A couple of days ago, one of the candidates, who was offered a special package by one of my MNC clients, backed out at the last moment.
That's fine. If you have managed to get a better offer, there is nothing wrong in going ahead with the same. It's your career and you have every right to pick up the best option.
However, in this case, the candidate stopped responding to my regular followup calls and, after a day's complete silence, even blocked my mobile number. Finally, he switched his cellphone off for the next few days.
In the meantime, the concerned persons from my client organization had been repeatedly calling me up to get the joining confirmation. Frustrated over what to tell them, I had no other option but to call up the candidate's residence Land-line number -- that I could obtain through one of his collegues. After all, I'm answerable to clients.
When his mother picked up the call, I narrated the story to her and she promised to take appropriate action. Well, within an hour I received a formal regret email from the candidate.
What really surprized me, was: instead of conveying his decision to me professionally, he decided to disconnect abruptly and completely. And, in that process, he unnecessarily spoiled a few business relationships: me, and a few HR professionals.
There is nothing wrong in declining a job offer but, during that process, you can't really afford to spoil your relationship with the people involved.
The point I'm trying to make here is very simple: If, by chance, after a few years, one of his future employers does a reference check with any of us, surely we would have no option but to share this incident as a sign of poor leadership quality. Rest you can imagine!
So, be professional in every business transaction and never spoil your relationship with anyone. Who knows, the repercussions of such mistakes may come back haunting you even after a decade; obviously, spoiling a golden career opportunity due to negative reference checks.
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