After lots of hard work I finally landed an offer with a company that was going to sponsor me to relocate. Tragically, I suffered a loss in my family and now I’m going to be in US for at least another half a year. I turned down the offer and explained I had a personal issue and would not be able to commit to coming to Japan for at least another 6 months, but that I would still be interested in employment in the future.
Do you think this looks bad in the eyes of the company? Not sure how Japanese companies react to this kind of thing behind the scenes. Do you think employment at the same company would be possible in the future to gain sponsorship to relocate?
1 comment
First of all I am sorry for your loss. I was quite literally in the exact same position as you when I received my first job offer from a Japanese company. I notified them as soon as possible, expressed my gratitude to the company for the offer and to the people who interviewed me and said that I would love more than anything to accept it, however due to these circumstances I will have to decline now but will definitely be re-applying in the future. Their response was: “As soon as your ready, please contact us again”.
Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to wait 1.5 years, I contacted them again 6 months later and said that I would be ready to move in 6 months time, I had a quick chat with the recruiter to give them an update on everything and they regenerated an offer letter that same day.
Not all companies are heartless and they realise that real life happens sometimes. If they liked you enough to give you an offer, I’m sure that you haven’t burned any bridges by declining for a very legitimate reason.