Job Offers Keep Changing Terms Before You Sign
Individuals are experiencing a frustrating job search characterized by weak offers, unexpected changes in terms (salary reductions, training requirements), and a lack of leverage when negotiating. This creates uncertainty and a feeling of being undervalued, leading many to question their career choices and consider staying in unsatisfying roles.
SOURCES (60)
“At the start of the year, I was flighting for a raise that got declined, so I started looking at new jobs. I did the whole song and dance and got to the final stages of a job, that at the time was perfect, but…”
“Hey everyone, looking for some outside perspective on a career decision. I’m a graphic designer currently working at a hotel, handling design work, some video editing, and photo work for their social media. I’ve been offered a new job elsewhere with about a 40% salary increase , though it comes with a heavier workload. At the same time, my current employer is opening a new rooftop venue, and I’ve been told I’d be the one handling its creative direction — with the possibility of becoming head of”
“i work in social work in the healthcare field. i put in like a 40ish day notice, and my boss has been asking me if he can change my mind throughout. the main reason was i was planning to move to another city, but dont have anything set in stone yet, no lease or even formal job offer. i did get a verbal offer about 10 days ago, but nothing written yet. it would be a slight pay cut, but in a setting im interested in (a hospital). my boss today offered me a 12k raise out of nowhere, along with stoc”
“Or... Accept the job offer, then when scheduled to come in, explain that you only agreed to in-office work for visibility.”
“What should we do if we’re interested in the job offer, but we don’t want to sign a five year contract immediately after residency, especially since we may not stay longer than two years or if circumstances change? How can we negotiate to shorten the contract length? Please share strategies that have worked for you, or examples of how to approach the conversation to reduce the contract duration. submitted by /u/orangexsky [link] [comments]”
“Currently on maternity leave and received a job offer that I have accepted and the start date is Sept 1st. Maternity leave ends July 24 and before getting this new job, I planned on using PTO to return to work Aug 12. Should I give my notice asap and return to work as planned on Aug 12? Should I return to work first on Aug 12 and then give my notice? Or should I return to work sooner, July 27, and then give my notice and that way won’t be leaving as abruptly? I am leaving a small private practic”
“📍DC, USA Need some perspective because I’m driving myself insane. I’m a grad student and my long-term goal is federal service in the national security space. Option 1: I have a Tentative Job Offer (TJO) for a federal Pathways internship (student entry role that starts as an internship with potential conversion to a full-time position). I’ve accepted it, completed all the onboarding paperwork, and HR is estimating a late Aug./Sept. start if everything clears. The catch is that a TJO isn’t a guar”
“Hello! I am looking for advice on whether to accept a new job if an offer is made. Apologies if this is long. Currently, I work for a municipality in a relatively niche field. I’ve been in my current role for 5 years and with the organization for 7. Job opportunities don’t open up too often and can be competitive when they do. An opportunity recently opened up that I applied for and two weeks later I was interviewing. I mention the timeline because government can have really long hiring processe”
“VERY STRESSED NEED HELP. I’m 29 years old. Making $26.75 an hour in Georgia. Live with mom and grandma. Been at this company for almost 7 years. So I work a 6am to 2:30pm job at a warehouse forklift driving. I’ve been wanting to learn more. Unfortunately the last two times I got offered a job , one being a more office job during mornings for 10 hours. Which I ended up panicking and declined. Then at some point got offered an outside truck loading job for mornings. I declined because I was STUPID”
“posting here too for some generic or specific advice if possible! submitted by /u/_skittles27 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve been offered a 3-6+ month IT contract to work with St.Jude, I have a job offer to work as an EMT apprentice and another one to work at FedEx as an electronics technician. I applied and interviewed for this positions 4-5 months ago and now they’ve all pretty much at the same time offered me a job. I’ve always wanted to work at St.Jude and there’s a chance I’ll get converted full time but nothing is guaranteed. The EMT job is a great idea because I want to help people and go into more of a me”
