
Ask HN: Have you ever had a job offer rescinded? - alanchavez
I already accepted a job offer, and I'm at the stage of background check.<p>In the criminal background check I have a speeding ticket (driving at 41 MPH in a 30 MPH zone) which remains unpaid, and there may be a bench warrant. 
I let my soon-to-be employer know about this situation, and they didn't mentioned a word about it.<p>Also, I have bad credit (in the 400 FICO) because I don't have enough money (that's why my speeding ticket remains unpaid), and the money I earn from my current employer is not enough (I make $12/hr as a Software Developer...), some times I make just enough money to pay rent and utilities.<p>I'm afraid that my soon-to-be employer might want to rescind the job offer, which will take me back to the start.
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newbie12
Yes a very good friend working in finance had an offer rescinded at this
stage. They won't tell you why, although if the credit score is the reason
they are legally supposed to send you an letter. Seriously, though, 400 FICO
is appalling, I've never heard of a score that low in real life. You don't
have bad credit because you don't have enough money, it is because you are
living beyond your means. Stop making excuses. You are making $23K, which is
enough for a single guy to live on in South Texas (I survived on a similar
amount out of school). You need to get organized and take care of your
business, including the speeding ticket. If you are a developer you should
freelance to earn extra income-- that can actually lead to a better full-time
job. You also need to downside your apartment-- live at home if that's an
option, or get roommates. Also get rid of cable TV. The good news is that FICO
scores can rebound pretty quickly.

~~~
michaelochurch
[Redacted by author / uncivil]. How the fuck do you know that he's living
beyond his means? Or that he lives in South Texas?

I agree that unless he's in dire circumstances, he should pay off the ticket.
And yes, a credit score in the 400s is pretty awful. From a strategic
perspective, he should do it in order to have one less thing to worry about.
However, I don't know the OP and have no idea what his financial constraints
are. I do know that life is very (and unfairly) difficult for some people, and
moralizing as if it were all their fault is ridiculous.

~~~
clarkm
He must've stalked his comment history. At one point he says:

> South Texas (Rio Grande Valley)

Yes, wondering how he knew that confused me enough to pull up his comment
history.

But to be fair, I don't think everyone reacts as negatively to this type of
criticism as you do. At least, I don't immediately think of it as moralizing
and unnecessary. If I was in the situation of the OP, having someone reply
harshly would probably inspire me to get things together. But then again, I'm
not sure most people are this way.

~~~
mseebach
No need to "stalk" anything, said comment is on this very page.

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btilly
If they know about the issues, and are proceeding with the background check,
then they won't freak out upon encountering this in the background check.

In the meantime you might want to try sites like elance to see if you can pick
up some side work to help pay the bills.

------
ChuckMcM
Just a side note on the ticket. Go get that fixed. Go into the court, tell
them you don't have the money and let them decide what to do. One of three
things will happen:

1) You will be required to provide community service

2) Your future wages will be garnished until you've paid the fine.

3) Your fine will be reduced to something you can pay.

There is absolutely nothing so poorly planned as having an outstanding warrant
for your arrest. The next time you get pulled over, you will go right to jail.
You can't predict the timing of that, but you can "fix" this problem on your
own schedule if you just go in and deal with it.

------
peacemaker
My wife had a solid job offer rescinded a few years ago. She got the whole
"welcome aboard" speech and everything. However, when attempting to check an
old reference, the person she listed as her reference wasn't available and so
another guy who'd she had never met decided to give it instead. He gave an
entirely fictional and terrible reference for no apparent reason. They had
never worked together, had no history or anything yet this guy decided he
would just mess someones life up. Anyway, even after explaining that to the
potential employer they still didn't care and rescinded the offer. Life is
weird sometimes.

~~~
Agathos
Why not sue the guy for slander? It did real and measurable damage, the
potential employer has a record of the conversation, and the former employer
has the true record of her work there. Seems like a slam dunk to this non-
lawyer.

------
dmourati
I wouldn't worry too much about a unpaid speeding ticket and low credit score.
At least not in terms of the pending job offer. It is natural to feel nervous
at this stage. The fact is, you really want the job and you see it as a big
break. Hang in there and update this thread when you find out either way.

------
shire
You make 12hr as a software developer, that is very interesting

~~~
alanchavez
That is very sad :) That's another reason why I'm looking for another job.

I've proved soon-to-be employers that I'm smart enough to make much more.

I don't want to bad mouth my current employer, but they don't appreciate
software development and in general, there are not a lot of software
development career opportunities here.

~~~
itg
Where are you located? (General area if you don't want to be specific). Also
how many years of experience do you have?

As for your question, I haven't had a offer rescinded and the only time I have
heard of it happening is because of a major issue, such falsifying
credentials/degrees.

~~~
alanchavez
I've been working in software development since I was in High School; I
started at a small agency in my hometown developing CRUD applications in ASP
and PHP for local companies.

Then I went to college and in my first semester, the research director offered
me a position to develop software for their research projects.

After I left college, I've been working for an advertising agency 1 year now
developing more CRUD applications for local companies.

So "real world" experience (in other words besides doing research and my
summer internship at a top national laboratory) I've only got 2 1/2 years of
experience.

