They offered you the job on the phone. Where’s the letter?
Ask when the written offer will arrive and what’s still being approved. Three short emails: right after the call, once the promised day passes, and as your start date gets close.
Ghosted editorialPublished 12 min read
On this page
- The right email for each moment
- What they look like with real details
- A phone offer is good news, not the whole offer
- Most late letters are waiting on something
- Three checks before you follow up
- What each email says, and what it leaves out
- Think twice before you hand in your notice on a phone call
- What their reply tells you
- The mistakes that make the wait longer
- A checklist before you send
- Questions people ask about a verbal offer with no letter
The emails
The right email for each moment
Find the moment you’re in and send the email beside it. Each one is short, names the date you were given, and asks a question they can answer in a line. Replace everything in square brackets.
The call ended five minutes ago
Write down what they said first. Then send this while the call is fresh for both of you.
SubjectThank you for the offer | [Your name]
Hi [Name],
Thanks for the call, and for the offer for the [Role] role. I’m really pleased. You mentioned [day] for the written offer. Is that still the plan, and is there anything you need from me?
Thanks, [Your name]
The day they promised has passed
Check your spam folder and the application portal first. Still nothing? Give it one working day, then write.
SubjectRe: their thread
Hi [Name],
When we spoke on [date], you mentioned the written offer for the [Role] role would come by [day]. I haven’t seen it yet. Could you let me know when to expect it, and whether anything is still being approved?
Thanks, [Your name]
Your start date is getting close
You need the terms before you plan around them. Ask for the main ones by email if the letter is still on its way.
SubjectRe: their thread
Hi [Name],
I’m looking forward to starting on [start date]. I still don’t have the written offer for the [Role] role, and I’d like to read it before then. Could you tell me where it is? If it’s still being prepared, could you confirm the salary, hours and start date by email in the meantime?
Thanks, [Your name]
Filled in
What they look like with real details
Jo, the recruiter, called Alex on Tuesday afternoon to offer the Support Engineer role. She said the written offer would follow by Friday. Five minutes after the call, Alex sent this:
SubjectThank you for the offer | Alex Reed
Hi Jo,
Thanks for the call, and for the offer for the Support Engineer role. I’m really pleased. You mentioned Friday for the written offer. Is that still the plan, and is there anything you need from me?
Thanks, Alex
Friday came and went. On Monday morning Alex checked the junk folder and the careers portal, found nothing, and replied in the same thread:
SubjectRe: their thread
Hi Jo,
When we spoke on Tuesday, you mentioned the written offer for the Support Engineer role would come by Friday. I haven’t seen it yet. Could you let me know when to expect it, and whether anything is still being approved?
Thanks, Alex
Neither email chases. They repeat the date Jo gave, so she doesn’t have to remember it, and they ask one thing she can answer from her desk, without checking with anyone first.
Alex’s notes from the call
- Called
- Tue 12 May, 14:10
- Who
- Jo, recruiter
- Salary
- €48,000 base
- Start date
- Mon 1 June
- Letter by
- Fri 15 May
- Still to come
- References, then the manager’s sign-off
Start here
A phone offer is good news, not the whole offer
A call saying “we’d like to offer you the job” is the moment most people have been waiting weeks for. Enjoy it. Then remember that the call gave you the headline, and the letter gives you the terms. Until it arrives, you’re working from what you remember of a conversation that probably lasted ten minutes.
Acas, the UK’s workplace advice service, puts it simply: as an applicant, you can ask the employer for a written job offer, and it can be difficult to prove the details of one that isn’t written down. Indeed’s guide to offers makes the same point from the other side: until you have a job offer in writing, nothing is official. Asking for the letter isn’t pushy. It’s how both sides end up agreeing to the same thing.
It sets the terms down
Pay, hours, place of work, start date, title. On the phone you heard some of these. In the letter you get all of them, worded the way the employer means them.
It shows what’s conditional
Many offers depend on references or checks. The letter usually says which, so you know what still has to happen before it’s final.
It gives you something to plan on
Handing in your notice, booking time off, telling another employer no. Each is easier to do with the terms in front of you.
Don’t negotiate on the call
If something in the offer isn’t what you hoped for, thank them, ask for it in writing, and raise it once you’ve read the details. Indeed’s guide says the phone call is not the time to negotiate.
Why it’s late
Most late letters are waiting on something
A promised letter that doesn’t arrive feels like a bad sign. Usually it isn’t. Offer letters pass through more hands than the call suggests: the recruiter, the hiring manager, someone who approves the budget, someone who writes the contract. Any one of them can be on holiday. Your email works best when it asks which step it’s at, not why it’s late.
- What it’s waiting on: A manager or finance signing off the pay
What to ask: “Is anything still being approved?”
- What it’s waiting on: Your references
What to ask: “Have my references come back? Is there anyone else I can suggest?”
- What it’s waiting on: A background or right-to-work check
What to ask: “Is there anything you need from me for the checks?”
- What it’s waiting on: The contract being drafted
What to ask: “When do you expect it to be ready?”
- What it’s waiting on: A recruiter who’s waiting too
What to ask: “Is there someone else I should check with?”
| What it’s waiting on | What to ask |
|---|---|
| A manager or finance signing off the pay | “Is anything still being approved?” |
| Your references | “Have my references come back? Is there anyone else I can suggest?” |
| A background or right-to-work check | “Is there anything you need from me for the checks?” |
| The contract being drafted | “When do you expect it to be ready?” |
| A recruiter who’s waiting too | “Is there someone else I should check with?” |
The last row matters more than it looks. A recruiter often can’t send the letter until someone else finishes their part. Asking “is anything still being approved?” lets them tell you that without sounding like they’ve dropped it, and it tells you whether the delay is paperwork or a decision.
