How to respond to a job offer

NBLondon

BPL said:

Also asked about Pension. I'm obviously out of date as was HR advice. In my day these sort of questions were fairly standard. 

I would have said that the one about support for a Masters was a question to ask at interview.  If it's a small firm then maybe that came across as a warning sign if they don't usually fund further training.  I would also be slightly surprised at a grad in their first job asking about pensions and HR policies in their acceptance letter.  However - it may be equally true that the job has disappeared because a contract fell through.  The thing to do is watch and see if it is re-advertised - that would be a clue.

Grumpy_chap

Unless you are swamped with offers, the correct response to a job offer is "Thank you very much for your time earlier today and your subsequent e-mail.  I am absolutely delighted to be joining XYZ company and really can't wait to be contributing to the team."

That is especially so with graduate jobs, which are massively over-subscribed this year particularly.  All those questions could be sorted out in the fullness of time, but the priority is to seal-the-deal.

The employer likely interviewed double the number of candidates as there are placements and made offers to the top 50%.  The two-days to accept is so that if the offer is declined, the employer can make an offer to another candidate and the second choice does not realise they were second choice.  At best, the week while you son was still getting responses was while they went down the list.  Once all the number of offers were filled / accepted, it is then easy to drop your son.

Sorry, this is harsh, but most things anyone ever learns are life-lessons and not school lessons.  This is an early introduction into life lessons.

theoretica

There are two sorts of questions that need to be asked at that stage - any where the answer might lead to him turning down the job (would he have turned down the job if they said no about the masters degree?) or practical ones (start date, staff parking).  Anything that can wait will be less effort to deal with face to face once they have started.

Sandtree

BPL said:
Bland sickness and absence policy question. Seems a lot of these smaller employers don't even bother with contracts. 

A question about sickness policy would be both odd and potentially a red flag... does the person intend to be off sick or have a condition that means its likely they'll have a lot of sickness?

To be honest asking any questions after the interview beyond what time to be there on day one, who to ask for at reception etc would be unusual though not a problem subject to the question.

Acceptance was conditional, not sure why you did that, but as the condition wasn't met there is no issues with them withdrawing the offer

BPL

They said after acceptance they would send out a contract to sign. Were advised to make it conditional by an ex hr person which tallied with advice online to avoid accepting a job unconditionally before seeing the actual contract.

billy2shots

Agree with the above. As a business owner reliability is the number one factor I look for. You might be brilliant at your job but it doesn't matter how good you are if you are not always there (obviously not ALWAYS but you get the drift).

Questioning sickness and absence policy (without indicating an ongoing health concern) would ring alarm bells in my head. 

If I'm reading this right, a senior HR friend coached him to say this?
You may want to revisit who you take advice from. 

BPL

I agree after the event! The was no underhand intent intended at all. We thought a few reasonably intelligent questions would show him in a good light. No time was given during the interview as they kept on talking. Maybe as others have said the work didn't come through and conditional acceptance was an additional get out clause. Perhaps larger employers and three public sector have a more rigorous approach. 

TELLIT01

I missed the fact that he had asked about sickness and absence policy.  Not a good idea at interview!  Questions should be about the job, company etc.  Raising sickness and absence policy could very well have got alarm bells ringing.

BPL

The other option is to accept unconditionally without asking questions and read the contract before signing. If you don't like it then say so at that point. I doubt if they would hold you to acceptance but would still leave a nasty taste in their mouths and his reputation potentially damaged in the network. 

[Deleted User]

I feel for him.
Sure he'll learn about not asking about sickness, it is the one thing my Mum always looks for when glancing over mine so I think it's generational, as I'm always saying Mum, but, no private company pays sick pay these days! 
I would want to see what I was agreeing to up front, after all we have instance access to our phones these days, so why not a contract before we start.  What's the big secret.  I'm sure a lot of these Employers don't commit to much as somehow they are thinking they protected in the very early days if need to let someone go, like if it's not in writing it didn't happen kind of thing.
I've even had a small business say but we're small, employment law doesn't effect us, errrrr. as if it gets them off the hock. It is actually scary.
I went through high water in the job I'm in currently, there was ambiguity over whether I should work 6 days a week instead of 5 - it took till over the past month to receive a contract and the Employer then wanted to back date it anyway!!!  I am even unsure whether I do have any notice to work as guess what, the poorly written contract when it did finally land only makes provisions of 1 month needed if having past 3 months probation and is completely silent on anything before 3 months passing.
Believe you me, if you can ask questions before starting then we should.
I have found nowadays, it is a do not ask, we tell you type of thing (which then becomes aha but you didn't ask! knock) which is very sad and means you can't win either way.