Sample New Hire Offer Letter: Fill & Download for Free

It depends on the situation.There are people who will tell you that it’s unethical.There are people who will tell you do what’s best for you.The truth lies somewhere in the middle.Look, the basic facts of life are this.We live and work in a Capitalist society.Workers are commodities, particularly in STEM roles, but pretty much everywhere now.Accepting a role and backing out after you’ve accepted is totally acceptable. It is all how you approach the discussion.If, after considering the role, you decide that you’ve had a change of heart, better to make that decision now during the acceptance phase then after you’ve quit your current job and started the new one.Most of us are really busy. We don’t often take the time to consider what accepting the job really means. Oftentimes, this realization doesn’t set in until you’re about to give your notice at your current job, or prepare to get mentally and physically ready to start a new role.If there’s ANY doubt in your mind about whether this is the right position, the answer should be NO. Never go into a new role with reservations, or feeling like you need to continue on with the new role ONLY because you have accepted the role. That’s not a good sign. You should NEVER commit to something as important as employment based upon guilt or ‘trade-offs’.There are lots of legitimate reasons for backing out after accepting a new role.New to the area, and unfamiliar with location and company.Excessive travel commitments, including ‘super commutting’ (3–4+ hrs a day).Contract vs. Permanent roles. No one really wants to be a contingent staff member.Inadequate benefits.Limited or no Paid Time Off.Joining a ‘project’ vs. joining a team and/or a company.Extensive pressure from Recruiters and Account Executives who are working on commission. If they don't close a sale by hiring you, they don’t make money.Limited / no opportunity for advancement.Money (and this is usually towards the top of the list, but it’s not the most important consideration after a certain level).Ability to be in control of your own destiny.Accountability to family for presence, stability, and enough energy to be available and not be brain dead from work or commute stress.The ability to live a life outside of work.I recently accepted an offer and rescinded my acceptance. I was put under a LOT of pressure by a 3rd party recruiter to make a decision before I was finished with final interviews and offers. I was asked to make a decision before I could asses the opportunities properly. This is, of course, exactly what they were hoping for with an aggressive push to ‘close’ my candidacy.So I made an initial bad decision by accepting the offer. After multiple offers came in, I had to evaluate them against each other on their own merits. I realized that I had made a big mistake with my commitment. I withdrew my application after 2 days of acceptance. At the same time, the company I agreed to work for made an aggressive push to start me the same week, even after I told them that I already had a job that I hadn’t given notice yet. This was a red flag and my radar was active and making me look at this situation in a different light. In hindsight, it’s clear that this was a tactic to get me to start immediately so that no other offers would be in play. Aggressive sales tactics usually yield very unpredictable results.When I sat down to prepare to give notice with my current employer, and to start to be mentally and logistically ready to take on the new role, what I realized is that I would be signing up for a 4+ hour daily commute each day. I was new to the area, and didn’t understand the time commitment involved in the travel back/forth to work.In hindsight, the recruiter and account executives both knew what I was committing to in terms of travel. They also knew that this wasn’t a viable work commute. No one in their right mind would sign up for that unless they had no other alternatives. They pushed to ‘close’ the sale because that’s the business that they’re in.I realized that there was no possible way that I could support that kind of commute. The next morning I sent e-mail and explained that I wasn’t able to accept the role and would be backing out.The blowback from the account executive was initially very strong. When I agreed to speak with her on the phone, things settled down. I explained that an aggressive ‘close’ on my candidacy really was a disservice to all concerned parties. If I took the role, I’d just end up quitting after a short time. No one could sustain that kind of daily commute. It was a Lose/Lose situation. I would lose my existing job, lose my new job and be unemployed. The client employer would lose the resource that they desperately wanted, and the recruiter and account executive would lose the revenue. In all likelihood I’d end up burning multiple bridges, including my own, in the process.We agreed to let the acceptance fail. They were not happy, but it’s my choice.There are sometimes circumstances that are beyond candidate’s control that result in backing out of an accepted offer.Aggressive sales and closing tactics by AE’s and Recruiters can yield very unpredictable results. For them, they just want to put an approved body in a chair so that they can pick up commissions and residuals.Good recruiters, account executives and hiring managers know that it’s not just about the sale. They will provide you the time that you need to make the best decision for your own needs and circumstances. If it results in you not accepting the offer, they’re generally ok with that too. People come and go from companies every day. It's a huge risk to force someone to take on a role that they aren’t comfortable with, for whatever reason. Good managers know that a single bad hire can ruin a team.It’s up to each person to evaluate their own needs and risk tolerance. Backing out of an acceptance is totally OK. It’s your life, your family, your money that’s riding on this decision. Honor has nothing to do with that. You can’t eat cheap nobility.

