Job offer withdrawn - more than a little perplexed

CalistoB

First time poster, so please be gentle!

I was offered a job toward the end of last week. I verbally accepted over the phone and waited for my contract to be sent out.
Yesterday I received a phone call from the HR department advising that they had "received confidential information" and the job offer withdrawn. When I tried to press the matter, I was told it was strictly confidential and that's that. Naturally I am somewhat concerned.......

I don't know if this "information" came from a reference? I had not given consent to contact previous employees and was expecting to supply references when I received my contract. I've never had an issue with references in the past? I'm totally perplexed and feel very uneasy.

As luck would have it, I have been offered another (actually better) job this morning, but I am anxious that the same thing will happen and I'm clueless as to why?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Mainly in the context of seeking references without consent.

WestonDave

If you've provided a list of former employers on your application or CV there is nothing stopping a potential employer phoning up his/her mate that works at one of them to find out a bit more about you. Happened to me a couple of weeks back when a previous employer of mine phoned me to ask about an ex colleague who'd applied for a job with them. Those sorts of contacts are useful especially these days when many formal "on the record" references only consist of the dates you were employed.


Similarly if you have online presence don't be surprised if those (hypothetical) photos of you getting arrested blind drunk and half naked that are openly visible on Faceache got seen by an employer that had a nose out of curiosity.


Unfortunately whilst passing on false information could constitute a civil offence (liable for damages etc) its hard to track it down. You'd need to know what was said and by whom. Given than an employer can dispense with your services for whatever (non discriminatory) reason they choose, its hard to push this any further. It may just be that they'd decided internally they didn't have the budget to employ another person, or are going bust and want to keep that confidential.

sangie595

I agree. I can't see any way that you can take this further.

Is there any reason that a former employer or someone who knows you from a former employment might say something adverse? I've known situations when someone in the new company hears a name, it's someone they have known from a former employment and know something about them they haven't mentioned.

duchy

You are entitled to see anything a company has on record about you so a freedom of information request may be the way to go.

WestonDave

duchy wrote: »

You are entitled to see anything a company has on record about you so a freedom of information request may be the way to go.

Not a FOI request as that only covers certain public sector organisations. You could try a subject access request under the data protection regs, but it will cost you £10, and is very unlikely to reveal anything. Certainly had I bad mouthed my colleague in the recent phone call there would be nothing on record "as data" for a SAR request to reveal.

sangie595

duchy wrote: »

You are entitled to see anything a company has on record about you so a freedom of information request may be the way to go.

FOI isn't. Your mean a subject access request. And that only works if the thing is written down. And if they admit it is written down. If someone told them something verbally, there's not a thing to get access to.

CalistoB

My main concern is that what ever has been said will trip me up with this new job offer. I couldn't sleep last night racking my brains trying to think what could have caused it. It's the language used that gives me greatest concern "we've had some confidential information".....if it was a case of change of business circumstances etc surely it wouldn't have been worded this way? Again with a bad reference, again they would have stated that?
I can't think of any reason for someone to bad mouth me, I've never had any issues at work, tend to keep myself to myself, avoid office gossip as best I can. My references in the past have always been spot on...
I just feel incredibly uneasy.

[Deleted User]

They could have you mixed up - Never trust anything verbally told.

TELLIT01

CalistoB wrote: »

I don't know if this "information" came from a reference? I had not given consent to contact previous employees and was expecting to supply references when I received my contract.

I don't understand why you would expect to receive a contract before references had been taken up. Most employers would make a job offer subject to acceptable references. They wouldn't put themselves in a position of having signed contracts of employment and then withdrawing the job offer.
In reality, do so would make little difference, as they could terminate employment any time in the first 2 years anyway.

CalistoB

With previous positions, I have always received the reference consent form at the same time as my draft contract. I thought this was standard procedure? Other than the names of my employers listed on my CV, I gave no further details.

asajj

What sort of job it was? Did it require any background check in your finances? Perhaps something there wasn't right?

Apart from that, there isn't much you can do at the moment I'm afraid and I understand how frustrating this can be.Hopefully new offer will work out better for you.