Company changed job offer terms before start date
Employers sometimes revoke trust-based verbal agreements about location or drastically push back start dates just before you join. Because candidates have usually already declined other offers, they are left scrambling to apply elsewhere after most firms have already hired, or remain trapped in toxic jobs they planned to leave.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Keep the current job and walk away from the untrustworthy offerDid this help you?
- 2Email HR and the hiring manager to get the verbal terms explicitly added to the written offer letter before resigningDid this help you?
- 3Calculate the financial cost of a forced relocation against the proposed pay raiseDid this help you?
- 4applying to other jobs as quickly as possibleDid this help you?
- 5staying at a current toxic job to maintain incomeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Got a called saying they are moving start date to Fall 2027.”source ↗
“Im so mad, the only reason I choose this company was the start date and I missed out on a better company.”source ↗
“Now idk what to do, im starting to apply anywhere asap but most firms have already hired.”source ↗
“Im at a toxic job that I justify to stay on because I knew I would be done by January.”source ↗
“I had a verbal agreement with my manager to be in location A for 6 months and then go fully remote. Closer to the joining date, he mentioned that I need to relocate to location B which is in a different state & also give a 2 year commitment. I’m honestly pissed & don’t know what to do.”source ↗
“I know my to-be manager from previous companies and was more a trust based verbal agreement. He said it would be tough but we’ll make it workout so I wasn’t really expecting to go fully remote in exactly 6 months, so my offer letter actually says Location B. I really did mess this up.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Got another job offer after accepting one
- 2Waiting for a written offer letter after verbal acceptance
- 3My job offer was rescinded before my start date
- 2How to renegotiate pay when given extra work
- 4Can you negotiate a contract after signing it?
- 2How to fight a job title change that feels like a demotion