Continued to a previous blog

A Rescinded Offer

When I was signing the offer with Facebook, they assured me that if I didn’t win the work visa lottery, they would relocate me to Canada.

In May 2022, I waited for a month and received a cold response from HR, notifying me that my offer had been rescinded. It felt like falling into an abyss, and words failed me. At the time, the overall tech industry job market was still active, and offer withdrawals were very rare. However, following Facebook’s rebranding as Meta and a stock price drop, the company started a hiring freeze. Still, they hadn’t mentioned anything about offer withdrawal publicly.

Graduation was just a month away, and the new grad hiring season had already passed. What should I do? I couldn’t sleep that night, trying to think rationally. I was drafting an email to HR and seeking assistance from a friend of a friend who is a lawyer with the wording. I was grateful to her for her help, especially since she didn’t know me.

HR didn’t reply to my email. I’ve lost my last hope. I was truly hopeless this time. I prayed to God, asking Him to grant me the offer. That night, I felt an incredible peaces. I recall it was a Thursday because we had a prayer meeting every Thursday. After the prayer meeting, my pastor and his wife comforted me about my situation. I jokingly told them I should work for them. I felt at peace, not just about losing the offer, but also about forgiving what they did on me, although they don’t need my forgiveness.

A Miracle

The next day, I posted my story on LinkedIn, explaining my situation and requesting help from my network to find a job. Surprisingly, my post went viral. I received numerous messages of concern, connection requests, and job opportunities from all directions. I hadn’t anticipated such an outpouring of support from the online community. Many people encouraged me that despite losing the offer, my efforts weren’t in vain, and my skills remained intact, enabling me to secure a new job through hard work. I was very touched by their kind words.

Around this time, a friend working at Facebook saw my post and forwarded it to the company’s leadership. A few days later, I received my offer back, and Facebook reinstated it. I don’t know what exactly happened, but my offer was back!

I couldn’t believe what just happened. From the offer being rescinded to being reinstated, just one week had passed. In that week, I experienced the coldes of cold and the warmest of warms in my life. Interestingly, nothing changed when I was crying in despair, but when I let go and prepared to move on, the offer miraculously returned.

I eagerly shared the good news on LinkedIn, along with my favorite Bible verse, Isaiah 41:10, as I experienced God’s faithfulness through it: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

If God hadn’t given this offer back, would I still believe that He is entirely righteous in my thing? I probably should, because the subsequent events showed me that in this world, there are no absolutes of good and bad things, unlike spiritual matters where good and evil are clearly defined. Things we consider good may turn bad, and what’s perceived as bad may transform into something good. When God takes something “good” away, we should avoid looking at it from a single and never-changing perspective, otherwise we’ll add unnecessary worries to ourselves. Just like Facebook’s offer, while it sounded appealing, but the company’s subsequent difficulties, which occurred half a year later, revealed its lack of stability compared to positions in mid-sized companies.

Vancouver or Toronto

The company presented me with two choices: Vancouver or Toronto. Going to Toronto had the advantage of the company reimbursing my moving expenses. However, Vancouver is warmer. I lifted up this decision to God, praying that I could make the choice based on what was more benefitical to my spiritual growth.

My pastor mentioned that there was the fantastic church in Vancouver, one whose pastor had written many books he had read. However, it’s a English-speaking church, which means that I’ll have to improve my English in order to grow. Without further hesitation, I decided to commit my faith to this church. After praying, I felt at peace, and the next day, I informed HR of my decision. I’m going to drive to Vancouver.

It’s interesting when I heard that the Puritans used to find a church before seeking for a job, but nowadays, many find a job first and then a church. I’m not saying I’m superior, but making such a decision requires a strong faith which I didn’t have a year ago when I was searching for internships and even 6 months ago when I signed the offer, but after going through numerous trials, I developed that faith in Christ step by step and decision by decision. He used all of these difficulties to purify my faith, removing impurities with each trial, building my characters, and shaping me into who I am now.

Canada, Here I Come

The company finalized my offer and began the process of applying for a Canada work permit for me. It took me almost 4 months to obtain it, including the month I managed to claim.

Since the offer had been rescinded, I never felt secure again. I wanted to race against time to start working as soon as possible. The fingerprinting appointment in the Bay Area only had available spots a month later. To expedite the process, my mother and I woke up at 6 am, drove to the Canadian visa center in Los Angeles, and embarked on the seemingly endless 300-mile journey along Route 5.

After getting my fingerprints done, we went to a Sichuan restaurant in Los Angeles and ordered the spicy fish dish, which we typically have every Christmas. I don’t know when I’ll have this dish with her again. I’ve already missed her.

2 weeks later, I was notified to provide them once more when we are back in the Bay Area. Ugh, it felt like an unnecessary ordeal, but I had to be patient. So, we drove to Los Angeles for the second time. Thanksfully, there’s no third call.

The last step was waiting for FedEx to deliver my passport. I was so eager to start my job as soon as possible that I had packed my bags early. FedEx courier finally handed me my passport in a late afternoon, my mother and I held hands and prayed, cried, and anticipated the day we’d be reunited. Saying goodbye to her and to my cat, I went on my last “road trip” in the states with my little car, driving up to the border.

Farewell, America! I’m grateful that I know God here and I learnt about technology. However, you made me lose my freedom, my dream, and separated me from my family. You made me start everything anew.

(to be continued…)