How to Accept a Job Offer Professionally

Congratulations! You nailed your interview, and got a job offer for the position you wanted.

But before you start celebrating, you need to formally accept your offer.

It might sound easy and straightforward, but there are in fact a few steps that you need to take beforehand.

In this article, we are going to explore the following questions:

• When to accept a job offer?
• What to do before accepting a job offer?
• How to accept a job offer?

And we are going to wrap things up with an example email for accepting a job offer.

So, if you are ready to accept your job offer just right, stick around.

When to accept a job offer?

First things first – you need to figure out whether you really want to take the job.

You might think that it is simple – you only take a look at the salary, and decide if it is enough for you.

However, there are many more factors that you should take into account before saying “yes”.

Make sure you ask yourself all the questions that you need to figure out in order to take the best decision.

Here is an example list of questions you might want to ask:

• Would you easily fit in the company, or would it be a culture shock?
• Would you feel good, or even feel proud, saying that you work there?
• Is the salary consistent with the market rates, as well as your expertise?
• How many vacation and sick days can you take in that company?
• What insurance plans does the company offer?
• Can you use a company car, phone, or computer?
• Does the company offer any additional benefits?

And the list can go on and on. Make sure you figure out all the questions that are important to you, and find their answers before you accept the job offer.

What to do before accepting a job offer?

You have already asked yourself all the important questions that would determine whether you will take the job offer or not.

But what happens if one or more of the answers you found out does not suit you?

In that case, don’t rush to throw away their offer and dive back in the job search, but rather schedule a meeting with your potential employer to discuss the details, and try to negotiate terms that suit you better.

Make sure you point out all the things that don’t suit you, so that they can revise them all at once, rather than sending the job offer back and forth multiple times.

Once you have the revised offer, and everything seems fine, you are ready to accept it.

However, if the revised terms still don’t suit you, or the employer refuses to change them even after your meeting, you should simply consider if the offer is good enough for you as it is.

How to accept a job offer?

Now that you know all the steps you need to take before accepting a job offer, let’s take a look at what you need to do to accept it right.

You only need to take three simple steps.

Act professionally

After initially receiving the job offer, don’t rush to accept it right away – remember that you need to ask yourself some questions to determine if the job is the right fit for you.

Instead, make sure you send a reply stating that you have received the offer, and you are reviewing it, and share when they should expect a reply from you.

Also, don’t be afraid to follow up your email with any questions that you would like to have an answer to, but can’t figure out for yourself.

You need to make sure that you provide professional and timely responses, and provide them with your answer as soon as possible.

Officially accept the job offer

Once you are ready to accept, you need to craft your acceptance email.

To do so professionally, you need to include the following:

• A clear subject line – you need something simple and straightforward, like “Job Offer Acceptance – John Doe”
• Express your gratitude – the first thing you would want to include in the email body is your gratitude for the job opportunity
• Official acceptance for the job offer – include a brief and clear acceptance of the job offer
• The final offer details – you would want to include the final details, especially if you negotiated some of them
• Your start date – also make sure you include your start date, in order to avoid any misinformation
• Good wishes – you would want to wrap things up with one last sign of appreciation, and a professional sign-off

Proofread your acceptance email

Last, but not least, make sure you read thorough your email one last time before you send it out. You would not want any spelling or grammar errors in your acceptance email.

It is always helpful to also ask a friend to take a look at it as well before you hit send, as they might spot some errors you have missed.

Example of job offer acceptance email

And now, as promised, we are going to provide you with an example acceptance email.

Takeaways

We are all done, now you know how to accept a job offer just right.

Let’s go through the important steps of the process one more time:

• Ask yourself all the important questions that you need to know before accepting the offer
• Negotiate any terms that don’t match your expectations
• Accept the job professionally:
  • Provide timely and professional answers
  • Official accept the job offer once you have cleared any details
  • Proofread your acceptance email

Check out our acceptance email example one last time, and go get your new job.