“I’ve been offered a 3-6+ month IT contract to work with St.Jude, I have a job offer to work as an EMT apprentice and another one to work at FedEx as an electronics technician. I applied and interviewed for this positions 4-5 months ago and now they’ve all pretty much at the same time offered me a job. I’ve always wanted to work at St.Jude and there’s a chance I’ll get converted full time but nothing is guaranteed. The EMT job is a great idea because I want to help people and go into more of a me”
“For some context, I've only been out of job for about a week and a half. I'm pretty confident in myself and I have a lot of savings, but I understand with life and bills that I'll need a job. I got an offer shortly after a week, but I wasn't super psyched about the interview/interviewer. Without knowing too much about the company, I was asked to make huge commitments; they were expecting me to stay with them long term 2+ years and hiring manager wasn't too kind(so im surprise”
They all look similar tbh so go with whichever has lower COL
“Context: TT prof at a SLAC. Signed my reappointment letter a couple weeks ago. Would be my 3rd year at uni. Reappointment letter as basic as it gets—states that I’m accepting to continue working for a certain salary for next year, no other terms. Learned I’m a finalist for another TT job at an R2 in the same town. They ran a late search, and the job would start this August. I’d likely accept an offer, but that means I wouldn’t honor my reappointment letter right before the start of a new term. J”
“My current company is paying me 25hr 40 hours a week but do overtime fairly regularly, 401k 4 percent match, 5 days of vacation time, 2 paid sick days, no health insurance, very disorganized shop and quite frankly not enjoying the disorganization. Photo is the new job offer, should I take it. I really feel like I should I just need a good push in the right direction for some reason. New job offer in photo. Its a little less an hour but much better benifits submitted by /u/ChucklesFig”
“I received a job offer today from a government contractor. They are a solid place, the government contract is interesting work. The cons are it's in office 5 days a week and the office is over an hour commute away. Id basically drive to the commuter lot 20 min from my house then take the commuter bus there. It also involves getting a top secret clearance which I'm not sure how I feel about, just it's pretty intensive / invasive. I have a final interview for another government contrac”
“Hey I am having trouble letting go of my current job in pursuit of more money. I am early in my career. I got an offer in a construction sales position 30k base and “guaranteed 60k” in commission walking through the door. Plus whatever additional business I can hunt. Small territory, one county. I like the idea of taking this job but there is natural uncertainty and yk the grass isnt always greener. The alternative: try to get what i was initially denied at my current job and negotiate so there”
“Would appreciate any advice on my current situation. I have been applying for a new job for awhile and have 2 interviews lined up and want some insight as to which to choose, should I get 2 offers. Job 1: Is at the same company I've worked at for 6 years but would be a promotion to the head office team. Would open up a lot more opportunities and is a dream job that I've been working towards for awhile. Would be relocating to a different city and also I'm not sure if it's a good c”
“Need outside perspective (Phx, USA). Baby due in February — happening no matter what I decide. The situation: I’m a W2 contractor making $135k, contract likely ends in January. Same company just offered me FTE on a different team — but at $107k, a real pay cut. And I checked: their maternity leave requires a full year as FTE first, so I wouldn’t even qualify. Lower pay, no leave benefit, at a company I’d be brand new to. We don’t need the FTE job for insurance either — covered through my husband”
“Need outside perspective (Phx, USA). Baby due in February — happening no matter what I decide. The situation: I’m a W2 contractor making $135k, contract likely ends in January. Same company just offered me FTE on a different team — but at $107k, a real pay cut. And I checked: their maternity leave requires a full year as FTE first, so I wouldn’t even qualify. Lower pay, no leave benefit, at a company I’d be brand new to. We don’t need the FTE job for insurance either — covered through my husband”
“A person looks more dumb signing before reading. Are you both serious?! "Don't sign anything you haven't read" is a rule for a reason. Lol, "Oh, never-ending, I don't want to give up my first-born son!"”
