Reneging on job offer - both ways

Know of at least two guys who accepted top gigs at major-market papers who changed minds. One accepted on a Thursday, paper printed a small story about the hire on Friday, guy called and backed out on Monday. Other one, guy had traveled to the city already and was all set to work his first day, but drove to the SE's house instead and said, "I miss my old job/house/town, I gotta go back."

Know another guy who gave his notice, changed his mind about that while he still was on the job and the paper wouldn't let him stay.

 

Last choice I had was to stay in a shitty job in a wonderful town but I ended up taking a good job in a shitty town. I had misgivings about the new town and gig from the moment I accepted and my feelings haven't changed, though the job is going well. I should have turned it down to stay in the good town but I was concerned about my abilities to stay in the biz (go figure) given such news travels quickly.

By the way, guy who hired me left the biz three weeks after I hired on. Should have followed my gut.

 

Is that some sort of record for losing your "angel"? I've seen it all the time in this business, that you're a star to the person who hired you, but once a new boss comes in, anyone he or she inherited suddenly is considered average (or worse) and only those people the new boos gets to hire are considered stars. Having that happen just three weeks into a new job is rough.

 

I started at my current shop in May of '06. When I started, there were two reporters there. One was there for about eight months or so. The other was hired about two months before I got there.

The one who was hired two months before I got there is still there. I don't know what her feelings were when my predecessor left, but when I was planning to leave, she was talking about being "traumatized" by my departure. Then again, I never really left.

That's why I don't buy into the whole idea of walking into a place and automatically cleaning house. The people who are already there may not be "your guys," but they could become your guys. In my case, one or two people did just that.

 

Call Billy Donovan to see what he has to say about this.

 

I pulled an offer off the table once. Interviewed someone for a writing job and offered them $500 a week, which for our market and that time (about 10 years ago) was decent money. Told the candidate from Day 1 that the budget only allowed me to go to $500. A day after making the offer, the guy counters with $600 a week.

I told him to get lost -- he pissed me off by countering completely out of my budget (and knowing it). Then he says he'll accept the $500, but I told him it wasn't on the table any more.

Maybe that proves I'm an asshole, but I never lowball salary and always tell candidates where they'd be financially if they worked for me. I give my best offer up front, always, and encourage them to ask staffers if it's true. If this guy would have come back with, say, $525, I would simply said, "Sorry, $500 is the limit, you know that." For him to come back at $600 tells me that he didn't listen to a damned thing I said during the interview and he'll be huge pain in the ass.

 

I had a guy mention that as a positive in the late 1980s. I was there for interviews over two days for a slot position. Second day, the SE, his deputy and I go to lunch. SE brings up money, asks what I want. He says, "That's a bit high." But I don't play games, either, it's what I wanted, not a negotiation ploy. He says, "Why don't you ride back to the office with (the deputy), I have something I need to do." We get in the car. The deputy was a bit of a legend in the business at the time, not always for good things. Anyway, he's driving like a maniac, his sports car literally bouncing up and down the hilly streets, scaring the crap out of me. He says, "Kid, don't be such a fucking asshole about the money! Look at the big picture! With my track record I could be gone in a month or two and you could have my fucking job!" They didn't make an offer. And yes, he was gone inside two months.

 

How does he know you're completely upfront?

Rule number one of any kind of business negotiations (and this includes salary): Never start with your highest offer. I don't blame him for making a counter-offer. Then again, if you told him your offer was take it or leave it, I might have left it if I were him.

 

Never mind the "angel." The devil in my life got shit-canned 11 days after he went to HR and started making his case for firing me. Paperwork was in progress (I found this out well after the fact, BTW) when the boss was suddenly put on waivers. A transgression at his previous job finally came back to bite him in the ass. His going-away bash was held from 5:05 to 5:10 p.m. in a phone booth.

 

That's complete crap. The guy owes it to himself to ask for more. That's how these things are supposed to be done. He has no way to know if you're a straight shooter who looks out for his employees or a bullshit artist looking to save money.

 

You didn't trust him to not become a pain in your ass. We should he have trusted you to put the final and absolute offer on the table from the outset?

 

I think the story means you don't know the interview game. Don't bring up money until you make an offer. And don't say a guy is an ass for trying to negotiate. You just proved you were the bigger ass for putting up a stink about a guy asking for more money.