Reply to: How to say NO to a contract?

[Scrag Meister]

Heres hoping role 2 comes through.

GL

[Joe Bloque]

Bloshie, wanderer, cojak. Can't agree more with what you say. Broke the news to agent yesterday, told him the truth, he seemed not too bothered. About to fire off apologies to client for wasting their time. If someone treats you well, you would not want to mess with them, feeling bit sick doing all this. I hope they would understand. I know my decision is right for me (it better be!)

Thanks for all the views.

[cojak]

If you have two definate contract offers then don't feel bad about dropping one job because another one came up - people get messed about all the time and it cuts both ways as BolshieBastard says...

But remenber that if you don't have a written contract then you have nothing at all. "A hand in the bush is better than a bird in the hand" is what I always say.

Yep, as far as I'm concerned my verbal acceptance of an offer is "Subject to the Terms and Conditions being OK, accept".

Then, if you get the contract and it ends up being a pile of poo, you can still get changes made to it or not formally accepting.

[Wanderer]

I know verbal acceptance has legal stand but given the urgency/nature of their project (I'am assuming) they are unlikely to come after me. Frankly, I want to say sorry for having wasted their time.

If you have two definate contract offers then don't feel bad about dropping one job because another one came up - people get messed about all the time and it cuts both ways as BolshieBastard says...

But remenber that if you don't have a written contract then you have nothing at all. "A hand in the bush is better than a bird in the hand" is what I always say.

[BolshieBastard]

Thanks for all the comments. Sorry, I should have mentioned this before.

Wednesday - I replied to the interviewer 'thanking him for offering me the role and looking forward to start on Monday'. No contracts signed yet.

Thursday morning (Today) - I get confirmation for other role.

I know this is business and clients won't think twice to show you the door If they don't need you.

I want to say NO without coming across as opportunistic/clever/unprofessional/silly having said YES before (in the email).

Each project reminds me how small my contracting world is and frankly I don't want to burn bridges(though I don't see any for now)!

Thanks.

I agree its important not to burn bridges but, once you have been offered the role in the interview then had it withdrawn for no reason or, been offered the role post interview then had that withdrawn, you really wont give a **** about letting the client down! Seriously!

[bassy]

My twopence.
You've verbally accepted contract 1 and they are expecting you on Monday. You bail on them now then you're dropping them in it. You don't even know if the second role will actually materialize - ask a number of contractors and a few over the years have been in the boat of being told that a contract "is just waiting on a PO" - and then the contract never materializes for a number of reasons.

So you have a firm offer, you've verbally agreed to it and you have a start date that you have agreed to. If I was the client of role 1 and you bailed at this stage I would be rather annoyed.

If you had wanted to hold off role 1 until you knew that Role2 was signed, sealed and delivered then you should have said that you could take role 1 depending on satisfactory contract terms and not agreed a start date until contract terms were agreed by both parties.

My advice is take role 1 its a firm offer on the table and as you have agreed a start date it's the professional thing to do.

[The Wikir Man]

Somehow It was difficult to believe you had experience of susbstituting in previous contracts. That is not possible in my case.

In which case, you are right - you don't need to worry about IR35 at all, since if the contract is for you and you alone, you will be inside.

If you'd said that, it would have been much clearer.

[Joe Bloque]

You assume that the contract would have a notice period in it. Many that I have seen do not have a notice period.



Oh, aren't you good to them You're going to give them a day to resource their urgent project. Assuming that you had a notice period, and that notice period is two days or more, then they would be in a better position if you started and then left. But you convince yourself that you are doing it for their benefit.



If the project is urgent, then you may well find that they are more likely to come after you - they will need to re-advertise and short notice, and in order to fill that urgent requirement, may need to offer a higher rate to get someone on quicker. If they find resource via a different agency, then the agency you went through may well be looking to recoup their losses and loss of potential revenue.



There is no way to protect your position easily.

The BEST way out of this would be to take role 1, and then start looking for a substitute to either do role 1 or role 2. If role 2 falls through, then you stick to doing role 1; if not then you bring your substitute in and they do the work. Everyone wins, especially as it helps your IR35 defence.

Somehow It was difficult to believe you had experience of susbstituting in previous contracts. That is not possible in my case.

[The Wikir Man]

IR35 defence is soo not related what I need now. Anyway congratulations on your impending 'Lurker not a fighter'

I'm not actually suggesting IR35 defence. Read it carefully.

My suggestion was that the most professional way out of the situation is to actually act like a business and perform both roles. The fact that it helps your IR35 defence is a (helpful) byproduct. You asked for a professional way to deal with your situation, and I provided it - if you cannot see that, then I wouldn't worry about trying to look professional.

This topic has been done a few times over the past year or so - I reckon a search for "unprofessional" would bring back a few hits. Have a look at some of the suggestions that have been made by more experienced CUK members than yourself.

And thanks - I pay so little attention to the rankings they are almost meaningless. Especially since LR posts stopped counting, too.

[Joe Bloque]

Heehee 56 post man calling the 30 post man....like battle of the gnats..... Fight fight!!

Actually that a welcome to the club

[northernladuk]

IR35 defence is soo not related what I need now. Anyway congratulations on your impending 'Lurker not a fighter'

Heehee 56 post man calling the 30 post man....like battle of the gnats..... Fight fight!!

[northernladuk]

Thanks NLU! I've cut and pasted that into a mail to an agent (minus 'thanks for all the fish', obv...)

See? You can give useful advice even if you don't think you have!

Oi cheeky!! That was meant to be serious. I thought i would get in to trouble with the new scarey mods for ranting and not helping so added that afterwards.

and whats wrong with thanks for all the fish. I am sure they would like that to cheer them up after losing such a good candidate <cough>

[Joe Bloque]

IR35 defence is soo not related what I need now. Anyway congratulations on your impending 'Lurker not a fighter'

[cojak]

Edit : How about. 'Thank you for considering me for this role. Upon meeting the customer I realise this role is not for me and wish to persue other options in the market. Thanks for all the fish.'

<sigh>

Thanks NLU! I've cut and pasted that into a mail to an agent (minus 'thanks for all the fish', obv...)

See? You can give useful advice even if you don't think you have!

[The Wikir Man]

I don't agree with you at all. Couple of things I can make out.

You are new to contracting and IR35.
You have limited experience dealing with agents/clients.
You are couple of posts away from losing 'Not worth listening to'

You don't think that having a right of substitution and using it helps your IR35 defence?? I suggest that you read up on it.

With the exception of your last point, you could not be more wrong.