Express Gratitude!

Whether through email, over the phone, or face to face, expressing appreciation and gratitude for the offer you’re given is the most important trait of respect and portraying your best professional self. While this relates to both accepting and declining offers, no matter how the written and formal component relates to your prior expectations, always make sure to showcase gratitude and thank each employee in the process for the time they’ve spent working with you. Also, if you plan to negotiate at any step along the way, expressing appreciation and excitement will set the right tone to step into the next part of the acceptance process.

Offer Evaluation:

At this point, you’ve received a written physical or digital copy of the offer you’ve been provided by the given company. At this point, it’s time to evaluate each component of the letter: what is the compensation, what are the benefits, do you have access to each of the benefits, how do the PTO days align with your expectations, are you encouraged to relocate, are you able to WFH, what is the commute like… and as you can imagine the list goes on and on! After mentally deciphering each of these questions, and maybe even writing down a pros and cons list, you’ll be ready to analyze your need to negotiate. We encourage you to create a list of concrete evidence (i.e.: experience, previous salary, relocating costs, etc.), prior to entering negotiation conversations so as to be as prepared as possible. Consulting with a recruiter or mentor at this point in the process may be your key to success! And remember, there is often some type of time constraint surrounding the acceptance deadline. Make sure to initiate follow-up conversations about the offer as quickly as possible so as to stay on the right timeline and not leave anything to the last minute!

Accepting the Offer

Finally, accept the offer! Make sure to include a few things in your correspondence: express gratitude and thanks for the opportunity, include verbiage stating that you accept the company’s offer, state what title you are accepting, and recap the salary and benefits that you both agreed on. Recapping the salary and benefits will help ensure there isn’t any confusion on either side. And ultimately…include the date you expect to start!

Accepting a job offer can be stressful at times, but follow our tips to help put your stress at ease. We’ve previously talked about what kinds of questions you should ask before you accept a job offer, so if you need a refresher on that make sure to follow this link!

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