Going to a good uni. Busting my butt for 3 years (plus Industrial Placement) in an Engineering degree to get a high 2.1Doing a masters and on course for a distinction.Interviewing with a company, passing all stages of the process. Made an offer, only to be withdrawn because of relatively poor A'Level grades. Despite glowing references from my tutor and a senior admissions tutor at the university.Thats annoying.

Mate. Market. Forces. Supply. Demand.Reality. Life. Sucks.

I do not get it! Do they not look at A levels before actually offering you an interview, let alone an offer?? Which company is this Disappointed?

... or had you witheld the A level results from them and they only found out once an offer had been made?

Name and Shame the company

A'Level grades were in detailed on the application form. The 2 years in which I studied for and sat the A'Level exams were the worst 2 years of my life. I let them know I had extenuating circumstances from the start.I was informed these would be confirmed. However, when it came to it, they did not want to confirm the existence of the circumstances, but my actual predicted grades. Which couldn't be done because the school I attended has broken up for the summer.Name and shame? International organisation. Starts with D.

eloite

Hmm. Doesn't sound like a Big 4 firm not to have systems for working with schools during the holidays, given they recruit people post-A-level at 18. Actually, every school I know has admin and senior academic staff in over the summer - i.e. the ones who can check predicted grades. Even the most junior teachers aren't out for a full six weeks as they have training.It sounds more like the "extenuating circumstances" smelled too fishy for the employer to proceed.

The only employees at my school are purely clerical and have no access to pupil information.The "proper" secretaries and support staff don't return until sometime in August.

OK, let's be practical. Without knowing the facts, it is hard to offer constructive advice. Based on the info you provide, however, it seems like this decision could have been taken by someone in HR, who has just checked forms and taken a decision based on rules rather than reality. It could also be that they have reviewed their requirements and are trying to trim the intake - in which case you are kn@ckeredMy advice is this. Make 1 attempt to resolve this matter - you want to get the offer re-confirmed even if you end up not taking it. You need an influential point of contact. Either someone at the top of HR or (preferably) someone you actually interviewed with. If they did not give you a business card, you should have written down their names and be able to work out their email addresses based on the structure of an email address (perhaps someone can advise as to how Deloitte emails are constructed). Do not write a long-winded rant. Simply state the facts in bullet pointed format, emphasise your sincere enthusiasm for the position and belief that you would be a strong contributor (perhaps spin the difficult years as a learning experience which has toughened you up for the challenges ahead...). Appeal to the person to intervene.Then leave it. Do not become the difficult candidate who becomes known across the industry as a trouble maker. If they do revise the offer, with a fair wind you will have found something else and then you can reject them!

If that is the 'real' reason, couldnt you say that you would like to start in 2008 anyway (ie standard deferred entry route thats offered to all) and that way they have a year to contact the school. Do you have any other offers? If not, you have nothing to lose doing this and if it isnt the 'real' reason you can watch them trying to back-peddle

Hard Reality and anon,Thank you both for your advice. They both offer avenues I had not considered.

Good luck - hope you get on ok, I personally think they gave you a ridiculous reason and know the London HR staff there are particuarly simple - be competent, fair and assertive - this is your future they're messing with. I would use deferring as your last card, and be quite matter of fact with it - they offer this option to every graduate who is offered a place (look at their website, there is a specific bold section promoting it as good practice). Good luck again - sure it is recoverable!

It is disapointing but it is what it is - any number of reasons could be behind the retraction of the offer. They may have found themselves over subscribed or facing a budget cut and the easiest way to cull is through educational achievement as it is a balanced field. I doubt very much that they would consider for one second calling your school to verify your extenuating circumstances. To them you are a grad, for that read 'number.'Whilst the idea of getting in contact with the director/partner who interviewed you is well worth considering you should see it as a slight possibility only.In reality your only option is to start looking elsewhere.

Disappointed, let me know if you need help in finding the email of the person you are going to contact (if you are going to contact him and the interview was with Deloitte). I can find it for you, if you haven't done it by yourself (Im not from the UK, so cant help any more than that)

anon2, thanks for the offer.Could you please e-mail me on: disappointed@trashmail.netThanks.

http://corporatewhore.blog.com/1944360/http://corporatewhore.blog.com

Can anybody working at "Green Dot Life" inform me whether the e-mail structure is the same for partners as it is for levels below.e.g. is it [first letter of firstname][surname], so for John Smith, it would be jsmith@.....Also, how would the firm handle multiple instances of the same combination (i.e. more than one jsmith)? Would I be correct in assuming the format would then be j2smith, j3smith etc?Thanks.

I would assume it's the same. I've seen very few e-mail systems where the e-mail format differs according to seniority. The e-mail address may go directly to an assistant, but it should still be correct.I'm not so sure about the numbering system.http://corporatewhore.blog.com

Hiey Dissappointed, Have you had any luck with this?