“I am proactively job hunting right now because things aren't looking great in my current spot for a variety of reasons, none of them to do with management or myself, more like market forces. I went through an interview process recently for a position that seemed really exciting and a good fit for my experience. But the company had a few red flags and just overall didn't seem like a great culture and lifestyle fit for me. They made me an offer but it was a bit of a lowball, so I tried neg”
“Idk what to do. I took a job the end of may because the schedule seemed great and offered a better work/life balance. I left job A for that. Unfortunately they ended up cutting hours so I had to find something else. I got offered a job 40 minutes away that is a temp to hire position. They said m-f no weekends. Even at orientation at the company themselves they said it's been so long since we worked a weekend, we can't even remember the last one we worked. An hour later I see the schedule”
“Thank you, yes I have a 30 60 90 drafted and this is speaking alot to how I want to tackle it”
“Has anyone moved for husband’s job and had to pause for a year or career pivot? Did it work out? Context.. this is a big financial gain even if I don’t contribute for a year. But it’s leaving a city we love and unclear on next steps for me. Also note the child care needs are the same, no family in current city or new one. The new city is also smaller. Curious others success stories or warnings of caution. Appreciate it!! submitted by /u/FiddlesMyFiddleLeaf [link] [comments]”
“I got an offer for a role at a university within a new unit with a public reputation for being politically controversial (fully right wing think tank funded) and one whose mission doesn’t match my own politics. The pay would be a real upgrade from where I am now, and the job itself is more backend admin/ops work. I keep going back and forth. Doing infrastructure work isn’t the same as writing the mission statement, but my labor would still help a place I’m uneasy about actually run. Has anyone t”
“Hi everyone, So like the title says, I just got an opportunity that I know I would love to take. The only issue is a slight scheduling conflict: the job I have ends at a certain time, the next job shift starts an hour later, but the commute(just driving, no traffic) is exactly an hour. It would definitely be more than an hour to park and walk to the site of the job. The second job is part time(2 nights per week). For background, I am a carpenter in a larger cabinet shop. I like the work and find”
“Tl;dr - do I accept the new job offer with tons of cons, or do I stay at my current job and risk being laid off? Hi friends. I work at a company that is slowly selling itself into pieces to other companies. In the past years they've gone from being in 39 states to 2. I'm told the plan is to keep the 2 remaining states operational and together "for the foreseeable future." My team of 12 has been whittled down to me and my boss, who handles operations and strategy, while my job i”
“I am facing a bit of dilemma. I hope to submit my thesis this year. I am currently in the process of appearing for interviews for a job on contract of one year, which they usually offer to the likes of me. Earlier I worked as teaching assistant under my supervisor. There are two places I applied, one near the university where I do my PhD so that I will be close to my supervisor, and other, near my hometown. There is a considerable amount of distance between the two places. The problem is I have”
“I know this goes against the general advice but I'm seriously considering taking the counter offer. Been with my current job about 16 months and I was passively looking at the job market and actually got a decent offer in the process. Both of these roles have the same title: Tax Manager in a M/HCOL area in industry. Category Current Job Job Offer Base Salary Currently $150,00, Countered at $170,000 $150,000 Bonus 15% target 10% target, w/$5K sign-on bonus PTO 28 days 20 days PTO 401K 3.5% co”
“So I'm switching from one cap exempt H1B employer to another. There will be some downtime between the end day of my old job vs start date of my new job. Can I give my notice to old job and leave before new employer has filed i129? I know this will trigger the 60 day grace period but other than that any issues? Is it best to give notice after new employer has filed i129? And if so and there is like a 30 day gap between ending old job vs starting new does that pose any issue? submitted b”
