Hello!
Long time lurker here; english is not my first language
So recently, I was considering switching job, because the work culture where I work is the most awful and toxic I ever witnessed. Being in no hurry, because I'm still decently paid where I am, I decided to take my time and not send too many resume. I posted my resume on Indeed and Jobillico and applied to a few places.
I literally received 3 time more calls than the amount of resume I sent. I went through most of the interviews and within a week, I had 5 job offers.
3 were discarded because they did not meet my criteria.
of the two remaining offer, one was really well paid, one was really interresting
All offer having been made by phone, I contacted both of them to let them know I was hesitating between their offer and another one, and i'd like to take the weekend to think about it. I requested that they send me a written copy of their offer and i'd get back to them on monday.
for the job that was really interresting, within 5 minutes, I was forwarded all the informations, they even increased the starting salary as I had mentioned the other one was paid a bit more. Not as high, but that extra 1$/h without me having to ask for it was welcome.
For the job that was well paid, I noticed a clear shift of behavior from the HR. Even though I was very transparent about what I was being offered, it felt that my request was VERY unwelcomed, and I was even told “The hiring process is a long and costly process. we don't understand why you'd want to make it more work than it should be.” They insisted that if I needed help with my consideration, to let them know what else I wanted and they'd add it. they offered to up the starting salary by 4$ verbally, but still refused to make a written offer. After nearly half an hour of arguing with the HR, they finnally agreed they'd do it.
I received it at noon, today, and it's very ambiguous on many topic. Vacation: Up to X may be allowed. sick days: TBD, starting pay “As discussed, based on experience”. As I had mentionned, I did take the weekend to think about it. this confirmed my choice.
Cue to their surprised pikachu face when I declined their offer. I clearly stated that the delay in submitting a written offer played a huge role in my decision. My withdrawal was not done to the HR person, but rather to the guy who'd been my futur boss, and the person to whom I talked seemed guenuinely confused about what happened. they were sad I declined, but the guy was clear he was glad to get a better understanding of why they're having so much issue with their recruitment as most candidate didin't even bother calling back.