12th March 2015, 12:11 PM
DaisyIrl Wrote:As an archaeologist with well over a decade of experience at various levels under my belt I saw the recent increase in demand for diggers here as a perfect opportunity to get back onsite. I was offered work (in writing) with a respected major employer, given a start date and a site so I packed up my life, rented out my house, sold my car as it wasnt needed in an urban area with lots of transport options, moved to the uk with my limited funds etc etc.
As im due to start very soon and i had not yet seen a contract i emailed asking for the usual details for my first day only to be told casually that they no longer have the place they offered me open until next month and instead offered me another dig. Thing is this new dig is 3 times further away from my home, over 2 hours each way, and about 3 times the commuting cost, which i cant afford right now. I feel i've been really messed around with zero consideration for what i went through to get here for this job. Any thoughts? Is there a commuting time limit for job offers? If employers are so needy for experienced diggers why are they acting like this?
if as you say you have an offer with start date and place of work in writing you should insist that they honour that or if they cant they should offer you a comparable position in a similar location. if it will cost you more than it would in their written offer to accept their second offer you should ask for compensation to cover your losses until the initial offer is realised. this is not unreasonable and it will teach them to make you a written offer that they are not in a position to honour. i would be really f***d off but you should remain calm and be persistent.
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers