You went through the whole recruitment funnel and at the end… Congratulations, you got the job! Now you just have to accept it formally.
This step can be delicate, especially for those who don’t have much experience. I mean, it’s not just like saying “OK, I agree to work for you”, in particular if you want to look brilliant and professional.
Accepting a job offer verbally
It is indeed good to accept a job offer verbally and to confirm your availability.
It is very common that the person that you met during the interview call you by phone to announce that you have been chosen. Usually, in that call the HR will present you also the complete details of the job offer, that will be also summarized in a later email.
Of course, you’re not obligated to give the HR an immediate answer, you will have at least a couple of days to evaluate the job and decide whether to accept it or not. Sometimes HRs can be a bit pushy, trying to get your answer immediately (particularly for urgent jobs), but don’t panic: you can always ask for some few days to evaluate the details of the offer.
The important thing here is not taking too much time: if you tell the HR that the next Monday you will give the answer, do not wait till 11.59pm of that same Monday to send the confirmation, but try to send it on Sunday instead, or even earlier. No company will be happy in seeing that you’re way too uncertain. However, it is absolutely normal to ask for a couple of day to think about the offer.
In short, as soon as you decide, communicate your decision to the company. It is important that this communication is written in an email, but if you want you can also make a call to the one that contacted you to present the offer.
Accepting a job in written form
Particularly for high level jobs, it is extremely recommended to send an email to formalize the acceptance. Before that, be sure that you received the written proposal (don’t be OK with what the HR may have told you at the phone).
So what now? You can call the person that interviewed you, communicate that you accept the job and that they will soon receive a job acceptance letter. You should also ask for any additional information if you’re not sure about all the details. Morevoer, it would be nice to communicate this good new to all the people attending the interview.
For what concerns the letter, you should really be clear and concise.
For example, you can follow this structure for your job acceptance letter:
- Say thanks to the firm for the opportunity.
- Include all the informations related to your hire, like salary and start date.
- Kindly ask if you can help somehow with all the paperwork.
- End the letter and officially accept the job offer.
- In the closing, try to look motivated and eager to start the job.
Please (please!) just before sending it out check grammar and spelling more than once – typos are the most hated errors, because they show carelessness and superficiality. It would be useful to let someone else read this text, just to be sure. This way the outcome will be clean, precise and professional.
A job acceptance letter is not only a way to record your answer and the job details, but it is also a way to thank all the people that chose you among all the candidates. It is therefore important to write and address the letter in the proper way.
I wish you good luck with your job acceptance letter and with your new job!
