The most crucial stage of the interview process is the extending of the job offer. The employer has invested hours interviewing and vetting their candidate. They’ve finally decided on the candidate that they want to join their team. They are putting all of their hopes into this one candidate and this one offer. To succeed with your job offer you must first nail down any remaining details and present the offer in the right way.
Pay
Some employers will touch on compensation prior to the offer stage, others won’t. It’s best practice to touch on this topic during the second interview and get an idea of what your candidate’s desired compensation range is. You need to make an offer that’s in your candidate’s compensation range. Otherwise, you’ll just waste your time and theirs.
The offer letter needs to include the following:
- Total compensation
- How that compensation will be paid (salary or hourly)
- Bonus structure (if applicable)
- Commission structure (if applicable)
- Payment schedule
Benefits
You likely haven’t touched on your benefits package much in previous interviews, so you’ll need to explain them in the offer letter.
Plan to include the following:
- Details on health insurance (dental and vision)
- Enrollment period
- 401k or retirement account (matching)
Details
The offer letter is a very important document because it lays out the working arrangement between company and employee. Be sure that what you have in the offer letter reflects your conversations during the interview process or you may end up with a surprised or unhappy candidate.
Cover yourself and your business by spelling out the following:
- Start date
- Working hours
- Personal and sick day policy
Process
In many cases, how you extend a job offer matters more than what is actually in the job offer. Follow this process and you’ll give yourself the best possible chance of getting your offer accepted quickly.
- Include all of the above elements into your offer letter
- Write it as a selling document for both the job opportunity and your company
- Schedule a phone conversation with your candidate and let them know that you’ll be sending the job offer over shortly before the scheduled call
- Send the offer letter to the candidate just a few minutes prior to your call
- Read and review the offer letter over the phone with your candidate
- Let them know how excited you are to have them on your team
- Ask them for their acceptance
- If you don’t get it, ask what questions they have, work them out over the phone, and close the candidate
No matter what you choose to do, no matter how you decide to extend the offer, make sure that you are as detailed as possible and that you are selling the opportunity as hard as you can every step of the way. Happy hiring!
