Week 10: Negotiating and Offer Letters

The offer letter is often the most important piece of paper you’re going to get from a prospective employer, but you might be thinking the same thing as just about everyone else: who wants to read legalese? It’s so boring and confusing! Luckily, an offer letter isn’t going to be as long or as convoluted as a full-on contract, but you still need to read your offer letter thoroughly. You want to research everything you are unsure about and negotiate everything you want before you sign that piece of paper, because once you sign that letter you’ve stated that you agree to all of its terms. You wouldn’t want to sign up as a temp worker if you thought this was a permanent gig, would you? In addition to making sure you understand every piece of your offer letter, you also need to make sure you save these documents! Keep copies of the emails or hard copies of the physical letters so that you have something to come back to if you or your employer has a question. The information contained in the letter will be useful throughout your time at the company.