Over the course of six weeks, the candidate cleared four interview rounds, completed a technical test assignment that earned enthusiastic praise, and passed a full background check. The offer letter arrived. The start date was set.
An hour before they were due to log on for day one, the phone rang.
It was HR. The CEO, the caller explained, had personally reviewed the CV and decided the candidate lacked sufficient experience. The offer was gone. The candidate had stopped interviewing elsewhere the moment they accepted — a month and a half of their professional life, burned on nothing.
Reddit's response was swift and uniform: if a CEO can veto an accepted offer an hour before the start date, the dysfunction was there long before the candidate arrived. Several users pointed out that in many jurisdictions, the candidate might have a promissory estoppel claim — they had relied on the offer to their detriment by halting their job search entirely.
"They made me lose ONE AND A HALF MONTHS OF MY LIFE," the candidate wrote. "All because someone who never met me decided they knew better."