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At the start of December I secured a new job which I have been very delayed in starting. First of all I was waiting for references from previous employers, who were not responsive in providing these to my new employer. It took many phone calls for my new employer to tell me that I need to chase up these references myself and then I can start the job.
Again, after many calls and visits in person to my old workplace, I managed to gain a paper copy reference from my previous manager. I had to physically take this to my new workplace myself and was told I’d be phoned back the next day. I wasn’t phoned back the next day and left it a few days to see if they would call but a week passed and I had still heard nothing. So I phoned myself and was told that I cannot start Due to a lack of customers and the employer is unsure of an exact start date. To this day, I have been waiting three months to start this job with no income. I have been working there voluntarily but I am beginning to question if I’m needed at this place and the next steps I should take.

Alittlemoose
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    Did you sign an employment contract with the new company? If not, you don't have a job yet and you should continue to pursue other opportunities. – AffableAmbler Mar 02 '18 at 17:51
  • Possibly relevant: When is the right time to give my notice to leave my current company? – Bernhard Barker Mar 02 '18 at 17:53
  • I haven’t signed an employment contract, however I have been to two training days for the job and I have also paid for a DBS check (a police check if you’re unfamiliar with this) out of my own pocket. – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 17:54
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    What country are you in? As far as I know, unless you have a written offer, you really can't say you have the job for sure. Also, define what you mean by you work there "voluntarily?" Do you mean you just show up? – Dan Mar 02 '18 at 17:58
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    Ok, something doesn't add up here. You don't have any official document confirming your employment here, you are chasing references on your own time, you are even doing a police check out of your own pocket, and you are working voluntarily as well for free. This has been apparently going on for three months. Has it occurred to you you might be getting scammed here? – Masked Man Mar 02 '18 at 17:59
  • I have been offered to go in voluntarily to get to know the people who use the service and the other staff. The company is very reputable in the area I live in so I don’t understand why this is happenening – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 18:02
  • Sounds to me like they're just taking advantage of free work. Why sign a contract promising to pay you if you show up and work without it? – Steve-O Mar 02 '18 at 18:03
  • Where I am from many companies pay back the cost of the background check once you have completed a probationary period. I have not signed a contract for the job but was verbally offered it and Just can not seem to get a start date from anyone that works there. – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 18:05
  • @Alittleton This doesn't make a lick of sense. You are going there voluntarily and you ARE "working" there yet they don't want to talk about actually paying you? That doesn't sound right to me and my advice would be to stop going there and find an actual job. Can your police check papers be good elsewhere? – Dan Mar 02 '18 at 18:07
  • I have been previously told that I can start there but working (paid) in another department until the area I’m meant to be working in gains more customers, but the manager just seems to be putting this off. I think I’m holding onto it because I want this job so bad but at the same time I need to be earning money. – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 18:11
  • @A littleton Sounds pretty fishy to me. Who offered the verbal contract? Are verbal contracts common in your location? What happens if the guy who offered the verbal contract conveniently "forgets" about it or leaves the company? How long is the probation period? Is that agreed upon? What if they refuse to reimburse the background check expense? If getting to know people you work with is important (as it should be, I suppose), why do they expect you to do it for free? Who is your manager? What is the salary you agreed upon? What if they (eventually) pay you less than that? – Masked Man Mar 02 '18 at 18:13
  • The manager offered me the contract and I have agreed on the wage, everything seems to be in place except from a physical contract and a set start date – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 18:17
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    A contract is only as good as the paper it's written on. – Chris E Mar 02 '18 at 18:22
  • @MaskedMan as this is the UK the DNB check indicates this - Yes a job offer can be verbal and can be binding ,, its uncommon I grant you – Neuromancer Mar 02 '18 at 18:47
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    Why have you waited nearly 90 days? I would have looked for a job, the day they indicated, they didn't have money to hire me. You should run away from this company, quickly, and never look back. "The company is very reputable in the area" - They are also broke. – Donald Mar 02 '18 at 20:39
  • The technical term for this is "stringing them along". Go find another job, there isn't one here. – NotMe Mar 02 '18 at 22:48
  • @neuromancer I did learn about UK's verbal contracts previously on this site. I am not familiar how they work though. If someone reneges on the contract, how does the other party deal with it? Sounds like a case of my word vs your word, if no one else was around when the contract was verbally "signed". – Masked Man Mar 03 '18 at 05:25

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In terms of next steps:

  1. Stop going in voluntarily. They have 0 motivation to give you a contract and "start date" when you're already working for free. Call your contact at the company and inform them of this. Use whatever reasoning sounds good to you.

  2. Continue your job search. Inform prospective employers that you are in process with another company but are awaiting a written offer. (Some companies will be motivated to accelerate the hiring process if they know you're close to getting another offer.)

  3. If and when they do come to you with a written offer (complete with start date), think carefully about whether you want to work for a company that extends you an offer without having the resources (money, customers, etc.) to provide you with a definite start date, makes you track down your own references, and asks you to work voluntarily. This behavior is not normal.

AffableAmbler
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  • Should I ask if the company can give me a definite start date before telling them I am going to look for a position elsewhere. The company is a new business and is still in early stages, but surely that doesn’t give an excuse for doing this? – Alittlemoose Mar 02 '18 at 18:30
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    @Alittlemoose You don't have to tell them you're going to look for a position elsewhere. Just say something like, "I'm excited to join the company and look forward to receiving a written offer." Just leave it that. If you want, make up a story about needing to do temporary work somewhere else to cover expenses while you await your start date. – AffableAmbler Mar 02 '18 at 18:33
  • I wouldn't threaten them since obviously they don't care if you're working there or not right now. So instead I would say what @AffableAmbler and simply say something along the lines of that you would like to work there but with a offer letter and starting date. – Dan Mar 02 '18 at 18:55
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    @Alittlemoose - Do you really want to work for a company who has such little business they are unable to hire the developers they apparently required just 90 days ago? You should think long and hard about staying with this company. You can leave today if you want, you have no contract, anything they promise you should be in writing even then they are broke and are unable to hire you today. – Donald Mar 02 '18 at 20:43
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You don't have an offer of employment and no employer is going to ask their employees to pay out of pocket for things like a background check. If a reference can't be obtained, it's my experience that a company either moves past it, meaning they inform you that they tried contacting the reference but where unable to and no information can be obtained at this point which can cause them to ask for some documents (something like a pay stub, or a tax return or something) or they will disqualify that candidate right then and there.

I seriously doubt that any country out there has a different system as think of it from the employers point of view: You really want this person to work for you and if you suddenly start asking them to pay they'll drop this opportunity and go elsewhere.Anything otherwise and this is not the case.

Don't fool yourself, if there's no employment offer your not an employee.

TheM00s3
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