Interview Stage

This series is the third and concluding part of the interview stage series. Our focus will be offer letter and acceptance.

When the individual is done with the set of interviews and the employer has decided to hire him, the next step will be for the employer to issue an offer of employment letter, to be accepted by the individual, if he finds the terms and conditions of the offer letter, suitable.

What is an Offer of Employment Letter?

An offer of employment letter is a written document issued by the employer to a successful candidate, communicating a job offer, on a full-time or part-time basis. In addition, the letter also contains various terms and conditions of the job offer, and an “acknowledgement/acceptance” section, within a specified period.

These letters are considered as legal documents, so the proposed employee needs to study properly, and be certain he is comfortable working under the terms and conditions stipulated in the offer. It is also noteworthy that majority of contents of the offer letter, would have been discussed and agreed between the employer and proposed employee, during the interviews.

Where the candidate is unhappy with the offer letter, he may decide to decline the offer or make a counter offer; and thereafter communicate same to the proposed employer. The proposed employer may also choose to reconsider their offer, if desirous of recruiting the proposed employee; or both parties may be unable to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, and thus end discussions.

Standard Contents of an Offer of Employment Letter

Job title: This is the role the individual is being employed for; e.g., Customer Service Associate, Relationship Officer, Sales Executive, etc.

Job description: this provides an outline of the proposed employee’s responsibilities, duties or deliverables.

Reporting Structure: this specifies in which unit or department the proposed employee would be working and the office he would be reporting to, in the organization.

Date of employment: this is the day the employee is supposed to commence work. A convenient date would have been agreed at the interview stage.

Work hours: this provides information on the working hours of the company, and anything the proposed employee should know about none work days, such as public holidays.

Salary: this area deals with the compensation approved for the role and would have been agreed by both parties (that is, employer and employee) during interviews. It states the gross amount (including basic salary and other allowances) the individual is expected to earn annually. Further, depending on company policy, bonuses such as 13th month and profit-sharing may or may not be mentioned here. This is because a company that is unable to pay 13th month, after including it in an offer letter, could be saddled with litigation issues.

Benefits: this typically deals with any benefits available to the proposed employee; such as medicals, travel, car, club memberships, accommodation, etc. In addition, a company’s benefits are related to the employee role or position; such that, the higher one is placed in the company, the better benefits are accruable to the individual.

Probation: most companies often operate a policy whereby the new employee is to go through a certain period, called probation. This could be a month, three or six months, depending on the company policy. It gives the company, time to evaluate the individual’s performance at work, and also verify references and any background work that ought to be done. The individual becomes a confirmed staff once this period is exhausted and the staff’s evaluation and background checks are successful.

Resignation / Exit and Termination: most companies will include their exit policy in this letter. It outlines what is expected of the employee and employer in the event of the employee’s desire to resign from / exit the company. Typically, the company would prefer a month’s notice where an individual wants to resign, to enable them plan/hire a suitable replacement and execute a seamless hand-over of duties and responsibilities. In situations where this is impossible, companies also have an in-lieu of notice policy, where the employee will forfeit his salary for that month or use his accumulated or unused leave days (if any) in place of the notice required for his resignation.

Further, the letter also provides information on termination of employment by the employer.

Acknowledgement of Offer and Confirmation of Acceptance: in this area, the company requests that you acknowledge having read contents of the offer. Further, the individual is to confirm his acceptance of the terms and conditions of the offer letter, by writing his name, appending his signature, and lastly, dating the document.

“Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Recite: And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not.” (Quran, 96:1-5)

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5: 11)