This happened in early 2013. I had just quit my job, and had a few months to waste while my German visa procedure was going on. I went through a few interviews in firms that had nothing to do with engineering, but got through all of them purely because I was an engineer.1) Call Centre 1 (The interview in shorts)-Me and a couple of my friends couldn't find anything worthwhile to do, and were driving around the city, when we came across a walk-in-interview for a call centre. We thought "What the heck, we don't have anything better to do", and so decided to go to the interview. We went to a cyber-cafe nearby, printed our CV, and walked in confidently. Two of us were in shorts, and the third one in torn jeans. As soon as we walked in, we felt awkward- everyone there was dressed-literally- in suits, and staring at us. Despite both of my friends asking me to walk back out, I somehow convinced them to stay.My chance for the interview came, and I walked in. The lady taking the interview looked at me, and then offered me a seat. After some 5 minutes, she was convinced that I was over-qualified for the job. I- trying out all the skills I had learned to convince someone- somehow managed to assure her that I really wanted to switch careers, and hence had no problem with being over-qualified and no intentions of leaving the job anytime soon.Then started the salary negotiation- she offered 13K a month. I told her it's waaaay too less, and that I want around 18K (randomly chosen). She got up, and went to bring her senior. 5 minutes of chatting with the senior, and he was willing to offer me 16k- apparently the highest he was authorised to. I told him I'd think about it, and walked out with my slippers flapping. He was still calling me after a month.Both my friends had already walked off without giving the interview by the time I came out. They later heard the story, laughed, regretted not having attended the interview, and decided to go attend one the next day. First of all, we solved the major problem facing us- being overqualified. We made fake CVs, with 60% as the final grade.2) Call Centre 2 (Interviewing the interviewer)The next day, the wolfpack decided to strike again. Better prepared- with new fake CVs and a (untorn) jeans on T-Shirt (none of us cared enough to wear a formal shirt- it was still a hell of a lot better than shorts)- we googled a call centre near us and somehow managed to coax the guard and get in.Once inside, we were asked to undergo a basic typing test- type out a sample paragraph. Easy. Wrote it, walked out in 30 seconds. The examiner assumed I have some problem:Examiner: Do you need something, Sir?Me: No....Examiner: So why did you come out?Me: Because I finished the exam.Examiner: Oh no Sir. You have to copy the complete paragraph.Me: I know. I did.Examiner: No Sir. I mean, write down the whole paragraph that is given on the screen.Me: I know. I did it.Examiner: Please come in with me. I'll show you what to do.(We both go in)(She sees the whole paragraph written there)Examiner: Did the last man who wrote the exam forget to reset it, or did you write it again?Me: I wrote it again.Examiner (still in doubt): Can you do it in front of me?Me: Sure.(Start writing, and within seconds she stops me)Examiner: (Looking impressed) I believe you. Let me check you score please.(Opens some scoring software: I am right there on the top- a highscore! I mentally high-five myself).By this time, it's getting late and me and my friends are hungry. We ask them to hurry us up, if possible (ever so politely), and they call us in immediately. After some chatting:Interviewer: We are willing to hire you for sure. Do you have any questions?Me: We haven't discussed the salary yet. How much do you pay?Interviewer: For beginners with no experience, we have a policy to pay 13K.Me: That's it? It's a bit too less. Yesterday I went for another interview with XYZ company, and they agreed to pay me 16K. I was looking for a job closer to my home, and so thought this would be good.Interviewer: But Sir, we have better working conditions than them. And we can give salary jumps faster too.Me: But XYZ is also a great firm. They might also give me a jump soon.Interviewer: I had actually also got an offer from XYZ once, but I am glad I did not take it.Me: Ah, that's interesting: Why did you stay with this firm?Interviewer: The work culture! I have been working here for 3 years now, and love this place.Me: Were you working somewhere else