Dream Job Pursuit. Episode 5.

Episode 5. Analysing the offer.

All coincidences are random, truth and fiction are mixed.

Olya came home very disappointed. The situation with company X was really stressful and unexpected. But on the other hand, our hero now knew the one important thing - you always should ask who will take part in the presentation, meeting if your recruiter doesn't mention that. 

Two weeks have passed since that day. It helped Olya to be prepared for all possible outcomes in the hiring process with Company X including a situation when they just take your task project results and the applicant is refused without explanation.

Olya calmly continued to look through other interesting vacancies that appeared on the labor market almost every week and train herself to be more quiet, candid and consistent - which is always difficult for her due to her emotional nature and uncontrollable habit of becoming attached to people and companies.

Two weeks later, Olya received a phone call from Tatyana, deputy HRD of company X. Our hero was just driving a car at that moment, but when she saw who was calling, she immediately answered the call.

 - Hello Olga! This is company X. We have sent you an e-mail to fill out a questionnaire. This is the next step to the role of the Head of the Training in our company.

 - Yes OK. Thank you. What is the deadline?

 - Today until the end of the day. By the way, there is a column "Recommendations". Would you please give us the contacts of your current manager? 

 - Pardon me?

 - Well, you have already said to your boss that you are quitting?

Holding the phone with her left hand, and turning the steering wheel with her right to carefully pull over to the side of the road, Olya frantically searched for words with which she could explain to Tatyana what position she was putting her in.

Driving up to the sidewalk, not far from the entrance to one of the Kyiv parks, Olya saw a huge white sculpture. She towered over the trees in the rays of the spring sun and sparkled with purity and holiness, scattering servility and admiration of passers-by around it. The sculpture was a huge logo of company X, where Olya was trying to get as a Head of L&D for almost 3 months already. At the base of the statue there was a large light plate with an exquisite engraving - the mission of the company.

 - Pardon me? Did I understand correctly that you want to call my supervisor at the company I currently work for?

 - Yes.

 - It's impossible for obvious reasons.

 - Hmm.. Okay. Give us the list of those who we can call. Goodbye.

Putting down the phone, Olya froze. She looked at the sculpture.. And just as we will always see a large crack on the Arch of Friendship of Peoples, so on the beautiful white sculpture of Company X, the first two letters of the logo had a big crack.

Having filled out the questionnaire, providing three contacts of her previous managers and colleagues as recommendations, an unpleasant feeling crept into Olya's heart that she no longer really wants to go to the reception where oleanders bloomed, or to the room where she beautifully presented her project.

Olya didn't want to have anything in common with this company anymore.

A week later, Tatyana called and solemnly said that they were preparing a job offer for Olya and that they would be happy to see her in their team. They promised to send the offer in the evening.

They sent the offer a week later. Such delays made Olya nervous, but she decided to follow this path patiently till the end as she loved the feeling of completeness and integrity of the process. Sooner or later it will come to an end. How? She was also interested.

Olya opened the offer and took a careful look at the offer. She did not know if there were standards for creating this document, and what should be paid special attention to, but since Olya had the offer from another company, a simple comparison and a critical look at both documents was enough.

🟣 How to read an offer? Principle of figure and background.

❗️ Figure. Key points of the offer.

1️⃣ Job title. Must be as described in the job posting.

2️⃣ List of key responsibilities.

3️⃣ Level of subordination.

4️⃣ Salary, gross \ net, currency in which it is paid.

5️⃣ Working conditions: online, offline, flexible schedule - everything that you agreed verbally at meetings with the employer should be indicated here.

6️⃣ Benefits, perks and compensation (insurance, bonuses, etc.). No “changes are possible after the probationary period”, no vague wording. OK, if they are, and you accept it, there should be a minimum of them, otherwise you put yourself in an unreliable position right away. Why? Everything should be with specific numbers and deadlines. If there is insurance, there should be its name and conditions (possibly a separate package of documents).

7️⃣ Probation period.

8️⃣ Starting date and signature (CEO, HRD)

❗️ Background. Last but not least. 

1️⃣ How competently is the information presented in the offer?

2️⃣ How quickly was it sent to you from the moment of the “promise”?

3️⃣ Is there a cover letter? How does it look like? 

4️⃣ Is the offer written on the letterhead?

5️⃣ How long do you have to make a decision?

6️⃣ How many additional questions do you have after reading?

7️⃣ Did you need more information? How quickly were you provided with it? 

8️⃣ What discrepancies with what you have agreed with the company and how many? How principle are they? 

Despite the fact that the offer has no legal force, getting it is the most exciting moment as it is essentially the result of your hard work on a project called "Job Search". 

Olya read the offer from company X and apart from a few inconsistencies, the only thing surprised her the most was that the salary for the probation period was half of what was agreed at the beginning.

 Olya called the recruiter and asked the question directly: 

- In the offer, my salary amount is half of what was agreed. Would you please comment on that?

- Ah, so it's for the probationary period. Haven't we discussed this?

The snow-white sculpture of Company X, luxuriantly rising in the chambers of our hero's mind, gave a huge crack with a noise and creak, and the last two letters rattled down and scattered in snow-white shards, blinding the now sad-sounding mission. 

- No. You didn't let me know about that. 

- ...We wanted to look at you and it was important to understand your expertise. 

- It's not OK for me. I want the same salary for the probationary period as I would for any other period of employment. I'm rejecting the offer. Thank you for your time. 

- Is this final? 

- Yes. Goodbye. 

In the following series:

- Katya, I have an offer from company Y. What do you think of them? 

- Olya, it's the only company I'd go to work for tomorrow. Very happy for you. 

To be continued...