Accepting a Job Offer - 4 essential steps to take

Before accepting a job offer you need to work through an evaluation
process. This protects you from making the wrong career choice. Take
these steps to make the right decision when you have been offered the
position.

Use the job offer acceptance letter to formally and professionally confirm your acceptance of the offer

The Process of Accepting a Job Offer - 4 steps to take

1. Get it in writing

First thing is to ask for the job offer in writing. It is always advisable to convert a verbal job offer into a formal decision date when they need your final answer.

Most employers are prepared to give you time to consider the employment
offer - they also don't want you to make the wrong job choice! About 3
to 4 days is generally considered an acceptable amount of time.

If the employer asks why you require this time you can
explain that you want be sure that you are making the best possible
decision for both yourself and the company.

You can follow this up with a polite written acknowledgment of the job offer. Go to this excellent Location - this is an important factor to consider when deciding on accepting a job offer.

How long is the commute? What are the public transportation options
between your home and the company? Look at costs of transport - both
your own gas expenses or pubic transport expenses. Look at time spent
doing the commute.

Hours of work - do you want a 9-5 job? What about overtime, meeting deadlines etc? Will you have to work weekends? Is there any provision for flextime? Is there travel involved and how will this be reimbursed?

Job description - no matter how good the package is you will become frustrated if you dislike the day-to-day work. Consider exactly what the job involves, what your responsibilities will be and what the expectations of you are. Will the job utilize your skills and knowledge, is the job sufficiently challenging? What do you like about the job, what do you dislike? Is this the sort of job you set out to get when you first began your job search?

Career development - what professional development opportunities does the job offer? Is there provision for training, tuition reimbursement? What is the frequency of performance reviews, promotional opportunities? Will this job take you down the road to your career goals?

Management - are you going to be able to work under this person? Can you relate to the manager?

The workplace 
- Before accepting a job offer consider the workplace. Will you be
happy in such an environment? Ask yourself if it is too noisy, do you
have a satisfactory work or office space, is it friendly, too formal or
too informal etc? Are your co-workers people you will be happy working
with?

The company
- you need to feel comfortable about working at the company before
accepting a job offer from them. What are the company values? Are they
compatible with your values and beliefs? Do you respect the type of work
the company does?

Job security
- this is something that should be considered before accepting a job
offer - you need to know that the position is a long-term one. Look at
the number of years the company has been in business. Look at its
profitability, is it growing, what is happening with its competitors?

Check news articles for company updates. Get a list of online resources to find out more about the company. Consider the job itself- is it a new position? How successful is the department?

Do
you have all the information you need to evaluate the job offer? Before
accepting a job offer be prepared to ask all the questions that are
necessary for you to make an informed decision. Call Human Resources to
get information that you may be missing or the interviewer themselves.

4. Accept or decline the offer in writing

Use our sample decline the job email to help you with this.

Essential Job Offer Pages

THE JOB OFFER

Acknowledge the Job Offer Email

THE JOB OFFER

Job Offer Acceptance Letter

THE JOB OFFER

Employment Acceptance Email

THE JOB OFFER

Decline the Job Offer Letter

THE JOB OFFER

Negotiate the Job Offer Letter

THE JOB OFFER

Professional Resignation Letter

Can you negotiate a job offer?

Research on negotiating job offers
shows that as many as four out of five companies are prepared to
negotiate compensation.

Find out how to successfully negotiate your job
offer with these resources:

Job Interviews > Accepting Job Offers

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