here to tell us more about it, Kathryn Minshew
ceo of the muse, thank you so much for
joining us, I didn't even realize this was legal
. I'm wondering will more companies be rescinding job offers
? What are you seeing? Well, I'll say
first, I hope not because it's really not best
practice in the industry. We are seeing it right
now and we're sending a job offer typically comes when
a company feels it has over hired or overextended itself
and suddenly it needs to pull back and so in
some cases, rather than doing layoffs or letting go
existing employees, one of the first steps is actually
to take back job offers that have already been made
and signed that said, it causes a lot of
disruption as you can imagine in the lives of people
whose offers were rescinded. Um And so I think
it's um it's something that we are seeing in a
few cases, some tech companies, but you know
, personally I would say I'm very much hoping that
it does not spread and currently it does seem to
be a fairly limited phenomenon. Yeah, I really
feel for those candidates because we know especially in especially
in competitive job markets or for roles that are specialized
, these can be really long processes, you know
, lasting weeks or even months in some cases,
so to go through that process and then have a
job cold is just, it's horrible. Um I
also want to ask you why this is happening right
now when we're hearing from so many experts that the
job market is healthy, unemployment is down? Why
do you think that's the case? Well, what
we're seeing right now is really a tale of two
labor markets. It's very interesting if you crunch the
data out there because there are many sectors of the
economy where hiring is still incredibly competitive, where it
is still very much a jobseeker's market and in other
sectors of the economy, particularly in big tech,
in crypto, in certain startups, there is a
pull back and either hiring freezes or job offers being
rescinded. And so I think it's really hard for
a job seeker out there to know, you know
, what's going to be the case with my offer
with my search because we are seeing such extremely different
things in these different sectors of the labor market.
So it makes sense now that you mentioned some of
these different industries like tech like crypto that are being
hit hard and having to pull back and make those
adjustments accordingly, especially based on company to company.
I'm wondering if you think there are other industries or
sectors that are particularly vulnerable to this practice and again
, we hope this doesn't continue to be something that's
adopted um because it just seeds in more distrust I
think between employers and employees. Oh, I think
it's honestly rescinding job offers should be a last resort
for employers. It is incredibly disruptive. We're hearing
stories of, you know, recent grads who made
signed leases and made plans to stay in the country
? For example, um individuals whose employment is tied
to a work visa. Their lives are often thrown
into absolute disarray by the rescinding of a job offer
. Um, and on top of that, you
know, as my role as ceo of the muse
, I hear a lot from HR managers who will
get frustrated if they for example, hire an employee
and that employee doesn't show up on the first day
of work or you know, take some takes a
different job after they've accepted. That is the the
other side of the same coin here. So I
think that, you know, I'm, I'm really
hopeful that companies use rescinding job offers only only only
as a last resort. And we're seeing some companies
actually pay out severance to people or some, you
know, they'll cover some rent, they'll give some
payment to people who they have signed a contract to
employ and then taken that back right now. It
is primarily happening in, you know, a small
corner of the economy. It is highly valued tech
, some might say overvalued tech, it is crypto
and web three. So, you know, I
think that my, my, my deepest hope is
that this does not spread to other sectors and I
think right now the rest of the higher end market
is staying strong, but we are keeping a really
close eye on it. Yeah, appreciate you also
illustrating the opposite side of the equation, I think
transparency across the board between those that are hiring and
those that are being hired is really important, especially
right now, but I wonder this is something that
we haven't typically talked about before jobs rescinding these offers
, withdrawing these roles especially after a contract has been
signed and the ink is dry. So what do
you think this says about the current state of the
economy? You know, I think it speaks to
two things first. Obviously we are seeing that some
sectors of the economy are experiencing a very sharp pullback
and again, this is most pronounced in areas like
, you know, certain highly funded venture backed startups
or in the crypto and web three space that were
incredibly highly valued just a few months ago in some
cases highly valued, you know, many, many
multiples in excess of what the previous highest valuations in
those spaces have been. When you look at,
for example, a multiple of the revenue they were
making. So in sectors like that as the funding
market has cooled as the stock market has pulled back
, there's been a reckoning among some of these companies
that they have to rein in expenses, they have
to slow or stop hiring and in some cases that
is leading to this rescinding of job offers, which
again, um, you know, I think is
, is really just should be a last resort on
behalf of employers because of the disruption that that it
adds to, you know, to the labor market
and to the lives of these prospective employees. Also
want your advice on what you do if you're a
worker put in this situation. I especially think of
young college grads that are coming out of education and
moving into the job market maybe for the first time
and experiencing this. Yes. So first of all
I would say as tempting as it might be to
fire off the screen to the employer that just rescinded
your job offer or to really, you know,
let them have it. I would advise against that
. I would say keep the door open and you
know, thank them for letting you know, tell
them that you would love to be considered if they
reconsider or if they re start hiring in the future
and try and keep that relationship warm because you never
know where it might come in handy. Secondly,
I would look back at your job search process and
think about where their other companies that you pulled out
of the interview process offers that you turned down.
It is totally okay. In fact, encouraged to
reach back out to those companies, You know,
some job seekers that we, that we hear from
on the muse, they feel embarrassed, they're like
, you know, can I go back to someone
that I told no, absolutely, if the company
wanted you a few months ago, there's still a
really good chance that they're interested in talking to,
you now. And so starting with those warm relationships
um is a great place to begin and you can
simply say hi after accepting a job with another company
, you know, that position was rescinded based on
economic factors out of my control. So I'm back
in the job search, I really enjoyed our conversations
, you know, is this a good opportunity to
re engage? Um and I would finally just encourage
people not to panic. I know that having a
job offer rescinded is incredibly disruptive, frustrating event,
but there are still so many employers hiring, we
see this every single day on the muse, companies
in other sectors that are, you know, full
speed ahead, They're looking for great talent. So
, um you know, I would say as much
as this is a bump in the road, it
is a, you know, unpleasant obstacle there right
now are still a lot of roles out there and
I would encourage someone to keep looking um and not
give up hope, such good advice for this really
uncertain job market, appreciate you coming on the show
. That's Kathryn Minshew Ceo of the muse