How to accept a job offer over email (templates and tips)

by Josh Doody

Even if you’ve finished negotiating your salary, you still might need to let your recruiter or Hiring Manager know that you accept the final, negotiated offer.

Unlike the emails you may have sent when applying for the job or negotiating your salary, this email can be very short and to the point. It’s mostly transactional, possibly with a single small request added in (see the variation to ask for a specific start date below).

This email can also help you make absolutely sure that you formally accept their offer and that you don’t have any outstanding actions to make things final.

• Accepting a job offer—email template
• Accepting a job offer with start date constraints—email template
• Tips for when you accept a job offer

Here’s an email template you can use to politely accept a job offer and make sure that you understand the next steps so you don’t miss anything.

Accepting a job offer—email template

Here is a chance to send a good-news email immediately after a successful salary negotiation!

You’ll notice that you’re delivering the good news and also ensuring that things keep moving along by asking about next steps. This is important because the salary negotiation process is technically over, but you have not yet joined their team. You want to make absolutely sure that you sign the paperwork and begin the onboarding process as soon as possible. This email template will help you keep things moving.

Don't forget! Make sure you replace anything [in brackets] with your own details and you should be good to go.

Accepting a job offer with start date constraints—email template

Sometimes you’ll complete the entire salary negotiation process, maximize compensation, and still have one or two things to finalize. Hopefully, you asked for the most significant things in your negotiation, but you might still have one or two small things you would like to shore up before you officially sign on the dotted line.

Start date is one thing that might be important enough to negotiate, but not important enough to take precedence over bigger-ticket items like base salary, equity, a sign-on bonus, etc.

But with good timing you can use this job offer acceptance template to confirm your acceptance and negotiate your start date.

Why are you still able to negotiate even after you accepted the job offer?

Well, although you have accepted the compensation package, you have not yet signed the paperwork, which means you still have some leverage in the negotiation.

Since they’re so close to closing this deal, they’re very likely to work with your Hiring Manager to be as flexible as possible on the start date.

Tips for when you accept a job offer

Lastly, here are a few tips for things to keep in mind when you’re accepting a job offer.

1. Don’t share your salary expectations

You may schedule a call with your recruiter, anticipating a job offer. But instead, your recruiter may ask for your salary expectations.

This can be deflating (you were hoping for an offer and instead got a difficult question), but it can also be an opportunity to make a very costly mistake: sharing your salary expectations.

If they do ask you for your salary expectations, this article will help you answer that question well while also leaving your negotiation options open later on: Salary Expectations Questions - How should you answer them?

2. It’s totally normal to ask for some time to consider your job offer

Although you might feel a lot of pressure to respond and either accept or decline your offer immediately, your recruiter almost certainly expects you to take some time to consider your offer.

You don’t need much time—a day or two should be sufficient—but you do need some time to evaluate your offer, think about it, and build your negotiation strategy to make sure you optimize it before you decide whether to accept it.

3. When they ask you how you “feel” about the offer, use the scripts above

Sometimes, your recruiter will make you a job offer and immediately ask you how you “feel” about it. You are not obligated to tell them how you feel about the offer!

The scripts above are perfectly appropriate to respond when they ask you how you feel about the offer.

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