How to Write an Effective Offer Letter

Effective Offer Letter

Congratulations, your hiring team has reviewed resumes, endured the interview process, and has found a candidate to join your team! Now you just have to send out an offer and hope they accept the position! But wait, what should you write in an offer letter?

Offer letters are typically about two pages but contain a range of essential information, such as the expectations, conditions, and details of the job.

Before you spend the next fifteen minutes staring at a document with only “dear candidate” written at the top, don’t worry –we got you!

Read on to learn how to write an effective, concise offer letter that presents all the information the candidate needs. Then, you can focus on the exciting part: adding a new member to your team!

Why Send an Offer Letter?

The letter serves as an invitation for the candidate to work at your company. Further, it will make all the critical information easily accessible to the candidate as they make their decision on whether or not to accept the job offer.

By sending a job offer letter to a prospective employee, the employer makes the critical information easily accessible. This can allow the candidate to make an informed decision on whether or not they will accept the position quickly and confidently. In addition to these advantages for the employee, the employer also benefits from a prompt decision. These benefits may include, for example:

  • If the candidate accepts, the company has the opportunity to begin to onboarding process immediately
  • If the candidate declines, the employer can quickly send an offer to another candidate who would be a good fit for the position

First, Consider Extending a Verbal Offer 

A verbal offer can save time for an employer by ensuring the candidate is still interested in the position and willing to negotiate. Who wants to take the time to write an offer letter just to send it over to a candidate who accepted an offer from another company yesterday?

We recommend extending a verbal offer and securing interest before drafting an efficient offer letter. 

We don’t suggest employers extend only a verbal offer to candidates because candidates should have easy access to all the information provided in the offer letter. 

The Introduction

Let’s Talk Salutations

Employers should choose the appropriate salutations to greet the candidate. Consider the company’s brand voice.

If the brand voice is more casual, the employer may choose to simply use the candidates first names in the offer letter. If the brand voice is more formal, employers may opt to use a title indicator like “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” “Ms.”

The Opening Line

Similar to the salutations, an employer can make the first line(s) of the letter formal or casual depending on the brand voice or company culture.

The Body Paragraphs: What Information Should Employers Include in an Offer Letter?

Offer letters may vary depending on the position and industry but generally contain about three paragraphs. According to The Balance Careers, an offer letter confirms employment details including:

  • Job title
  • Job description and responsibilities
  • Schedule (i.e. full-time/part-time)
  • Reporting structure
  • Starting date of employment
  • Base salary
  • Benefits information
  • Acknowledgment of offer and confirmation of acceptance

Additional Elements to Include in an Offer Letter

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, depending on the state and/or employer, an effective offer letter might also include:

  • Policies: For example, “employment will be subject to the company’s policies, procedures, and handbook (if applicable) as adopted, revised or deleted from time to time.”
  • At-will employment: Explains that “either the employee or the company can terminate the relationship at any time, with or without cause or advance notice.”
  • Contingencies: “State that the offer is contingent upon a background check clearance, reference check, and proof of the employee’s right to work in the U.S., as required by law.”
  • Prior employer confidential information and restrictions
  • Your employee handbook

The Conclusion

Close your offer letter by expressing excitement about the candidate joining the team. Be sure to include contact information, a line for the candidate to sign as well as a date they should provide a decision.

Disclaimer

Think about including a disclaimer to clarify the letter is not a legally binding contract or agreement.

Let’s Review Examples of a Successful Offer Letter

Below, we’ve included an example of an effective offer letter (minus the additional elements listed above). We’ve written this letter as if we were adding another member to our team.

How to Retain Employees

Now that you’ve successfully hired some new employees with an efficient offer letter, it’s time to learn how to retain your top talent.Learn more about Culture Works and why we do what we do, here.

10 Unique Ways to Support Your Company Culture Through Human Connection

Human Connection Company Culture

The topic of human connection is more important now than ever.

Many of us are returning to the office. It’s been a while … Some of you might be thinking, “How the heck do we do this again?!”

