Should I ask an employer to put a job offer in writing?
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When during the interview process should I start negotiating salary?
When I get a job offer, what should I say?
How do I evaluate a job offer?
What can I ask for when I negotiate a salary and benefits?
How do I ask for more money when negotiating a job offer?
If I don't get the amount I asked for, should I still accept the job?
Should I ask an employer to put a job offer in writing?
What if an employer goes back on the deal arranged in the job offer?
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Karen James Chopra, LPC, MCC, NCC, has been counseling career clients since 1999 and has helped hundreds of clients change careers, find new jobs and deal more effectively with workplace challenges.
In addition to her private practice, she has worked for two national corporate outplacement firms: Lee Hecht Harrison and Resource Careers. These are the organizations that help people who have experienced a layoff or downsizing to find new jobs, and their programs are usually considered the gold-standard of job search technique.
Ms Chopra is a regular presenter on career issues, having taught career theory at the graduate level, designed and delivered numerous workshops, and served as a regular guest commentator on WMAL’s career radio show “Your Career Life.”
She is a career-changer herself. Before entering the counseling field, she worked for nearly a decade as a trade negotiator for the United States Government, first at the Department of Commerce and then at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Ms. Chopra holds a number of relevant licenses and certifications: licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the District of Columbia; Master Career Counselor (MCC), a designation of the National Career Development Association (NCDA); and National Certified Counselor (NCC), a designation of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). She belongs to all of the relevant national and local associations involved in career counseling, including the American Counseling Association (ACA), the National Employment Counselors Association (NECA), the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Career-Life Planning Network (MAC-LPN).
Her B.A. is from the University of Virginia, and she received a masters of science in foreign service from Georgetown University, and a masters in community counseling from George Washington University.
Should I ask an employer to put a job offer in writing?
Host: Should I ask an employer to put a job offer in writing?
Karen Chopra: Always get the job offer in writing and this is, for me, a hard and fast rule. It doesn't need to be a letter from an attorney; it just needs to be an email clarifying what the terms of the offer are. Make sure that you get it in writing in some form.
Transcripts
Host: Should I ask an employer to put a job offer in writing?
Karen Chopra: Always get the job offer in writing and this is, for me, a hard and fast rule. It doesn't need to be a letter from an attorney; it just needs to be an email clarifying what the terms of the offer are. Make sure that you get it in writing in some form. Either they will send you letter or they will send you an email with the title, the salary, the start date and often the benefit packages just attached but you want that in some written form so that you have it to refer to later. I've seen lots of clients take a job and within weeks of taking the job, the boss that hired them, the person who negotiated the deal, has left the company and somebody new comes in and because the deal that was negotiated was not your standard compensation package, the new boss doesn't want to honor it. The employee says, well, but that was the deal and the new boss says, well where is the letter, show it to me in writing and there is no written record of that and this has happened to more clients than I care to think about.
So I always encourage people to get in writing. Something can happen, people change, employers change, things change and people forget what the deal was or it gets fuzzy in people's mind. This is especially true if you negotiated extra leave or a signing bonus or something, flex time, anything that's a little unusual and not standard, make sure that there is a written document of that.
If they don't want to do it, you could simply say, well why don't I send you an email elaborating my understanding of what we have worked out here and all you need to do is either tell me that I have got it right or correct whatever you don't agree with and then send it back to me and print off both those emails, the exchange of emails, put them together. Put them in a nice safe place and when someones has got, "I am not sure that's what we agreed to", "Oh no, I have an email exchange that proves that this is what we agreed to.
" That is all the documentation that you need. Normally human resources isn't going to want to push it. If they have got a written documentation of what was agreed to, they will usually give it to you. If there is nothing in writing though, it could all go away.
Negotiating Salary
Can I expect to get a better deal when negotiating salary and benefits?
What happens if I don't negotiate my salary and benefits?
What if an employer reacts negatively when I start the salary negotiation?
How can I prepare for salary negotiations?
How can I get salary data?
What type of salary information should I have ready before an interview?
Why does an employer ask about my salary history?
Should I address salary questions in my cover letter?
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