The Offer

As some of you may know, I've recently been interviewing for a new job. Well, not really a new job - but, instead my former job at my former company. That's right, after being laid off last August, I decided I wanted to go back. This is where my flawed reasoning begins... interviewing for my old job back with the company who laid me off in the first place.

My husband currently works at my former company - so, it isn't like I didn't know the new corporate climate - which can only be described as uncertain. Mind you, this isn't a small company, this is a global, Big 4 Accounting/Consulting company. They can't seem to get their act together about how to leverage marketing. Now, it seems like they need to use their own consultants to look at their HR process as well.

All that being said, I submitted my resume, sent some emails to key relationships I maintain and was called for an interview. Before taking the interview, I confirmed with HR that this position would be stable - as I did not want to come back and go through the same frustration of a layoff again. I was assured that the position was stable and would not be posted otherwise.

During my first interview, the interviewer did not wish to talk about my qualifications as she said she had heard only good things about me and knew I was more than qualified. However, she did wish to discuss how she had heard that my husband (who is one of her peers) did not agree with her recent promotion. Blown away by her complete unprofessionalism, I let her know that in the limited time Jeff and I have together that we do not discuss HER. Amazing!

After having very mixed feelings about the 1st interview, I had my 2nd interview with a person who had been with the company for 4 days. Needless to say, she learned more from me in the interview than I got from her.

3 days later, I was called with a verbal offer. Throughout the negotiation process, the woman I first interviewed with basically told me that it may be best not to take the job. I told her that she seemed uncomfortable hiring me and would be concerned about accepting the offer and starting at a negative with her. She told me that she was worried that I wouldn't be happy working with 2 new managers when I have more experience than they do. I assured her that I was willing to do that to be part of a team - and to see the entire team grow with me as an important member. This seemed to work for her and she sounded more excited about having me on board. But really... if you make someone an offer, should you really be calling them to tell them that they would probably be happier elsewhere? It led me to believe that she didn't want to make the offer in the first place but felt forced due to my relationships and experience.

After further negotiation, deliberation and discussion with my current employer, I emailed yesterday afternoon to accept the offer. Last night, I received an email back from this manager (who seemed as if she didn't want to hire me) letting me know that the budget for the position had been cut and they would not be filling it. Um, WHAT?! Since when do you make an offer to someone and in the same week not have the budget?!

In retrospect, it's better to find out the information now that their budgets aren't as robust as they had led me to believe. I would rather not get involved with them again and go through a similar layoff process. But seriously... what is the deal? Does anyone have any idea why such a situation could occur? Seems like HR here needs to get their act together...