If you have got to the final stage of your recruitment process ’offering a job to your preferred candidate,’ there are a number of items which would be wise in including to help the candidate make a decision.

What Should You Include In Your Job Offers?

Here are 5 items that you can/should include when presenting a job offer.

1. Salary

It goes without saying, make it clear to the candidate what salary you are offering. You may want to include how often they will be paid (weekly, bi-weekly or monthly).

2. Pension

The levels of pension contributions vary from company to company. You may know that you offer a great scheme, but the candidate won’t. Since auto-enrolment started in October 2012, unless it is their first job, it is highly likely anyone you are recruiting will have already contributed to their pension already, and will know what their current employer was contributing. Can pension contributions be made via salary sacrifice?

3. Holiday Entitlement

How many days of holiday does the company offer? Does it increase with years of service? Does the company force staff to take certain days off, in particular around Christmas? The legal minimum in the UK is currently 28 days.

4. Benefits

Do you offer things such as:

• Private Health Care
• Car allowance
• Work social events
• Any other perks of the job

5. Notice Periods

What notice periods are you offering? It is generally accepted that more senior staff will have longer notice periods from both parties. Making this clear in your offer will help your candidate make a decision.

Conclusions

If are really keen on a candidate, the job offer which you need to put forward needs to be realistic and match expectations. If you discussed salary during the interview process, offering a salary below their expectations is unlikely to get that great a response. Even if they take the role, they may move on quicker than if you had been able to meet expectations. Similarly with the holiday allowance; for more senior staff, offering the legal minimum with the potential to increase with years of service is likely not to be acceptable.

All elements of the package need to be balanced to make your recruitment and business successful. Salary is of course important but isn’t the whole picture.

Next, read How To Write A Job Description.