Hiring Process Glow-Up: Ditch the Job Offer Emails and Do This Instead

Picture this: you found the perfect candidate, the interview process went great, and you've extended a verbal job offer. Now it's just a matter of putting it all in writing and getting the documentation sorted.

So, you reach for that trusty job offer letter template you've had for years. You break out your document checklist and get to copying, pasting, and attaching. You double check the email, try sending it, but a popup appears - your attachments have exceeded the size limit.

You figure out what you can send once the offer is accepted, remove the files you decided to leave for later, and finally send the offer. And then, you wait. You give it a day or two, follow up, but all you get is crickets.

What just happened to you?

Since the chances of your candidate being abducted by aliens are low (but never zero), here are two more probable explanations:

a) Your emails went straight to spam.

b) You've been ghosted.

In either case, the outcome isn't ideal. If your job offer email landed in the candidate's spam folder, you've just extended the duration of your hiring process. You're now left with two options.

The first is to wait for the candidate to check their spam folder, risking them never seeing the job offer and going with another employer. The second is to call or message them to let them know you've sent them an email, risking mild embarrassment.

However, if you just joined the ghosted employers club, there's no saving it. You'll either have to extend the offer to another candidate or go through the entire recruitment and interview process all over again. Worse yet, there's no guarantee the same thing won't happen next time.

According to research, as much as 44% of candidates have ghosted a potential employer before. 20% of those ghosted only after receiving a job offer.

Why this happens is simple - candidates have more options than ever before and higher expectations from employers. If you don't stand out in the hiring process, you might just end up having to settle for a candidate who wasn't your ideal fit.

Your job offer emails are working against you

Job offer emails are standard practice for a lot of companies. They're also outdated, unappealing, and boring. And if that's not enough, they come with a host of other problems as well.

1. Job offer emails are predictable

Just like you can tell when you get an application written by ChatGPT, candidates can tell when they've received a templatized email. In their eyes, your job offer is low-effort, so the new job excitement gets overshadowed by doubts about how much the company values them.

2. Job offer emails get lost easily

All of us get tens, if not hundreds, of emails per day. We're so used to ignoring unimportant email notifications by now that it's easy for important ones to get lost in our inboxes. On top of that, candidates often juggle multiple job applications at once, which makes your email even more likely to get lost in a cluttered inbox.

3. Job offer emails get filtered as spam

Due to the sheer amount of emails we all receive daily, email provider spam filters had to get better at learning what deserves a spot in our inboxes. Since spam filters are automatic, they have to operate on a set of rules to determine which emails are spam.

This definitely has an effect on your job offer emails because they often have elements spam filters flag instantly. If you send attachments to new recipients - spam. Opting for links instead, but add too many of them - spam. Suspicious subject lines with words like "congratulations" or "urgent" - spam.

4. Job offer emails aren't practical

Email attachments aren't problematic only because of their size or the likelihood of landing your email in the spam folder. They're also a practicality issue.

If you're sending candidates email attachments, chances are those are PDF documents. Even if we ignore download speed issues, you still have to consider that candidates don't sit behind a computer screen all day.

If they open your job offer email on a phone, they'll have a hard time going through the documents you've sent. Because a PDF is a static document file that doesn't adapt to various screen sizes, they'll have to zoom in, pan, and scroll to get all the info.

Besides the obvious downside of reading a document that way being nobody's idea of fun, there's another risk. By not having the entire document in front of them at all times, your candidate might miss important details that could make the difference between accepting or rejecting your offer.

And even if they decide to accept your offer, there's no easy way of doing it. The chances of your candidate having a digital signature certificate they can use to sign a PDF to make it legally binding are slim to none. This means they'll have to first send you another email telling you they accept, and then:

• The candidate has to print out the PDF (home printers are a rarity these days, so they'll probably have to go to a print shop for a piece of paper), scan it, and then send it back as an email attachment

• The candidate needs to get there in person to sign, which gives them even more time to change their mind and back out

• You have to send them a link to a portal you use for all your documentation, essentially sending them the same thing twice

5. Job offer emails come off as cold and impersonal

Relying on templatized emails can make your entire company look cold and a bit robotic. Since most job offer email templates are made to sound as professional as possible, they often come off as formal and detached.

While candidates are used to it, that doesn't mean they like it. Some will simply ignore the tone out of habit, but others will take it as a hint that your company isn't the right place for them. And if your candidate has multiple offers, this approach won't make you stand out, ultimately costing you an employee.

6. Job offer emails slow down the hiring process

As a form of communication, an email doesn’t convey a sense of urgency. Think about it - if you wanted a quick response from someone, would you send them an email? Probably not.

What about if you got a text message and an email at the same time? Which one would you prioritize?

In addition to the fact that they're just not exciting, job offer emails also don't allow for real-time feedback. If a candidate has questions, they need to send you another email and wait for your response, which causes additional delays.

Give your job offers a glow-up they deserve

Sending job offers via email is the same as creating documents in Word: slow, inefficient, and a bad habit. We're in a job market where 52% of candidates reject an offer because of a bad experience and 77% of employers struggle securing the candidates they need. You have to ask yourself what you can do to stand out and how to make your company look like a great place to work at.

For starters, you can stop sending job offer emails using templates that have been online for so long that candidates know them by heart. Instead, send them personalized, branded job offers that are easy to accept and let you embed your onboarding process.

Besides improving your employer brand and making you look more attractive to top candidates, personalized job offers are the best way to get higher acceptance rates. Make candidates feel valued early on, and you're on the way towards better future interactions. Make a candidate feel overwhelmed, confused, or unwelcome, and you'll end up increasing your time-to-hire.

A formal job offer doesn't have to be boring

At Better Proposals, we've known that for some time now. Using our own hiring process as inspiration, we've created modern job offer templates so you can also make it easy on your candidates to accept.

Instead of receiving an email with a bunch of attachments, your candidate gets an online document that they can open on any screen. It's completely responsive, which means your job offer will look great no matter the device it's opened on.

The first thing they'll see is a cover page. With a click of a button, they're inside your document.

On the left, they get an overview of all the document sections, which gives them an idea of how long it will take to go through the offer. Up top, there's your logo.

Each page features your brand colors and fonts, there are no misaligned elements. You can add images and even videos to give the candidate joining an idea of the team.

If your candidate has questions, they don't have to write them down for later and draft you an email. Instead, they just click on the live chat icon and you sort out the details in real time. And once they're ready to accept, they can. They simply type or draw their name into the signature block.

None of this looks low-effort, none of it is confusing. Just one smooth, easy process that makes your job offer easy to accept and makes the candidate feel good about choosing you.

Go right into onboarding after they sign

As an added bonus, sending job offers through Better Proposals lets you onboard your new hire right as they sign. Collect extra info, get them booked for a kick-off call - whatever your onboarding process looks like, you can start it straight from the job offer document. See how easy it is to onboard with Better Proposals.

Time to retire your job offer email template

If you want to hire the best candidate, you also have to look like the best employer to them. From the interview process to the employment offer, you have to make sure you're making the right impression. Otherwise, you risk your potential hire perceiving your company as the wrong place for them.

Instead of sending a long email like everybody else, show them that your company offers top-notch experiences across the board. Sign up for Better Proposals and start sending job offers that look, feel, and sound great.