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False Job Advertisement?

Company name omitted because of reasons.

In May I had an interview with a bank for a part time vacancy. I was offered the job on the 16th May subject to successfully passing the Vetting checks and handed my notice in at my then current workplace ready for a 6th June start date that I had been advised.

As it got nearer to the 6th June I emailed their recruitment team on the 2nd June to check that everything was going well. I was advised that I had successfully completed the vetting procedures, and that the 6th June start date was full, but they would let me know when the next available start date would be as soon as they found out.

On the 9th June I received a phone call from the bank's recruitment team advising me that they had been told that they no longer required people for the part time role. I was very caught off guard at this news, and wasn’t really given much to go on apart from them saying that they would pass my CV around for other potential roles and that I wasn’t the only one affected. I then e-mailed them once I got home regarding the issue and still have had no help.

I am now currently unemployed desperately trying to seek work for an income. I feel like this is false advertisement entirely, as I have been told that I had a job secured only for it to be suddenly withdrawn as it is apparently no longer relevant. At every stage I was told that I had a job secured and then all of a sudden they simply don’t need people for the position. I have been advised by a friend who works there that they seemingly recruited too many people on purpose expecting people to leave, and the recruitment team themselves have advised that I am not the only one that this false advertisement has affected. It is entirely unfair to be advertising a job role, to the point where people are leaving their jobs and not seeking work elsewhere because they have a ‘guarantee’, only to be told they are no longer needed and left with no source of income for bills etc.

I still have all of my email correspondence and was just wanting to know if anyone has any ideas of where I stand. I didn't have a contract with them yet, so I'm aware that might make things difficult, and that this might just be a bad situation I can't do anything about but I would like some outside advice on the issue.

Comments

  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    I'm afraid that, at best, your only recourse would be to quantifiable loss - your notice period, if that is more than the statutory ( which is none in the first month).

    Is there no way you could go back to your old job?
  • I had been specifically looking for new work anyway due to my old job beginning to affect my mental health, so when this one came along I jumped on it. My old job have done a lot of recruitment in the department that I was in so they're full now, and plus I needed to get out of that environment for my own sake.

    The most frustrating part is just that for those few weeks I was neither in work nor looking for work due to this job offer, and now it's gone I'm a few weeks behind on the job search and just feel completely lost. It was an ideal professional role with great working times compared to what I have previously experienced but now I'm back to square one having to find anything that will take me just for the opportunity of an income.

    Thank you for your response.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    I'm sorry about that. I'm afraid this sort of thing happens more often than you would think. Is agency work an option, on a temporary basis? It could tide you over until the right job comes along. If you are lucky, it might lead to the right job.
  • tomtontom
    tomtontom Posts: 7,929 Forumite
    Is full time work an option in the shorter term? You could get a job on this basis and then (after you're trained and have shown yourself to be reliable) apply to vary your hours. The employer is not obliged to grant your request, but tend to be more open to this with existing staff than new starters.
  • Fierre
    Fierre Posts: 3 Newbie
    edited 18 June 2016 pm30 5:29PM
    Sangie - Yeah, I'm just going to have to look at whatever I can get for now. I'm genuinely not picky (I'm not in a position to be!) just need to find something for any sort of income until I can find something more stable. Just a bad situation in general.

    TomTonTom - I would happily take Full Time. I was just looking for ANYTHING to get out of what was my previous employer, and then this happened. My friend who works there Full Time in the role that I applied for even asked her manager who interviewed me if it was possible to go Full Time, and he said it was impossible because they had purposely hired too many people for the role expecting others to leave. Something may come up in future that they may consider me for, but unfortunately too many uncertainties and they haven't set themselves up with a good track record so far.

    Thank you for your help!
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 17,499 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper PPI Party Pooper
    Unfortunately you do seem have jumped the gun by handing in your notice before you had a written job offer from the prospective new employer. I don't believe you have any recourse to action against them for basically not offering you a job.
    The recruitment situation within companies can change from day to day. I was once in a very similar situation. I had the interview and was told by the person conducting the interview that the job was mine, but they had to go through the formal process with their HR department. I would receive a letter within the next few days. No letter - I called and spoke to the interviewer who said there had been a bit of a delay but I'd get the letter soon. Another week goes by with nothing, called again but interviewer wasn't available and alarm bells began to ring. Tried to call a couple more times with the same result. As I knew somebody who already worked there I asked them to investigate quietly. They came back to say the role had been filled internally. A couple of weeks later I finally got a letter to say I'd been unsuccessful in my application. Gutless interviewer didn't even have the decency to let me know directly.
    Thankfully I hadn't handed in my notice in my existing job.
  • Xikams
    Xikams Posts: 41 Forumite
    Fierre wrote: »
    It is entirely unfair to be advertising a job role, to the point where people are leaving their jobs and not seeking work elsewhere because they have a ‘guarantee’, only to be told they are no longer needed and left with no source of income for bills etc.
    TELLIT01 wrote: »
    Unfortunately you do seem have jumped the gun by handing in your notice before you had a written job offer from the prospective new employer.

    Although I feel for you, you have made a decision based on assumption and suggestion rather than evidence. But yes it really must feel awful to be let down like this. You believed that you were making the right choice and the outcome has been horrible and cruel to you, You thought that people were acting like you would act yourself, with a little decency, and now you probably feel quite lonely.

    If you can, you can try crawling back. Depending on your relationship with the old job this may or not be possible. If you know inside they are just going to laugh in your face, don't bother. But you are serious that you want to work, you don't want to be without work, and employers don't want to be without either.

    Your reasons for leaving should concentrate upon personal/neutral claims of your previous employer, such as: wrong atmosphere to my personality, difficult/stressful time for me, family issues, trouble with an illness.

    Brand restaurants, takeaways, supermarkets, call centers, mobile phone sellers, they're all looking for workers. If worse comes to worse, don't despair. You can take it as an opportunity.
  • How did this situation pan out Fierre?
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