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Getting a new employee on board is always exciting! Both for you and your new employee. But how do you ensure that this excitement is maintained through great experiences and a seamless onboarding? In this blog, I have focused on the appointment letter. This is the letter you send to your candidate once you have selected them for the job.

You can even download the letter template and customise it based on your requirements.

I have covered the following,

• What is an appointment letter?
• What’s the difference between an appointment letter and an offer letter?
• What should you include in an appointment letter?
• When should you give the candidate an appointment letter?
• Dos and Don’ts of an appointment letter
• Summary
• FAQs

Download the appointment letter template for free now!

What is an appointment letter?

An appointment letter is an HR letter that you send out to a candidate you have selected for a job. It is a formal document issued by the organization that has selected the candidate. It confirms that the candidate has been “appointed” for the job they applied for.

An employment contract is also another name for this letter.

Typically, when a candidate finishes a successful selection process, HR gives them an offer letter. This is the first document they receive from the company. After that, the candidate accepts or rejects the offer. Then, the HR or employer may (or may not) negotiate the salary with the employee. After ironing out all the finer details, HR rolls out the employment contract to the candidate. This contains all confirmed details of the job for the employee.

What’s the difference between an appointment letter and an offer letter?

While both these are written at the same time in the employee life cycle, the purpose of writing them a very different.

An offer letter is written to a selected candidate for the sole purpose of telling them that they have been selected for the job role.

While, on the other hand, an appointment letter is written and sent to the candidate as proof of employment. It often contains details about the job. Information such as job title, location, job description, date of joining, salary, stipend or package and so on (the next section of this blog includes a list of things to include).

How to write an appointment letter to employee? (What should you include)

Now that we know what an employment contract is, let us deep dive into what we should include in the letter. So, let’s have a look!

1. Start by adding the company header
2. Congratulatory statement for the new employee
3. Employee’s job title or job role
4. Employment type (full time, on probation or part-time and so on)
5. Job description
6. Date of joining. This should also include details about the candidate being required to come early on the first day (if necessary)
7. Job location (Apart from the regular offline, online hybrid work mode, mention the geographical location and postal address in case the candidate needs to travel to some new location)
8. You should include the conditions under which the employee has been given the job. (In a lot of cases, say you’re hiring a fresher, you require them to maintain a minimum academic grade until they graduate and join your company. Other cases may include other conditions under which an employee is hired. It should be mentioned here)
9. Typical working hours
10. Include next steps and deadlines for them
11. Documents to be submitted
12. Mention employee’s chances of getting transferred by everyone
13. Employee salary along with the salary structure and other benefits
14. Additional information such as dress code 
15. Your phone number or email id so they can contact you in case of any doubts
16. Be sure to conclude the letter with the company stamp or seal (as per company policy)

When should you give an appointment letter to employee?

An appointment letter can either be written by the HR manager, team lead or department manager or even by the founder (in the case of smaller companies).

An appointment letter is usually given out to the candidate after the offer letter.

It is written on the official company letterhead. The norm is that the employer signs and keeps one copy with himself or herself while the employee (newly joining candidate) also keeps a signed copy with himself/herself)

An appointment letter is usually given to the candidate on their first day of joining.

Dos and Don’ts 

Now, here are a few dos and don’ts to keep in mind while writing an employment contract

• Be as clear and precise as possible. Don’t leave out the necessary information just to keep the candidate guessing. Give as many details as you can, wherever possible and don’t leave anything up for guessing.
• Ensure the tone of the appointment letter is happy and excited. Remember, this is a very exciting time for your new candidate.
• Keep it brief and genuine. Don’t go on and on about how you think they’ll do such an amazing job with the new role. Here, short and sweet is the way to go!
• Grammatical or linguistic errors are a total no no! There’s nothing worse than an error or a typo in the to show the candidate that you don’t care
• Don’t use language that makes the appointment letter sound like a contract. I know I said that the employment contract is a contract and should be formal. But if you make it sound too formal, it might scare the candidate into thinking that you are way too particular about unnecessary things. So make it sound friendly.
• Lastly, don’t forget to add your phone number or email id at the end of the appointment letter so that the candidate can get in touch with you if they have any queries or doubts.

How to write an appointment letter – Summary

You now know how to write the perfect appointment letter to get your employee excited!

But why do through the trouble?

Click here to download the appointment letter template

or on the image below to sign up with Asanify where you can use pre-existing templates that can be auto-fill through our HRMS based on your requirements

FAQs

Not to be considered as tax, legal, financial or HR advice. Regulations change over time so please consult a lawyer, accountant  or Labour Law  expert for specific guidance.