The most exciting part of a job interview is receiving an offer letter after the verbal selection. You anticipate it and waiting for it feels like a long time even if it has just been a couple of days after the interview. What is an offer letter? How to Write an Email to HR asking for an Offer Letter?
It is a formal confirmation of your hiring and it states salary and roles that you may agree to or not. Offer letters are letters that a company places before you with its offer and include the salary and job roles or duties. The company waits for your acceptance after sending out the offer letter. Offer of hire can be done on the phone too and in that case, you may end up thinking about when you can receive the written one. It is during such times you require to draft a nice letter asking HR when you can receive the written offer letter.
What is the difference between an offer letter and an appointment letter?
One should not confuse an offer letter with an appointment letter. The difference between the two is one, offer letters are those letters that the company places out its terms and conditions before a candidate and waits for the candidate to accept it or reject the offer. Two, on the other hand, appointment letters are those letters that a company gives to a candidate after it signs and returns the offer letter to the said company. Appointment letters are permanently made statements that a candidate has become one of their employees. The first step of making an entry to a company is signing the job offer letter. It is the foremost step of joining formalities.
What is the purpose of an offer letter?
- It seeks your approval on the date of joining and your formal acceptance of the role and remuneration.
What are the things mentioned in a job offer letter?
- Joining date to the company
- Last date of acceptance of the job offer.
- Mention of salary (which is open for negotiations).
Here in this article, the focus is on offer letters and how to write one.
Before writing the offer letter, check the relationship shared. The relationship and the company ethos play a huge role in writing the letter. For instance, if you already know the HR through some friends or met him/her in informal events like friends’ birthdays or other meetings and have had chatted with them informally then sending an overly formal email is going to be awkward and will not be received well. The best thing to do is find a middle ground between you and HR. Try to think from the HR end too. If for some reason, HR is unable to send you the letter due to an unforeseen situation or unanticipated problem, receiving a letter from your end may be the last thing he/she needs. To find the middle ground, get to the point and don’t make it a lengthy request, and please avoid being snippy at any cost. This may make you seem desperate or will give out the idea that you may have a counter offer awaiting. You don’t want any wrong impression to send out.
How to write an email asking for an offer letter?
- It has to be short and pleasant.
- Explain your situation on why you are enquiring about it.
- Send out your request to receive one.
- Always end with a thank you.
- Include your up-to-date contact details.
- Check your grammar and any errors before hitting the send button.
Here are some examples of writing a proper HR letter for asking for an offer letter.
This is a letter requesting an offer letter because you need it for relief from your present company. A company sometimes asks for an offer letter to finalize your exit. In that case, a delay in issuing your offer letter can be a pretty sticky situation.
Subject:- Request for Offer letter.
Dear Sir/ Ma’am,
I have received a telephonic confirmation of my selection for the position of Accounts Manager on the 25th October 2021. You confirmed that I will receive my offer letter in two or three days but To date, I haven’t received any such offer letter. I would be delighted to receive it at the earliest so that I can complete the necessary formalities to expedite the process of relieving from my current organization sooner. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you
(Name)
This example is about when the offer letter has not been issued according to the timeline mentioned verbally by your hiring manager.
Subject:- offer letter not issued.
Dear Ma’am,
I had had the opportunity to have an engaging and wonderful interview at your company last week, dated 7th August 2021. As per the discussion we had, I was told that I would receive my offer letter after two or three days. It has been over a week now. Therefore, I wanted to check on the status of my offer letter so that I can plan accordingly for my exit and join the company as soon as I can. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
(Name)
This example is about the time when you are already an acquaintance with HR and in such a situation, you don’t need to be formal in writing and state your query informally. Sometimes, the tone of the language change according to the relationship shared.
Subject:- inquiry on my offer letter.
Hey there,
I am writing this email to check on my offer letter status. I haven’t received it yet. Is there anything I need to be concerned about? Do let me know so that I can readjust my exit timelines if needed. Thanks.
This example is for the time when you have been interviewed online and you have not received any offer letter to date.
Subject:- My offer letter status.
Dear HR Team,
Greetings to all! Hope everyone is good at your end. I am writing this letter to enquire about the status of my offer letter which I was supposed to get after two or three days of my selection online. I had an amazing round of interviews with the panel and I am pretty excited to start working with the creative team. So, kindly update me regarding its status.
Thank you.
(Name)
This is an example offer letter inquiring about the confirmation of your selection in the company that gave a verbal selection but delaying to issue your offer letter which is causing you to doubt the selection. Such things happen and it is okay to write an email stating your concerns.
Subject:- Delay of my offer letter.
Dear (name of the HR)Ma’am,
In the last conversation, we had indicated already that I was elated with the arrangement done regarding my remuneration and the job role that you are offering. I want to confirm whether everything is finalized and if it is so, kindly share the detailed offer letter for me to resign from my present responsibilities. Or if there is a second thought for my hiring, please do not hesitate to let me know at the earliest as I need to plan accordingly. I do hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you in advance.
(Name).
This example is about a candidate who is passionately involved with the project that he/she is hired for and the tone used here is not that formal, assuming that the HR and the candidate have a good rapport and are friendly towards each other.
Subject: “Follow up on coordinator job offer letter.
Hello Sir,
I hope you are doing well. I am thrilled to be selected for a coordinator position in your esteemed company and I know you are probably busy with your tight schedule but I wanted to check in on the status of my offer letter which we had discussed last week. I am excited to start the project with the team so I need to know if there is anything I could do at my end to speed up the process of receiving the formal offer letter. I would be happy to provide any additional information, if you require it, to help you smoothen the process.
Thank you
(Name)
Conclusion
An offer letter is needed to move to the next step and most probably you are one of those with options waiting for you and you need to make a good decision based on the offer letters. There is that factor but a delay in sending the offer letter happens and in such situations, one has to learn to write a polite and crisp email asking for it.
Sometimes an HR may have a lot on their plates so wait out a good number of days, like say a week and send the email, if after a couple of days, there is no reply, in that case, you can give a courtesy call. But make the call, the last resort. One smart thing to do is ask directly for the procedures regarding the offer letter issuance of the company, right after selecting. After receiving the preliminary offer you need to thank them in advance for the formal offer letter and get to know about the status of it but maintain your position by keeping your head down by not showing that you are desperately in need of it.