Harvard Business Review writes that returning to in-person work can be tricky. “Whether you’re excited or anxious about re-entry, you can expect being around other people to require a lot of energy that you probably haven’t had to expend in a while. Why is in-person interaction such a drain, and how can you muster up the energy to reconnect with your colleagues?”

Harvard Business Review recommends getting back to the basics of human connection.

In this blog post, we’ll detail 10 unique ways to support your company culture through human connection during this time.

What is Company Culture?

First things first, what is company culture, and why is it important?

Company culture is defined as “how you do what you do in the workplace.” This includes both the formal systems and the informal behaviors in the workplace, as well as:

  • Work environment
  • Company mission
  • Leadership style
  • Values
  • Ethics
  • Expectations
  • Goals
  • And more

Typically, company culture is something you can feel (even as an outsider!).

10 Unique Ways to Support Your Company Culture through Human Connection

There are many ways you can improve your company culture. Prioritizing human connection is one of them. Here are 10 unique ways you can support your company culture through human connection.

  1. Kick Off the Week with Some Positivity

Chances are your company has some sort of touch-base at the beginning of the week—whether remote or in-person. 

A great way to foster human connection is to kick off the week by sharing a “personal win” and a “professional win.”

For example, maybe one of your employees went skiing over the weekend and didn’t break a bone. That’s their personal win! Their professional win could be something along the lines of meeting an important deadline or managing their time well during the previous week.

Kicking off the week with some positives helps team members get to know one another on a more personal level and start their week on a positive note. It’s also a great way to share and celebrate accomplishments!

  1. One-on-Ones

Prioritizing one-on-one meetings helps build rapport between leadership and employees. During these one-on-ones, whether bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly, you have the opportunity to learn more about your employees’ goals and experiences within your business.

It demonstrates to your employees that you care.

  1. Get Your Team Out of the Office

If distance allows it, get your employees out of the office. Take them out for a walk, coffee, drinks, the options are endless.

Fresh air and a change of scenery can help build trust; compared to having conversations in the same old meeting rooms.

  1. Encourage Conversations about Goals

Ask your team members about some of their personal and professional goals. What are their challenges and desires? How can you support them?

Some examples might include gaining the courage to speak up more in meetings or to better prioritize their time. Keep these conversations honest and light.

  1. Celebrate the Wins (Big and Small!)

In an article published by Forbes, they discuss the importance of creating a company culture where employees come together to connect and celebrate the hard work that’s been done.

It doesn’t matter if the win was big or small—it deserves acknowledgment!

  1. Ask a Community Question

Maria Leggett of Forbes recommends asking a ‘community question’ each week.

“Ask about a favorite vacation place, a most memorable trip, or even a funny story that happened at work. Describing the craziest call you ever received at the office can generate great responses and tell you a lot about how people handle the unexpected.”

This is a fun, easy way to foster human connection, thus improving your company culture!

  1. Practice Listening

Like, really listening … Active listening is a skill that, surprisingly, many of us don’t naturally have. When you’re in conversation with someone, it can be easy to get caught up in your own thoughts and distractions, thinking of what you’re going to say next—especially if you’re tense.

Active listening is a skill that can go a long way in creating authentic human connections. When you practice active listening, you’ll be able to hear what is actually being said, as opposed to misunderstanding, anticipating, or assuming.

  1. Encourage Sharing

Not quite like show and tell, but almost! As an employer, you should encourage sharing personal stories and interests. Consider talking about a new trending show on Netflix, who you’re rooting for in the Super Bowl, or an upcoming vacation at your next meeting.

This will help get to know your team members on a personal level.

  1. Polish Your Onboarding Process

The onboarding process can be overwhelming—which is why it’s important for executives to take the time to meet with new hires across the business, regardless of department.

This is especially important in the era of remote work, where employees can feel a bit more isolated than in-person.

  1. Practice Empathy

The tenth and final tip is to practice empathy! As the old adage goes, “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” This adage stands as a reminder to practice empathy.

When in conversation with someone, consider where they might be coming from. What is their perspective? How is it different from yours? How can you validate their experience?

