You are an employer, right? Whether you are a small business owner or an established firm, you need to know how to write a job offer letter. After spending hours and hours going over the resumes of your applicants, you have now selected the best one and are ready to hire. You have probably done the interview and put everything in order. This is where the offer letter comes in. It may be formal or informal (in some cases), but learning how to write a job offer letter that’s clear and doesn’t cause unnecessary legal complications is key.
In this article, we will talk about the contents of a basic job offer letter and also look at the legal considerations to keep in mind.
How to Write a Job Offer Letter: The Basics
Whether you are hiring a physical employee or a virtual one as in the case of virtual assistants, if they'll be working with you on a contract or permanent position it is good to have your offer letter very clear. Putting the offer in writing is the final step and will also clear up any confusion over specifics, such as salary, start date among other details.
If your employee is a virtual one, the offer letter may be signed by email or maybe via a click of a button to accept.
A physical employee will just append their signature and commit to the agreement.
Once signed/accepted your human resource department takes over if you have one or maybe you may do everything yourself if you are a small business owner. You can address issues of taxes, benefits, company rules etc.
What do you include when you write a Job Offer Letter?
Now that you are ready to write a job offer letter, the most common elements to include in the offer letter are highlighted below. You can add other pieces of information that are relevant to your specific case.
Official letterhead or logo. An offer letter is a formal document and should be treated as. If you don’t have a letterhead or logo, our freelancers can help you get one quickly and conveniently starting Ksh 100 for the very basic formats. Just open a free account and post a task that you are looking for a logo or letterhead and you will get immediate assistance.
Formal letter guidelines. You know the format of an official letter rights? This follows the same guidelines but don’t worry, you can have someone do this for you on Apexlistings.
Salutation. You may start with a greeting or acknowledgment and put a clear statement like “Dear Joe, we are pleased to have you as part of Apexlistings”
About the position. Highlight the job position with a clear title, whether it’s full or part-time, work location, name of direct supervisor, and expected start date. This is where you can clearly state the work hours if the job is virtual. Ensure to capture the correct time zone as your employee may be located in a different country.
Salary and benefits. Write in clear detail what the expected salary is and include benefits plus what it takes to receive those benefits. If it’s a virtual job, indicate the hourly rate.
At-will status. Indicate that the employment may be ended for certain reasons especially breaking the law or company rules.
Closing remarks. Share important company contacts, and open up a dialog if they would like to address concerns. Don’t forget to welcome them into the company and make them feel at peace. You wouldn’t want to scare your new employee.
Other things to consider.
Do not make it look like the employee is hired forever and can’t be terminated.
Make it possible for the employee to work with you at will, such that they don’t feel that they can’t leave your company for any reason. But put clear guidelines so that employees don’t walk in and out of your company at will. Create a balance.
If it’s a contract, ensure the end date is also captured.
Communicate clearly about the period given to the employee to decide on accepting or rejecting the offer letter. This will remove unnecessary delays.
Our freelancers can help you write job offer letters and all other types of letters. Create a free buyer account and post tasks. Click here to check what other things you can hire for on our task board.