Making a Job Offer
Making a job offer is the final stage of recruitment and selection. Once a candidate is selected, he/she will be issued an offer letter, which describes the designation, job location, role, responsibilities, remuneration, benefits, and a few terms related to the company policies.
Most HR professionals tend to believe that making an offer is a simple process, but in many cases, it is not so. Making an offer is a crucial part of recruitment and selection, because it’s a stressful and demanding process until the candidate joins the company, after issuing an offer. At this stage, a lot of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the HR with regards to the process after making an offer.
How to Make a Job Offer?
Making a job offer is a delicate process and it should be handled carefully. The outcome of this process can be one of the following −
- the candidate may accept and start working with the organization, or.
- the candidate may accept a better job offer from another organization, if he gets one.
Hence, the HR team should take quick action at his stage. The following points should be kept in mind while making a job offer −
Do Not Delay − Issue an offer letter as soon as a candidate is selected, especially if the resources are limited.
Put the job offer on the table − While issuing an offer letter, do not wait for the right time. Contact the selected candidate over phone and give him a verbal confirmation that he/she is selected to fill the position vacant.
Set a deadline to accept the offer − Once the offer is issued to the candidate, set a reasonable deadline to accept the offer. Take a confirmation from the candidate that he/she should join as per the date of joining mentioned in the offer letter.
Stay connected − Even after the offer is accepted by the candidate, it is the responsibility of the hiring manager to be in touch with the selected candidate, till he/she joins the organization.
After finding the right resource for the vacant job in the organization, the offer is prepared and released to the candidate. It is crucial at this stage to follow a correct process in order to close the deal and ensure that the selected candidate joins the organization as per the terms issued in the offer letter.
Preparing a Job Offer Letter
Once the salary negotiations are completed, the next step is preparing and issuing a job offer letter. During the confirmation of the job offer through phone call or mail, it is best to make the initial offer and discuss about the terms of the employment.
A formal job offer should include the following −
- Name of the employee
- Title or designation of the job
- The remuneration or salary offered
- Employment commencement date
- Roles and responsibilities of the job
- Terms and conditions (contract/temporary/permanent) of the job
- Compensations and benefit
- Conditions during the probationary period
- Additional condition, which includes legal, background verification etc.
Once the offer letter is prepared and issued to the selected candidate, ask the candidate to send a signed copy of the offer letter, as a token of acceptance of the job offer.
The process of recruitment and selection starts right from understanding the requirements, sourcing, scheduling, shortlisting, interviewing, selecting and finally issuing the offer letter. The process is not over till the candidate joins.
What Next after Issuing a Job Offer?
Employees usually have to serve a notice period before switching jobs. So, there is a time-gap of one month or so after a candidate accepts the Offer Letter till the time he joins the organization. During this time-gap, the role of a recruiter is important because the candidate may or may not join, even after accepting the offer letter! Hence, the recruiter should be in touch with the candidate through mails/messages/calls till he/she joins the company.
This communication and the relationship between the recruiter and the candidate will help the process to complete and reduce the risks of the candidate not joining the company. Hence, communication plays a vital role in the process of recruitment and selection.
The following steps are important after a candidate accepts the Job Offer −
Documentation process − This process includes collecting documents such as educational certificates, id proof, address proof, previous company offer letter, relieving letters, etc. If a candidate responds positively, then it is an indicator that he/she is actually interested in joining the organization.
Employment verification process − Collecting an employment verification document, which consists of the details of the previous employers and their references. It provides information regarding the behavior and attitude of the candidate.
Contacting the candidates − Be in contact with the candidate through calls or mails or messages, which helps in building a relationship between the recruiter and a potential employee. It also helps in knowing the status of the candidate joining the organization.
Resignation from current employment − As soon as an offer letter is issued to the candidate, make sure that the candidate resigns his current job and shares a copy of the resignation document/mail. Later on, do follow up with regards to the resignation acceptance document/mail from the current employer.
Following up for the joining date − Finally, keep following up with the candidate about the joining date, because it will help in knowing the status of the candidate joining the organization as per the joining date mentioned in the offer letter.
All the above points help the employer in identifying the interest and the seriousness of a candidate in joining the organization.
