Im an international student, and recently graduated with a conversion masters in data analytics. I was hired as a data analyst at this startup on a fixed term contract which ended on the same day as my student visa, January 13. The agreement was that I’d sign a permanent contract once I had my work visa if both parties were happy with my work.
Since the company has no clients, I hardly ever got anything to do; whenever I got assigned tasks, they were data entry in excel or secretarial tasks. Unfortunately, the CTO could not mentor me because he has no knowledge of data modelling nor programming. Therefore, I took online courses to upskill; however, I quickly noticed my mental health was deteriorating and I started feeling anxious with thoughts of not learning anything and hurting my career in the long run.
On December 8, I got my work visa. I promptly notified the CFO, and reminded him that I could sign a permanent contract. He thanked me for letting him know and that was it. Come the first week of January, the CFO mentioned in a group meeting that he had to sort my employment situation, but never specifically said if they’d extend my contract or not.
Although I had been interviewing elsewhere, I hadn’t made my mind up about leaving the startup because I kept receiving rejection after rejection emails, so I did not have another job lined up already.
That fateful January 13, I received a job offer from a big corp. Since I haven’t heard any word from the CFO and I was feeling bad at work, I decided to accept it.
Monday and Tuesday I attended meetings with the CTO and the new employee (who serves as a project manager) as I figured the least I could do was try to help with what I know about AI. The point of the meetings was to see what the company could create with AI to apply for public funding; the deadline for the application submission is this Thursday. Anywho, after yesterday’s meeting, the PM emailed me to say that, allegedly, the COO had told them that I should work on the second half of a task that the COO asked us both to do and that they (the PM) had volunteered to do (we had split the project, I worked on the first half alone). Immediately afterwards, the PM sent a company-wide email saying that the CTO and I would hold an AI workshop next week— this was the first time I was hearing about it! I got annoyed, and decided to email the CFO about my work situation after reading that.
Before anyone jumps at my throat, I waited until Tuesday to remind the CFO about my expired contract because, on Monday, he shared in our WhatsApp group that the only client they had cancelled the project, and I didn’t want to send more bad news. This is the email I sent him on Tuesday afternoon:
Hi Boss’ Name,
I trust that you are well.
I am writing to remind you that my work contract with Company 1 ended on January 13th. I wanted to bring this to your attention as we approach the end of the month.
I regret to inform you that after much consideration, I have decided not to extend my contract with the company, as I believe that at this stage, someone with more technical skills and experience—someone who can contribute more to the company—should have the opportunity to take my place. In that context, I was approached by a machine learning professional searching for an internship and who seems like a good fit for the company. I would be happy to provide this person’s details if you wish, as I believe they could bring a lot of value to the team.
I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to be a part of such an innovative and exciting company. I understand that the start-up journey is not always an easy one, and I want to thank you and the team for your trust, guidance, and mentorship throughout my time here. It has been an absolute pleasure working with you and the team.
That being said, I would like to express that I am happy to continue working under the same conditions of my contract until the end of the month, if that would be of any help for you and the company.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity and I wish you, Company 1, and Company 2 all the best for the future.
Best Regards,
OP
English is not my first language, so I’m not sure if my email came off rude or what, but the CFO did not reply to me, despite having replied to the group email last night. Instead, he immediately removed me from the WhatsApp group chat. I’m not that surprised since a few people on Reddit mentioned that could be the outcome, but I’m upset at the level of pettiness and the fact that he did not not have the decency and respect for myself to tell me about his decision before just removing me from the group.
Luckily, it seems I dodged a bullet, and even more luckily, I’m starting my new job in a couple weeks.