IBM is saying they don't have business demands so they cant give joining

Respected Sir/Madam,

I am among those students who got selected by IBM on 20th May in Bangalore. There were approximately 400 candidates selected in Bangalore. We submitted our documents as instructed by the IBM HR team and were promised a call within 45 days. However, nine months have passed, and we have not received any information about our joining. When we tried to contact their official email, they replied, "Please wait, we will get back to you as soon as possible."

Subsequently, IBM started releasing offer letters to candidates who were selected after our recruitment drive. When we inquired about the lack of sequence, we were informed that the process occurs in batches, and we should wait for a call from IBM. They expressed appreciation for our patience. Within a week of our last communication, when we tried to reach out via email, we received a response stating, "Sorry, we regret to inform you that we cannot proceed further."

We feel this situation is unjust as we were kept waiting for nine months without any updates. Some of us even left other job opportunities to join IBM. Now, they claim they do not have the business demands to accommodate those they selected. I kindly request suggestions on what steps we can take. Is this legal? More than 400 young fresher candidates are suffering, and this issue impacts their future.

Thank you.

Dear anonymous,

I am saddened to read about this situation. However, please remember that there may not be a viable legal remedy for this issue. Did the company provide you with anything in writing regarding the matter? Once the company failed to respond within 45 days, it should have been apparent that things might not work out as hoped. Regardless, it may be best to move on and explore other opportunities elsewhere.

Thank you.

Both of you, sir, I understand what you are saying. Yes, we don't have anything written, but they reply again and again that we will surely get back to you. "Please wait." We then got a call asking, "Will you want to join in the month of October?" They said it's an availability call. Then suddenly, how can they reject us? I am just asking, is there nothing that all 400 candidates can do against it?

It is sad and causes heartburn, but legally, nothing much can be done. Probably, all 400 can send a joint petition to the company head office and request reconsideration. Stress the uncertainty created in your lives by this behavior.

Mere selection and promise of a call in the future do not confer on you any right to employment, and hence, I am afraid you have any legal remedy. However, there is no need to lose hope of a job. You have already lost some precious time. Wisdom lies in looking for alternate sources of employment. There is a saying that if you think you can do a thing, you are right, and if you think you cannot do a thing, then also you are right. But I only add to it - do the right thing, which is keeping the past behind and looking ahead. All the best.

B. Saikumar

Dear Mr. Saikumar,

You have written that "Mere selection and promise of a call in the future do not confer on you any right to employment and hence I am afraid you have any legal remedy".

What you have written is legally and technically correct. Nevertheless, doing a campus selection and later not selecting the students hardly behooves well for a company of the stature of IBM. These MNCs are expected to show professionalism in their work. This kind of management style would have been suitable for some Indian lala company and certainly not for a Fortune 500 company like IBM. By letting down students, IBM has taken a nosedive and established parity, at least once, with the lala company.

HR Heads of these very MNCs go to various seminars organized in five-star hotels and give lectures on leadership, ethical work practices, and what not. The incident illustrates contrariness in their speech and action. Nevertheless, as I wrote in my previous post, the brand image of these companies is so strong that even if this MNC lets the students down ten times, it will continue to attract talent. That is the travesty of the job market!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Mr. Dinesh,

I entirely agree with you on ethical grounds. Keeping the hopes alive in freshers/students for months together and then backing out is not ethical. But the author of the post sought to know as to what they can do to make IBM honor their promise. I have only clarified this point so that they no longer waste their precious time chasing the IBM jobs and get down to accepting the realities and move ahead.

Thanks,
B. Saikumar

Dear Hopefuls,

At least, henceforth, never bet on one horse. Keep trying for several companies and settle on the one from where you get a job offer. Never be choosy in looking for select companies with a specific CTC range. Getting the first job is always challenging. Once you land in a company, start learning things and never be greedy to jump into another job within 3 months. Stay on, learn more, strengthen your technical and other skills, and bid for your time to move on. Never be in a hurry.

All the best

Why do they recruit people when they don't have that many vacancies? It's their duty to give us joining. If they were unable to do so, they should have informed us earlier. Why did they waste our time? Now, there are almost no opportunities for 2014 passouts. Our life has become hell.

Dear Madhumita,

This is a public forum, but more than that, it is a professional forum as well. Therefore, convention demands writing posts in normal language. It need not be in complete formal language, but neither does SMS lingo have a place here.

What you have written is a public post and not a one-to-one message in your personal capacity. Therefore, please understand what is *de rigueur* though it might not have been explicitly written.

Thanks,

*Dinesh Divekar*

While I totally sympathize with those who were selected but not given jobs by the company, prudence dictates that when an offer is not converted into a job within 30-45 days, the applicant should have started his/her own cross-checks and moved on in life. The company has not done the right thing if what is posted is correct. Candidates should not have bet on one horse alone and should have continued applying for fresh jobs once a reasonable time had passed after selection. One must put such bad experiences behind and boldly move forward.

I do not condone what IBM has done in this case; it is unconscionable conduct. However, I wonder if this sort of thing goes on in India more often than we know? Others could comment on that.

However, I will take a contrary view here. IBM has not made your life hell; you have, to a great extent.

As others have rightly pointed out, never ever put all your eggs in one basket. When applying for jobs, you must keep your options open. In this case, not all opportunities will come to fruition. Circumstances change, and if we are to be charitable, then maybe, just maybe, the situation has changed at IBM, and the original jobs are now no longer available, for whatever reasons. That does not excuse IBM from this totally inappropriate behavior. I just seek to shed some light.

You have not told us what your fallback position - Plan B if you like - was if, for some reason, the IBM job did not work out. You should not have waited so long before pulling the plug and moving on to find another position.

If you have expenses like housing, food, etc., then you cannot afford to sit around waiting for things. If IBM was fobbing you off with excuses, etc., then you should have acted sooner and cut your losses.

You are not going to win this battle with IBM, try as you might. They have done the wrong thing, but unfortunately for you and your colleagues, they will prevail in this case. You might be best to bow out and keep your reputation intact. No one wants to employ people they perceive as troublemakers.

Any update on what happened next? I know I am late here but would love an update.