- Understand how to choose the best candidate for a job
- Understand how to offer a job to the selected candidates
The Importance of an Offer Letter[1]
In August 2023, Camryn Spina, a 24-year-old with a master’s degree in global sports business, moved from Florida to Virginia for what she believed was a promising new job as a collegiate cheerleading coach. She had a remote video interview and then an on-site interview with the head coach. The head coach verbally offered Spina the job. Spina was told to submit an application via the school’s HR portal but that this was a formality.
Based on the verbal job offer, Spina ended her apartment lease in Florida, rented a moving truck, and relocated to Virginia, where the college arranged temporary accommodation. She began working on August 1, 2023. When she followed up with HR, Spina was told that her application was being reviewed. On August 10, an HR employee informed her that the college had decided to move forward with other applicants.
It turned out that despite being interviewed by the head coach, the coach had not followed the organization’s hiring process. Spina was never officially offered a job. However, after writing the HR department, she did receive $1,600, allowing her to recoup the money she spent on the move and payment for the week that she worked.
What steps could Spina have taken to verify her employment status before relocating, and how might these steps have changed the outcome?
In what ways could the college’s HR department improve its hiring process to prevent similar incidents from occurring?
- Loh, Matthew. “A woman moved from Florida to Virginia for a new job and worked 7 days. Then they told her she’d never been hired.” Business Insider, October 11, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/camryn-spina-moved-florida-virginia-new-job-never-hired-2023-9?amp. ↵