the acceptance this Thursday morning. By the afternoon, he called back and informed me that he could not take the job as he has been offered another job. I was quite agitated and said to him, "Did you use our offer to bargain for a better deal?". Of course the answer was negative. But then the timing just made you believe that you have been "played out".
That's the hazard of employing people !
3 comments:
Money talks!
But talking about legal implications, I think once the applicant signs on the dotted line accepting the offer, it should be a done deal. Very dangerous because your company can pursue if you choose to.
Tsk tsk... it's quite common for people to play this game and use a job offer as a bargaining power for another job... but accepting an offer and then retracting it later is really going too far.
They had only signed acceptance letters and had not officially started work. Not sure how to prove the amount of damage we suffered if we go to the court ?
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