Quiet isn’t a no
A late letter on its own tells you very little. A recruiter who stops answering at all, or an offer that changes when it arrives, tells you more. Wait for one of those before you worry.
Before you write
Three checks before you follow up
- Your junk folder. Offer letters often come from an HR system or a contract-signing service, not from the recruiter’s own address. Search for the company’s name, not hers.Look first
- The application portal. Some employers post the offer to your candidate account and send only a short notification, or none. Log in and check the documents section.Log in
- Your notes from the call. Find the day they actually said. “By Friday” and “early next week” lead to different emails, and repeating the right one is the point.Their words
If all three come up empty, write. If the letter was there all along, you’ve saved yourself an email that would have read as if you hadn’t looked.
Line by line
What each email says, and what it leaves out
The date they gave you
“You mentioned Friday for the written offer.” Repeating their own date is gentler than “it’s been a week”, and it reminds them of a promise without accusing them of breaking it.
One question about the process
“Is anything still being approved?” It invites a real answer: references, a signature, a holiday. “Any update?” mostly gets “not yet”.
An offer of help
“Is there anything you need from me?” Sometimes the answer is yes: a form, a document for a check, a referee’s new address. Asking clears it sooner.
What it leaves out
Other offers, unless you have one with a deadline. Frustration. Questions about pay or terms, which belong after you’ve read the letter, not before it exists.
If you have another offer
Say so, plainly and only if it’s true: “I have another offer I need to answer by Friday 22 May.” That gives them a reason to move, and our guide to asking for more time has wording for the other side of it.
Your current job
Think twice before you hand in your notice on a phone call
This is the decision that makes a late letter matter. Most people want to resign as soon as they hear yes, so they can start on the date they discussed. But your notice is hard to take back, and the terms you’re resigning for aren’t written down yet.
Wait for the letter
- You resign knowing the pay, hours and start date
- You can see whether the offer depends on references or checks
- If your start date is close, use the third email to ask for the terms by email first
You can’t wait
- Ask for the main terms in an email before you resign
- Ask which conditions are still open, and when they’ll be done
- Keep a copy of every email about the offer, with its date
Check your own notice period too. It’s usually in your contract, and gov.uk’s guidance on handing in notice starts there for anyone in the UK. If your notice is a month and the start date is in three weeks, that’s a conversation to have with the new employer now, not after you’ve resigned. Our template for asking for a later start date covers it.
What “conditional” means here
An offer can depend on things like references. Acas notes that an employer can withdraw a conditional offer if those conditions aren’t met. Ask what’s still outstanding before you plan around the start date.
Their answer
What their reply tells you
A new date
- Thank them in one line
- Move your reminder to that date
- If it passes too, the second email works again, with the new date in it
Something to do
- Send the form, document or referee details the same day
- Say when you’ve done it
- Ask once whether that was the last thing
A change
- The pay, title or start date isn’t what you discussed
- Ask for the change in writing
- Compare it with your notes before you answer
If the letter arrives and something in it doesn’t match the call, that’s common and usually fixable. Our template for when the offer letter says something different puts what you heard beside what the letter says, and gives you the email to ask which one they mean.
What goes wrong
The mistakes that make the wait longer
Chasing before the promised day
If they said Friday, Thursday’s email reads as nerves. Send the first email after the call, then wait for the day.
“Just checking in”
An email without a question gets a reply without an answer. Ask when, and ask what’s left.
Writing to everyone
The recruiter, the hiring manager and the person who interviewed you, all on the same day. Write to whoever made the offer, and let them chase internally.
Calling every day
One call is fine if email has gone quiet. Daily calls put the recruiter on the spot without speeding up whoever they’re waiting for.
Resigning on the strength of the call
If the terms change or a condition isn’t met, you’ve given up one job for one that isn’t settled. Get the terms in writing first.
Going quiet yourself
If they ask for something, send it that day. A form waiting in your inbox is a delay they’ll remember as yours.
Last look
A checklist before you send
Questions
Questions people ask about a verbal offer with no letter
How long does a written offer usually take?
It depends on how many people have to sign it off and whether references or checks come first. There’s no single right length. Use the day they gave you on the call; if they didn’t give one, ask in your first email.
Is a verbal job offer real?
It’s a real offer, but you only have your memory of the terms. Acas says you can ask the employer for a written offer, and that it can be difficult to prove the details if it isn’t written down. Ask for the letter, or at least an email with the main terms.
Should I accept on the phone?
You can say you’re delighted and that you’d like to see the details in writing before you confirm. Most recruiters expect that, and it doesn’t make you sound less keen.
Should I call or email to chase the letter?
Email first, in the thread you already have, so the date and your question are in writing. If a few working days pass with no reply, one short call is reasonable.
Can I hand in my notice before I get the letter?
You can, but think hard first. If the terms change or a condition isn’t met, you’ll have given up a job for one that isn’t settled. If the start date forces it, ask for the main terms by email before you resign.
What if the letter never comes?
Send the second email once, then try a short call. If nobody will give you a date or tell you what’s holding it up, keep applying elsewhere until the offer is in writing.
Know when the letter is due.
Keep the offer, your call notes and the day they promised on the job, with a reminder for when it passes.