Random Thoughts Concerning
Your Job Offer

Until you get your job offer letter in writing, you do not have a job offer.

Companies aren’t in the business of typing up an offer only to have it rejected so by the time the offer is put into writing, they are usually fairly certain that you will accept it.

Otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered putting it into writing.

In other words, typically you negotiate the terms of the offer verbally and then once the terms are agreed upon, it is put into writing.

When this process is followed, the time to negotiate terms of your job offer is when you are verbally discussing it, not after your job offer letter has been prepared.

Again, companies aren’t in the business of typing up offers to be rejected or amended so if they are smart, they will confirm terms with you before sending you a hard copy.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to send you an offer hoping you will accept it and then have to go back and forth typing up amended versions until you are both happy.

Conversely it doesn’t make sense for you to verbally agree to your job offer and then suddenly ask for a higher salary or more vacation after you have the hard copy in your hand.

This is typically not a good strategy and could result in the company cancelling your offer if they don’t appreciate you asking for a better terms after initially agreeing to it.

Bottom line, until you receive a job offer letter in writing, you haven’t really received a job offer.

Getting something in writing – either in the form of a physical letter in the mail, by courier or in an email – is the typical way that a job offer letter is presented.

You need something in writing to prove that the offer is “in hand” before you can get to the next step of the process which is to resign from your current position.

I always advise job searchers not to resign or to even indicate that they have a new job until they have received the job offer letter in writing, have thoroughly read it through (along with me), and have received confirmation that a signed copy of the job offer letter has been received by the employer.

Imagine what would happen if you felt that a job offer letter was imminent, decided to resign because you didn’t want to leave your boss hanging out of loyalty, and the found out that for whatever reason, no job offer was imminent?

I have actually heard of this happening.

A candidate I know of (not one of my candidates!) resigned from their current position because they were expecting a job offer letter from a new employer but the employer changed their mind at the last minute. The candidate had resigned from their current job and now had no job to go to.

Unbelievable!

A job offer is not a job offer until a job offer letter has been received and has been signed, sealed and delivered to your new employer!

The actual length of the job offer letter could be anywhere from 2 pages (the shortest one I’ve seen) to over 100 pages (including all the legalese of the non-disclosure clause, non-compete clause and company policies!).

When considering a job offer, it’s always best to confirm any specific details that you are not sure about directly with the employer.

Also, if you have a lawyer or suitable business professional who can read your job offer and provide a second opinion before you accept it, this is a good idea as well.