How to Accept a Job Offer by Email or Letter (Samples)

Here's how to accept a job offer. Accepting a job offer is an exciting opportunity for a job seeker. Before writing an acceptance email or acceptance letter to the hiring manager, the job seeker should check a few details in the job offer to ensure that they’re comfortable accepting the offer and moving forward with full-time or part-time employment. A job acceptance letter is an older form of accepting a job offer. In more modern hiring scenarios, a job offer acceptance email is more commonly written by the candidate accepting an official offer on behalf of an employer.

An official job offer is normally offered after a series of job interviews. When the job opportunity is being offered to the candidate. If there has only been one job interview, it is unlikely that a formal job offer will be sent. As a candidate, if you’re unclear on the interview process, you should express your concern with the recruiter or hiring manager before going any further.

Within the written offer, a few details should be present for the job seeker. The base salary or expected salary, the job title, the company and job benefits, a start date, and a description of the job role or expectations of the candidate's outcomes and the prospective employer agreed upon.

If a job seeker isn’t happy with the salary or benefits package, they should speak with the recruiter or hiring manager and begin the process of salary negotiation before writing an acceptance letter or acceptance email. It is best not to send an email to the employer, mentioning a better offer or conditional offer from another company during this process. This could deter the employer from wanting to engage in salary negotiations or altering the compensation package.

Communicate Once Receiving an Offer Letter

The first step for job seekers is to communicate with the hiring manager or recruiter once the offer letter is received. This communication is simply about receiving the offer letter and informing all parties that the letter and offer will be reviewed quickly. As a job seeker, review the details of the offer in-depth. If the offer is an employment contract, the job seeker may want to contact an attorney to discuss the agreement's details.

Decide on Accepting the Offered Salary

Review the starting salary or base salary of the offer. If happy with the offer, continue to write the job offer acceptance letter or email informing the employer of the decision to move forward. If unhappy with the offer, the candidate may want to send a counter offer email that outlines the start of a negotiation process (normally asking a small percentage jump in the base salary amount) to the potential employer.

Tip: Avoid using multiple job offers as a way of negotiating a salary. Expressing the fact that this is the “dream job” of the candidate but a desire to explore either an additional employee benefit or move the base salary up slightly is a much better way of handling the situation as a prospective employee.

If the employer is willing to negotiate, the candidate will receive a final offer or revised offer that the candidate can review and provide written acceptance of.

When to negotiate salary

If a job offer has already gotten sent to you, it's not the right time to negotiate a salary increase. While nothing is truly off the table. It's important to explain exactly what type of salary expectations you might have early in the process.

When you receive a written job offer, it should contain the details that were discussed or verbally accepted by yourself and the hiring manager. This might include details about remote working conditions, paid vacation time, severance, and more.

Accepting a Job Offer Acceptance Email/Acceptance Letter (Sample & Template)

Once the offer has been reviewed, the candidate is comfortable with the company culture and benefits, the candidate should write a written acceptance letter or email. After this email is sent and the start date is determined, the candidate should speak with their current employer and inform them of the new employer and new job (starting the resignation process of the previous job and ending the job search).

Email subject line: Accepting the role of [Job Title]

Hard copy letter

Most employers will offer a job by phone call. Or via email. And there's never a bad way to accept the job. Express your gratitude. And mention how important the job is to you. And make sure to ask about the next steps in the process.

When needed, ask about the terms of employment or terms of the offer. Or further details as necessary. For example, health insurance information, paternity leave information, or other salary and benefits information. All additional information that will be useful as an employee.

Receiving an offer in writing doesn't mean the acceptance letter needs to be in writing, as well. To write a formal acceptance letter, include your contact information. Like phone number and email. And write something like the following.

Pro tip: When sending a hard copy letter by email, be sure to use a clear subject line that alludes to accepting the job offer. Something like, "Accepting the position as X."

Job acceptance letter sample