A Malaysian man has gone viral on Threads after sharing how his job offer was rescinded just two weeks before his scheduled start date after he had already resigned from his previous employer.
The post by user @shahriduanr has since garnered over 196,000 views, with hundreds of Malaysians sharing their shock and frustration in the comments.
Signed in July, supposed to start in September
In his thread, Riduan explained that back in May 2024, he went through a series of interviews with a multinational company (referred to as Company A) in the engineering sector.
After completing background checks and salary negotiations, he officially signed his offer letter in July 2024 for a Functional Area Project Manager position, with a start date set for September.
Feeling confident about the move, he submitted his resignation to his current employer in July and began serving his two-month notice period.
I thought it would be smooth sailing until the end, but a storm hit right in the middle of the day!”
Invited to a meeting but not for the reason he expected
With just two weeks left on his notice period, Company A reached out and invited him to a meeting. Riduan said he was excited, thinking it was to discuss his job scope or to be introduced to his new team.
Instead, he was informed that the company was rescinding his offer and had stopped hiring altogether.
Shortly after, he received an official letter dated 15th August 2024:
“Jem kejap otak,” he wrote, roughly translated as “my brain just froze for a moment” describing his reaction to the news.
Why did it happen? Semiconductor industry downturn
Riduan later explained the full context. Company A was a consultancy firm hired to serve Client I, a well-known company in the global semiconductor industry.
In 2024, Client I faced significant pressure due to a global slowdown in semiconductor demand and major industry shifts. As a result, Client I terminated its contract with Company A.
Since Riduan had been hired specifically to work on that client’s project, the termination cascaded down to him, even though he had never set foot in the office.
He noted that 2024 was one of the worst years for global tech layoffs, with major companies like Dell (18,500 employees), Intel (15,100), Amazon (14,968), and Samsung (14,455) all making significant cuts throughout the year.
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JTK couldn’t help, he hadn’t even started yet
Riduan said he checked with the Labour Department (JTK), only to be told there was little they could do.
Because he had never actually reported for duty at the new company, he was not technically considered an employee under Malaysian labour law.
His only remaining option was to pursue the matter through civil court which he acknowledged would be expensive and time-consuming.
Who has the time and money to fight in court? Just have to swallow it even though it’s bitter.”
This was echoed by commenter @azaeffri, who noted:
“JTK or JPP has no jurisdiction to hear such case unless you dh report for duty. Alternative option you can go to civil court and claim damages but still very costly.”
He ended up going back to his old company
With no legal recourse in sight, Riduan did something that took a different kind of courage, he approached his former line manager and asked to retract his resignation letter.
Fortunately, the manager agreed. Riduan noted that his relationship with his former employer had always been positive.
In fact, when he had originally resigned, his manager had offered him a counter offer which Riduan had politely declined at the time, saying he didn’t like the idea of using counter offers as leverage.
That same integrity ended up being what made it possible for him to return.
He turned down multiple other offers for this one
WeirdKaya reached out to Mohamad Shah Riduan (@shahriduanr) exclusively for more details, and what he shared makes the story even more gutting than it first appeared.
What makes this particularly painful is what he revealed to us exclusively: he had other offers on the table at the time and turned them all down for this one.
The truth is, when I accepted this offer, I had several other offers and interviews that I turned down. Company A was offering double my salary, with AWS included, for a 2-year contract. I was confident that even a counter offer from my current employer wouldn’t be able to match what they were offering.”
His name was already on the org chart
This wasn’t just a casual offer either. Riduan told us that by the time everything was signed, he was already being introduced internally within the company without him even knowing at first.
There was nothing at all; no clause, no warning. In fact, my name had already been added to the team’s org chart, and the director had announced my name in an internal meeting. I only found out because a friend inside the company told me.”
His contract also had no clause or warning about the possibility of the offer being rescinded.
Instead, he was told the offer was being rescinded and the company had stopped hiring altogether.
Too stunned to even ask for compensation
When we asked whether the company offered any form of compensation, Riduan shared something that will resonate with anyone who has ever received shocking news out of nowhere:
There was no compensation offered. They just explained the situation and said sorry. I feel like if I had fought for compensation I could have gotten it. But at the time I received the news I was too stunned to ask for anything. I just blanked out for a moment.”
Back at his old job within 24 hours but the counter offer was gone
Rather than dwelling on his options, Riduan moved fast. The day after receiving the rescind letter, he approached his former line manager and asked to retract his resignation letter. The manager agreed.
I didn’t even get to be jobless. The day after receiving the letter, I immediately went to see my manager. No salary impact, but there was no counter offer this time. The manager had previously offered a counter but that was now off the table.”
He didn’t consult a lawyer or pursue any legal action because he didn’t have to. But he was clear: if his old company hadn’t taken him back, he would have fought.
I didn’t want to stress myself overthinking it. If the company hadn’t accepted, I probably would have fought.”
Netizens react
The post drew strong reactions from Malaysians, many of whom shared similar experiences or weighed in on the legal side of things.
Commenter @afendylatif pointed out that this situation could be considered a form of unfair dismissal since the candidate had already resigned from his previous job:
“This is more or less considered unfair dismissal since we’ve already resigned. Sometimes cases like this happen when an employee has signed the acceptance letter but suddenly doesn’t report for duty and it gets cancelled; there are cases where the employee gets sued. So maybe this time the employee can take the same action.”
@photosyndrome clarified the legal distinction:
“He hasn’t even become a staff member at the new company yet, hasn’t reported for duty. JTK has no authority on this matter. The case where an employee who didn’t report for duty gets sued, that would be a civil suit. For sure, it’s not industrial court.”)
A hard lesson about MNC job security
Riduan ended his thread on a reflective note, calling this one of his biggest life lessons and urging others not to assume that an MNC automatically guarantees stability.
Don’t think that all MNC companies are perfect. I’m sure there are many more people with cases like mine who just don’t share it publicly.”
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