Harvard Business Review recommends you “consider what barriers you may face in trying to understand the other person, like assumptions you may be making about them, what you need from them, or your own reactivity…. [By] cultivating a level of self and other-focused compassion, [this] can aid in navigating conflict or disagreements more gracefully.”

A Final Word

There are many ways you can increase human connection within your business to bolster company culture; above are simply 10 ways. Interested in learning more? Read on to learn more about how learning and development (L&D) can transform your company culture.

Top Proactive Recruitment Strategies

people sitting on a chair holding a paper

Today’s job market is HOT! As an employer, how can you attract the right talent and build your bench?

The answer? Proactive recruitment.

Let’s talk about proactive recruiting – what is it and what are some strategies your business can implement to do it well? 

What is Proactive Recruitment?

Proactive recruitment is exactly what it sounds like. If you’ve visited the Culture Works site or have been in the human resources space for long enough, chances are you’ve heard of it.

According to Ideal, proactive recruitment is “the process of identifying and engaging with candidates long before a position comes open.” This means they’re not actually “candidates” at that point. “Rather, they’re people with skill sets in a given geographic area and job role, and you build relationships with them.”

Proactive recruitment is a practical tool to utilize, and with remote work being more popular than ever, proactive recruitment has become even more tangible in the workforce.

Top Proactive Recruitment Strategies

As we wrote in our article on proactive recruiting to build a killer bench, most companies today practice a reactive recruitment approach. Reactive recruiting means not posting about your business or job until a position needs to be filled. 

Proactive recruitment searches for the right people before you need them and is a much more effective method. In fact, at Culture Works we believe building a killer bench can take six months to a year.

Here are our top proactive recruitment strategies.

Begin the Search

When it comes to proactive recruitment, the first thing to do is look for and reach out to prospective candidates.

Remember, you don’t want to be reaching out to just anyone. Ask yourself, what kind of person will be a long-term, engaged candidate with an interest in becoming an employee at my business?

This requires narrowing down your search and getting down to the nitty-gritty of who you want to hire in the first place. Consider partnering with your team to create an ‘ideal candidate profile’ for each future role that might need to be filled.

Find candidates by using:

  • Social platforms
  • Your candidate database
  • Social or networking events
  • Relevant communities and/or groups

Engage Prospects

When it comes to engaging prospective candidates, personalization is key. After deciding who your ideal candidate is, you must pique their interest.

Although you might have found someone or a group of prospects, hiring is a two-way street. Remember, they aren’t the candidate yet.

Engage prospective candidates by sending them a personalized message. You can:

  • Tell them about yourself
  • Tell them about your business
  • Ask them what they’re looking for in a job

Nurture Relationships

In sales, lead nurturing is “the process of developing and maintaining relationships with customers at every stage of their journey, usually through marketing and communications messaging.”

Similarly, in this phase of proactive recruitment, you need to develop and maintain relationships with prospective candidates.

Let the stats speak for themselves. According to Finances Online, 63% of candidates find employer communication inadequate during the recruiting process. Let this statistic encourage you to nurture relationships with prospective candidates.

Nurturing these relationships helps keep prospective candidates interested, and likely, with proper nurturing, your business will be top of mind if they begin to seek out a job.

Nurturing might look like keeping in touch through:

  • Social media marketing
  • Ongoing content strategy
  • Emails

Convert Prospects into Applicants (Then Employees!)

At this point in your proactive recruitment strategy, you’ve laid a solid foundation for prospective candidates and future hires.

When a job now opens up, chances are the individuals in this funnel will be encouraged to apply. After you receive their application, however, it’s up to you to make sure the experience with your business exceeds their expectations.

Josh Tolan, Spark Hire’s CEO and Founder says, “In a competitive market, the ability to move candidates through the process quickly can be the difference between making the hire and not.

Efficiency, communication, and understanding are especially key in the world of remote work. If you don’t have a team designated to streamline your hiring processes, consider implementing recruiting software to stay on top of things.

A Final Word

Surely, the tips listed above are not all you can do to maximize your proactive recruitment strategy. Read on to learn more about how your business can attract the right talent and proactive recruitment. And, happy hiring!

Count me in!

Practical steps you can take to make your company culture (and yourself) even better.

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