Help me! I think I made the biggest career blunder

[Anusha]

I was working in a Big-4 firm, 5 years of experience.

I got an offer from a product-based company (40% hike) – they are a leader in their domain.

I also had offers from another Big-4 (50% hike), a kind of startup (60% hike), and some WITCH companies (60% hike).

In the end I received an offer from a mid-size GCC-type company. They were offering a permanent remote role with a 55% hike. After talking to the employees and the director I got a good vibe, so I decided to go with them. The offer letter hasn't been released yet; it's still in the approval stage, but I got a proposal letter.

I thought the offer letter would come soon, so I trusted the director and HR and rejected all the other offers by my last working day.

Fast forward to today – I still don't have the offer letter and HR says it's in final approval. I've been jobless for 2 days now.

Either this will teach me a lesson I'll never forget, or it will turn out fine because I believed in my gut. For me it was hard to say I'm joining even though I knew I probably wasn't – so I turned down many offers and missed several interviews.

I'm still confident I can go back to the market and get another offer, but I'm losing time and money.

EDIT:
I'm a Salesforce Developer.
I usually get a hike at the end of May.
Current CTC is 20 LPA.
New offers range from 28.6 LPA to around 34 LPA.
The ceiling was around 32 LPA for most companies.

[Bhavana]

Praying everything goes right for you.

[Ehsan]

Without an offer letter nothing is final. Even today companies sometimes cancel after the offer letter has been sent.

[Lavanya]

Never trust a startup completely.

[Arif]

Best of luck!

[Chitra]

Don't worry, don't panic. Email the other companies one by one, in order of your preference, and tell them you can join immediately, even within a day. These days it's common for a candidate to reject and then ask to re‑join, and companies find it easier to hire someone they have already interviewed and selected.

[Pradeep]

Never reject an offer unless you have another offer letter. Never trust just words. The safest move is to check with other companies if the position is still open and, if it is, get a formal offer letter from them.

[Jatin]

Jobless for 2 days and already talking about losing time and money. I wish I had that level of dedication. Hats off!

[Tushar]

Please share some actual numbers, not just percentages, so we can see what the market looks like right now.

[Irfan]

What's your domain?

[Nandini]

Even with an offer letter they could pull it at the last minute. I would have accepted two offer letters. Companies and HR do this, so why shouldn't you? I would only reject the other offer after a few days in the new company and once I'm sure it's not a toxic environment.