~~~
nthj
> I've only got 2 1/2 years of experience.

I know a guy 1 year out of school charging $80/hour. Businesses pay for stuff
getting done, not experience.

------
stonemetal
I have but not because of the background check. I went to a job interview once
where the guy I was interviewing with offered me a job on the spot, and he
would send the formal offer the next day. The next day I got an email saying
that he had changed his mind.

------
pbreit
You could make 3-10x $12/hr on Odesk. You can get a cell phone for much less
than $70/month.

~~~
mattdeboard
Good grief I'll pay you $12/hr just to write some doc strings on my functions.

------
dylanhassinger
Your employer doesn't need to know anything except what they ask for. I have
never had a background check or a credit check for a job.

Furthermore, if you became a freelancer / self-employed contractor, then they
become your customer - definitely no background check needed.

My advice: Find some temporary work, but start investing in your long term
career. Make a web portfolio. Start blogging. Post youtube videos when you
learn new stuff. Opportunities will start coming. Get your income up, pay off
your debts/tickets and don't ever talk about that stuff ever again.

I did have an offer rescinded for other reasons (I'm good at talking my way
out of opportunities). Don't do the same :)

~~~
anxx
I agree that employers are way too nosy these days. Drug tests, background
checks, credit score checks are personal; employers shouldn't be able to
_request_ them even. It should be taboo, like asking religion.

The need to reduce the risk of hiring a bad employee should not come at the
expense of the privacy of all employees. The risk should be on the business to
make the interview process tougher, to reach out to their connections and
check the person's references, to follow their hired employees carefully to
make sure they're not embezzling or muffing things up.

~~~
newbie12
It is not just a personal matter if someone has a criminal background or
routinely doesn't pay their bills. Credit scores are a statistically
significant indicator of other kinds of behavior-- for example, people with
better credit are also likely to be safer drivers, which is why insurance
companies use them.

------
ddispaltro
Never lie on applications, and companies do background checks because of PCI
reasons. For instance, if you said you had a college degree and you didn't,
you'd most likely not be hired. However, if they know you didn't have a degree
and you didn't say you had a degree up front then most likely you're fine.
Regarding PCI, if you're a felon they can't hire you. As far as I know, most
companies don't look at credit score.

~~~
snogglethorpe
My first job out of college, I interviewed and got the job before graduation.
Then I failed to finish one of my final courses, and thus didn't receive a
degree (I was short 3 credits).

The course in question was a very "off-topic" humanities elective, and my
thinking at the time was "oh well who cares," but when the head of the company
found out, he went _apeshit_. He was a normally very mild and friendly guy,
and that's the only time I've ever seem angry at all, but he was very, very
angry indeed, he didn't try to hide it.

I honestly (at that time) couldn't understand why—after all, any CS education
I received was exactly the same, with or without that humanities elective or a
degree—but he made it clear that if I didn't get a degree, and soon, I was
out. [It probably wasn't the lack of a degree per-se, as there were other
people on staff with similar jobs without degrees, but I imagine he felt
deceived / lied to because my original application had naturally anticipated
my graduating normally.]

So ... I took a calligraphy class, graduated the next semester, and all was
well.

[I'm quite glad I took that class actually, the knowledge and skills I got
there have served me well over the years. So in a way, it was a good
experience... >< ]

------
Justsignedup
Main concerns of background checks:

a) will you get detained?

b) are you a danger to any employee in/out of the office

c) is your morality "flexible" where they need to worry with trusting you with
information / anything.

d) are you on drugs right now, or high risk of getting on them

------
riceonmars
I had a similar experience interning at an internet marketing company. I
definitely feel ya and hope the best for you. :)

------
alanchavez
I'm just updating the post... the company didn't rescind their offer, and I'm
happily employed now!!

------
wangii
Relax, you'll be fine. Nobody cares speed tickets and bad credit, except your
future in laws.

------
michaelochurch
It's unlikely that you'll have a rescinded offer over this, unless you're
applying for a bottom-rung job. Having bad finances isn't on the same level as
a felony conviction for dealing drugs.

If it happens, and you have an offer in writing, the words you want are
_promissory estoppel_. A good lawyer will get you 3-4 months in severance,
should it happen. Rescinding an offer makes a company look very bad. Have an
attorney handle that negotiation, should it get to that (and it probably
won't).

~~~
dietrichepp
I am no lawyer, but I think promissory estoppel only applies if you relied on
the job offer in some way... for example, if you terminated your lease,
resigned from your current job, or something like that.

~~~
michaelochurch
Hard to say. Companies can rescind offers for business reasons (i.e. plant
closing) and that's legal; but personal rescission is not something the courts
like, and it's terrible PR. They'll settle.

You have to threaten to sue because if you threaten to blog, that's
technically extortion and you'll lose all the leverage you have.

Regarding reliance, I believe you are technically correct; however, you can
certainly include the time that you would have been job-searching, and also
the loss of the existing job.