“So I am leaving my current firm after receiving an offer from another firm that offers better pay and better opportunities. Only issue is the new firm is primarily in an entirely different area of practice and has some intense billing hours. I know I need to pursue it for the good of my career but I also want to have an out if I go and end up hating it. I’ve given notice to my current firm and am making sure to get everything squared away before I left. I gave more than 2 weeks notice just to ma”
“got an opportunity for a 3 year apprentice job but im only a 1 year apprentice, technically not even a full 1 year, i’ve been on the field for 3 months with a small starter company that doesn’t have much work. I have a wife and 2 babies i gotta watch over and that’s why im questioning if it’s a good idea? Where im at right now pays me $15/hr for if im lucky 20 hours a week. This offer i got is $28/hr 56+ hours a week. What should i do? submitted by /u/DirectionDangerous42 [link]  ”
“One seems obviously better than the other in almost every way on paper because it's a permanent job with benefits and better pay while the other is a temporary job, thus no benefits. The permanent job however requires me to move across the country and away from family so I would be without any kind of support system (the better pay would also be less impactful because the state I would be required to move to has higher taxes while the current state has no state taxes). The temp job meanwhile”
“I’ve been at my current employer for four years now and it was my first job out of college. I’d been strung along on a promotion that kept getting pushed back, so I started looking around. I landed an offer elsewhere for significantly more pay and gave my notice; my current company countered, and here I am. I know the conventional wisdom about accepting counter offers, but I genuinely enjoy my team and it’s been fine since. An engineering firm (Arcadis) that I previously interviewed with (before”
“I was working for a company that was sinking in the mental health field were I was making about 40% less than what I was (pseudo fee for service group treatment). I informed them I needed something consistent or I’d have to search elsewhere. Long story short they let me go cause they said I’m bringing a negative attitude instead of jumping for joy that they pay me way less when their turn out was at an all time low in 8 years. Fast forward to my most recent place. I had to wait two months to sta”
“To provide some context, I was hired under a 1 year contract in a big company, as part of the IT maintenance team focused on a specific set of tools. I'm considered an external temp worker, so It's clear that I get paid a lot less despite doing the same work as the rest, and it's demoralizing to see all the company perks and medical benefits that the rest constantly use, but I'm grateful to have a job at the end of the day. I'm the only and first contractor in the team, and p”
“So recently I've (M27) got a job offer from my dream company but I dont know if I should take it. My current company had sponsored my masters and my visa and leaving now would mean I have to pay both the costs back. I can afford to pay them back but I just wont be able to put down a down payment for a new house I was planning on getting soon (I've been saving for the last 4.5 years). If I stay with the company for 1.5 years more I'll be out of all contractual obligations and will be”
“Hi all. I'm a current summer associate, and I've made the mistake of reading a bunch of stories on reddit about summers getting no-offered (many of whom claimed to have not done anything egregiously unprofessional and the no-offer came out of nowhere) & I've become really anxious about this happening to me, especially as the end of the summer is coming up. I would love a bit of a reality check about this, if anyone has any insight. Assuming a current summer isn't going around”
“Pretty much what the title says. I work in MO public schools. I have been asked to talk to a friend about a full time job working for a leasing company (the friend works for). My 2nd full year of teaching begins in August. Year 1 was the most stressful year of my life. I was made the advisor of an extremely time consuming "club" that I knew very little about, but I have been learning about. I have felt overworked and mentally spread thin for the last year and a half, but some of the ki”
“Hi everybody, I was unemployed for a month and recent ly got offers from 2 companies. Company A: offer permanent role, it is same role that I did before but with better hours, customer interacting in sales. I tried to expand my search and this is only sales job that I applied as I didn't like the sales target. However, i have got proven result of being successful in sales. Company B: offer 6 months contract. In the interview, i tried to negotiate to 12 months. They said they could consider.”