earlier?Interviewer: Yes, I was in Pune for another firm.Me: Pune is a good city to work. Why did you come to a smaller city?Interviewer: My parents live in Pune, and so I thought it's a good chance for me to become independent.Me: And you think living in this city helped?Interviewer: Definitely! I am much more confident in my abilities now, and have many new experiences.Me: So are you planning to stay here in this city, or move back to Pune?Interviewer: I would like to stay for a while. The company has offered me a promotion in 6 months.Me: So, will you change the company after that? Go for something higher paid, maybe? You will have better opportunities if you shift companies, right?Interviewer: Yeah, I thought about it as well. I am not really sure as of now, because I am really comfortable here.Me: But isn't it better to sometimes go out of your comfort zone and try something new?Interviewer: I agree. Let's see. I am still not sure.Me: I am sure you will make the right choice Sir. Anyways, it was nice talking to you. I wish you all the best!Interviewer: Yeah, it was nice talking to you too. I hope you reconsider our offer. Give me a call anytime you wish to.Me: I will think about it. Thanks. Have a great day!:DThere was a interview with KFC next day as well- we were eating at KFC, and saw someone being interviewed. We asked if we can participate in the interveiw as well, and a week later we had the offer letter in hand. But how that happened, my friends, is a story for another day!

Looking to source great new developers from GitHub? First and foremost, find a great programmer if you’re not one. It’s difficult to recruit for a job that you honestly know nothing about, and it’s too easy to get tricked (even subconsciously so).Paul Graham has remarked on the impossibility of the task when discussing the 18 mistakes that kill startups:So how do you pick good programmers if you’re not a programmer? I don’t think there’s an answer. I was about to say you’d have to find a good programmer to help you hire people. But if you can’t recognize good programmers, how would you even do that?I’ve recently answered a couple similar questions, so let me throw those out here, too:What are good hiring strategies for quality recruitment for software developers?What are some of the the best places to hire remote software developers?Which is the best way to hire a Software Developer?Candidates might claim they know Ruby or C++ or Python, but if you hear that and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , then there is no way to verify them. When you need to compare different candidates who know the same languages, your ¯\_(ツ)_/¯will only get more pronounced.Okay, so now you know what you’re doing, let’s move on …Code contributorsSites like GitHub are where programmers can contribute to open source projects. Look at samples of a candidate’s code before contacting them, and if you don’t have programming chops, ask a friend who does to help you look for the stellar folks on Github.Modern recruiting software like Breezy HR is a great bet for you here! Our sourcing Chrome Extension (Breezy HR Features - Source Candidates) lets you source candidates directly from GitHub and into your recruiting process3. Number one mistake? Not giving a test project.Never, ever hire a programmer without a test project. It can be easy to hire the first programmer that looks good to you—so you can get started, right?!—but wait to show them an offer til you see what they can doTry week-long assignments, or maybe bringing on the candidate as a consultant, or (if you’re pretty confident but want an extra layer of security) adding a probationary clause to your employee agreement. Resources like StackOverflow and Test4Geeks can make the testing process easier, too.Did you know StackOverflow has job boards, too? This won’t come as a surprise but Breezy HR can automatically post to all the best sites for the job you’re hiring for (including software development) – so you can get your open role in front of thousands of qualified candidatesBottom line: Find a developer buddy or five that will help you out. Search out programmers where they hang out, and test them beforehand. Using awesome, modern recruiting software like Breezy HR will help you organize, streamline, and ease the entire recruiting process for developers, from sourcing on GitHub through a coding stage and straight to offer letter. Give our recruiting software a risk-free try and see what I mean :)