Job offer - what happens next

rubble2

I have not been in the jobs market for many years but my daughter graduated last year and got a temporary contract with her old University Press. The temp job finished in March so she has been attending interviews since (trying to get into the charity sector).

She now has a job offer in London with a charity and I just wondered what the process was from here? She has received an offer letter which basically just states annual salary and start date but no other information. At what point should she be presented with a full employment contract? - would it normally be before she starts or after?

I am just wondering because at the moment she has nothing in writing regarding hours of work, holiday entitlement, pension provisions etc. Should all this be documented before she accepts the offer? I think this was all discussed at interview and seemed to be pretty much as expected, but wondered if it needs to formalised in advance?

Thanks

Undervalued

rubble2 wrote: »

I have not been in the jobs market for many years but my daughter graduated last year and got a temporary contract with her old University Press. The temp job finished in March so she has been attending interviews since (trying to get into the charity sector).

She now has a job offer in London with a charity and I just wondered what the process was from here? She has received an offer letter which basically just states annual salary and start date but no other information. At what point should she be presented with a full employment contract? - would it normally be before she starts or after?

I am just wondering because at the moment she has nothing in writing regarding hours of work, holiday entitlement, pension provisions etc. Should all this be documented before she accepts the offer? I think this was all discussed at interview and seemed to be pretty much as expected, but wondered if it needs to formalised in advance?

Thanks

"Normally" maybe but it all too frequently doesn't happen like that!

As she is not giving up an existing job it is perhaps a little less important. If she has real reason to believe they won't honour what has been verbally offered then maybe it is not the place to work. She could always include a brief summary of what was agreed in her acceptance letter and say that she looks forward to receiving a contract along those lines.

TELLIT01

In an ideal world the contract would be provided before the start of the job. That way it's possible to check that the claims / statements made at interview actually match what is in the contract.
The reality is that it probably won't happen that way. When I joined DWP I had to chase for months, as did others who started at the same time.

silvercar

I think it isn't uncommon to only have in writing the start date and salary. The full contract will come within a couple of weeks of starting work.

Silvertabby

Is the job offer still 'subject to references'?

LittleVoice

In order to comply with the law (rather than what may or may not be normal), the employer needs to provide written information about hours, holidays and so on within two months of the start of employment.


I know one organisation which even says in its job offer letter (which gives only pay rate, weekly contracted hours (if not zero), and job title) that it overrides anything which may have been said at interview! If there is no such disclaimer in the letter your daughter has, then perhaps she will just trust them.

Savvy_Sue

We give out our statement of t&C within 8 weeks of new people starting, but our offer letter usually includes salary, hours, start date and amount of leave available in the first year.

However, I've known people ask for more than we've given, eg wait for an unconditional offer and ask for it when it's not forthcoming, and there's certainly nothing wrong in checking any details she's not sure about.

rubble2

Thanks for all the replies, further conversation with daughter reveals that on the offer email it mentioned the contract (enclosed) which it wasn't.

My daughter has now been back in touch with prospective employer who have apologised for the omission and will be forwarding the contract next week.

Thanks again for the advice