(This just happened last week)

Name & Shame: Storm two dot com recruitment

I recently interviewed with a startup. The tech and mission aligned great with my interests. I interviewed with them and it was a beautiful fit. I was super happy. The recruiter (call him R) worked for a recruitment company (not part of the startup I was applying for) and seemed like a good guy.

Then the offer came in. R got on a call with me to discuss and dialed in his manager/VP? (call him S for Seb because that's his name).

Shit turned ugly so fast. While the offer was good for a startup it was still less (-25%) TC than I currently make. I was still completing interviews and this offer was the first on the table. So I wanted some more time to decide. The offer itself even had a clause that it was valid for 10 days.

S got abrasive and downright hostile and aggressive. He acted like he'd never heard of someone taking time to consider an offer. He then pulled out *every* shady used-car-salesman manipulation trick in the book. It's like he was going for a blackout BINGO card:

- changing negotiators: the fact that he joined the call at all was a tactic

- negged me: acted like I wasn't "that senior" and the company was taking a risk on me

- illusory time-crunch: they need to fill this role "NOW" and can't wait another week

- anger projection-deflection: he acted like I was the one being aggressive as soon as he started being aggressive

- "spirit of the offer" vs "letter of the offer": acted like taking the offer verbiage literally (the 10-day expiry period on the offer) was somehow wrong. This is the part I absolutely hate the most about these offer negotiations. They want you to accept them "on faith" but that's LITERALLY not how written contracts work. Top-tier scumbag negotiation tactics.

- Acting like I was the one to suddenly start lying or changing my mind: I'd been very clear from the beginning that I was going to take time to consider offers.

My wife was next to me while I was on that call and it took us all evening to "come down" from how heated it was. We'd dealt with car salesmen and had bought a house together. We were no strangers to intense negotiations but this was nothing like anything we'd ever dealt with.

R texted me later with a semi-apology on behalf of S, but S never did the same.

On the next call with R, it was glaringly obvious that S was on the call but muted. R's responses were delayed by several seconds and you could tell he was getting advice on another line.

Thereafter R texted or called me nearly every day for the next week. Now he started adopting S's tactics:

- Reminded me that other companies might go with other candidates (yeah, no shit, that's how this all works)

- Claiming that taking the offer would help *my* "mental health and financial stability" WTF? The offer was literally less money than I currently make. It practically came through as a threat.

Again, R & Seb belonged to a recruitment company that I would probably never interact with again if I took the offer, but holy shit had they completely soured the deal.

I'm still deliberating on whether I should let the startup know what happened because I don't think they ever got my side of the story. Seb probably just told them I ghosted him and was "playing games" or something.