“I really don’t want to make the wrong decision. So both are temp for reference. I’ve said yes to Job #2 so no matter what I’m letting someone down and will leave a bad mark with either temp agency. Also I’ve had unfortunately multiple jobs say I’m hired then actually say no we don’t need you so that’s why I still haven’t quit the first job. I don’t usually put in 2 weeks notice can’t afford to have something happen again. Job #1 I’ve been at for two weeks. I don’t really like what I do at the jo”
“I started working about a month ago, I took the job because I was desperately in need of work, and the first red flag should have been that I was hired on the same day of my interview. I literally went to my interview and a few hours later I got a text from the store manager that I was hired. On the day I was supposed to go into training, I wasn't even told head of time. On the same day I got a text from the SM (store manager) if I could go in for training on that same day. I did a lot of co”
“If the joining date can't be changed because it was mass hiring but in the gap you took an extra role and now can join the apprenticeship 3 days after official joining date, what is better, to tell them about the role considering its an internship at a reputable place which might be justified or to give a medical or the likes? What would you do? submitted by /u/turned18nowimjobless [link] [comments]”
“About four months ago, I managed to get a job on a fixed-term contract with a large company in my country that essentially "rents out" IT specialists to other businesses who don't want the hassle of running their own IT department. Once there, I started doing help desk work, as the role I was hired for requires me to support end users, with the added bonus that I have line managers who are 10-20 years older than me and insist they know better, sometimes taking the mick out of me in”
“I’ve been a dedicated employee for 6 years. Just recently got a decent raise but nowhere close to where my new salary could be with the offer I just got. I wasn’t even actively looking because I’m that content (& probably comfortable) where I’m currently at. for a backstory: I used to work for a small mom & pop business who sold out & is now a huge corporation. I was referred by my ex coworker from our department to replace his role at the competitor and it would also be for a lead p”
“I’m asking for a friend. (Honest.) Friend was unexpectedly placed on administrative leave then brought in a week later and given the opportunity to resign voluntarily or face termination. Several years at this agency, no prior poor performance reviews, no PIP. It was based on poor performance involving one major and recent project. That’s all I can say but it was political in nature. No theft, fraud, violence, etc. HR pushed hard on the voluntary resignation and even said a neutral review will b”
“Just got a verbal offer from a small MSP (~20 employees) for an L1 helpdesk role with some field work. My background: 20, currently work a warehouse job, transitioning into IT. Got my CompTIA A+, actively studying Network+, and I run a home lab (Proxmox, Windows Server 2022, Active Directory, DNS/DHCP, Docker, a Spiceworks helpdesk sim). At my current job I also troubleshoot networked printers and wireless RFID scanners, so not zero hands-on, but no formal IT title yet. Job details: **•** $40k b”
“I’m looking for some impartial career advice because my partner and I are struggling to decide what the best move is. Company A (Current Employer) Base salary: £50,000 Bonus: Up to 25%, although realistically it tends to average around 12–16% Role: Data Analyst Hybrid working: Currently 50% office-based, but this is increasing to 60% from January 2027. We’ve also been told that bonuses will now be linked to office attendance. Perk: Up to 4 weeks of overseas remote working each year. Company B (O”
“I'm looking for some career advice. I recently started working at Company A through a staffing agency. I've been there for about three weeks. The agency and I still haven't signed a final contract because we've been negotiating several clauses that I felt were too one-sided. We've been going back and forth, so nothing has been finalized yet. So far, things at Company A have been going really well. My managers seem happy with my work, and the team is short-staffed. During one”
“Check the job description against the DOL to verify if you’re still eligible for overtime. Salary non exempt positions can be salary while being eligible for overtime. Salary can increase but won’t decrease. Salary exempt (3 tests to qualify) you do not have overtime pay. My last job misclassified employees and could have ended up in a legal dispute. It still could.”
“Looking for some perspective from recruiters. I’ve been a contractor at a large bank for about 18 months. During that time I received a 6-month extension, consistently got excellent performance feedback from both my manager and my recruiting agency, and was repeatedly told I took initiative, delivered results, and was someone they could rely on. Throughout my contract, I kept asking for additional responsibility and was given it. I was even trained into another role, where both that team’s manag”
“So my last relevant ID role was as a Content Developer. It was originally a 6 month W2 contract with benefits but got extended to a year. I put "Contract" in parentheses near the role on my resume to explain the short length but I wonder if that's hurting more than helping? Similarly, I've been thinking to reserve those parentheticals for "Learning Designer" since I worked under a Senior Learning Designer and the actual title seems very generally even though I did eve”
“I'm looking for a sanity check on a transfer vs. counter offer within the same company! Transfer: Lateral pay, opportunity to gain new skills and shadow an experienced and high-performing manager. Also a new office, so a big opportunity to make a name for myself here and get promoted when people's 6mo contracts run out. Counter offer: HUGE pay increase (20-40%,) becoming a people manager myself, and I'd get to stay in the same city. The biggest downside to the counter offer: the job”