New job delayed my start date after I quit
Employers sometimes abruptly push back your start date by weeks or even months, often just hours before you are supposed to begin. Because you have likely already resigned from your previous position or recently graduated, this sudden gap leaves you without an income and quickly drains your savings. To survive the wait until the job actually starts, some people are forced to take out personal loans.
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 pursuing other rolesDid this help you?
- 2Taking temporary non-industry jobs like retail, EMT, or janitorial workDid this help you?
- 3Selling plasma for immediate cashDid this help you?
- 4Taking out a personal loan to survive until the new start dateDid this help you?
- 5Pivoting to smaller firms or industry roles insteadDid 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.
“I was supposed to start in January with a top ten firm I interned with last January, but on the way out of my final CPA exam I got a phone call informing me they moved my start date to next October.”source ↗
“I don’t even know what to do my saving are nearly out and I don’t have anything lined up after I graduate.”source ↗
“Literally at 5pm on a Friday, get a call from HR that they need to push my start date out two weeks because of the CEO’s travel schedule?”source ↗
“Obviously I had already left my last job since I was supposed to start in 48 hours”source ↗
“I was in the same spot and I hate to say this but I took out a 5K personal loan to help me last until the start date.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Company changed job offer terms before start date
- 3Why do Sunday nights cause so much anxiety about Monday?
- 7Feeling completely unprepared after starting a new professional job
- 2How to handle invoices that fall outside fixed payment batch schedules
- 6How do you track prospects who ask for delayed follow-ups?
- 2Why does my car act like it's in neutral after sitting?