An offer letter is a short document that people read quickly, usually once, usually while excited. The salary gets attention. The rest of the letter decides things that matter almost as much.
The bonus paragraph
Read the conditions, not the number. A signing bonus often comes with a clawback: leave within twelve months and you repay some or all of it. An annual bonus described as "target" is a goal, not a promise, and most letters state that payment is at the company's discretion and requires you to be employed on the payout date. That last clause means resigning in February can forfeit a bonus earned the previous year.
When benefits actually start
Health coverage often begins on the first of the month after your start date, and some employers add a waiting period of 30 to 90 days. If your current coverage ends when you resign, that gap is yours to bridge, through COBRA continuation or a marketplace plan. Ask the start date before you set your resignation date, because moving your start a week earlier can close a month-long gap.
Retirement matching has its own clock. Some plans let you contribute immediately but vest the employer match over years. A "4% match, 3-year cliff vesting" arrangement pays nothing of the match if you leave before year three.
The at-will sentence
Nearly every US offer letter states that employment is at will: either side can end it at any time, for any lawful reason, with or without notice. This sentence overrides anything a recruiter said about job security. It also means the letter usually is not a contract guaranteeing employment, so promises that matter to you, a remote arrangement, a title, a review date for a raise, are worth having in the letter itself rather than in a phone call.
What is commonly negotiable
- Start date. Almost always flexible by a week or two.
- Signing bonus. Easier for a company to grant than base salary, because it does not compound.
- Vacation days. Often matched to what you currently have if you ask.
- Remote or hybrid terms. Get whatever is agreed into writing.
- Job title. Costs the company nothing and follows you to your next search.
Restrictive covenants ride along
Offer letters increasingly attach a separate agreement covering non-competition, non-solicitation or confidentiality. Read it as carefully as the offer, because it is the part that binds you after you leave. Enforceability varies sharply by state, and several states restrict non-competes for most workers, but signing something on the assumption it will not hold up is a poor plan. If a clause worries you, ask for it to be narrowed before you sign, when your leverage is highest.
Equity, if it is offered
Stock options and restricted stock units are compensation with strings. Three numbers decide what they are worth: how many, over what vesting schedule, and at what strike price relative to the current valuation. A standard schedule runs four years with a one-year cliff, meaning nothing vests until month twelve.
At a public company, RSUs are reasonably straightforward: they vest and become shares with a knowable value, taxed as income when they do. At a private company, options are a bet. You may need to pay the strike price to exercise, the shares may be unsellable for years, and post-termination exercise windows are often only 90 days, meaning leaving can force a large cash decision quickly. Ask for the strike price, the current preferred and common valuations, the total shares outstanding and the post-termination exercise window before treating equity as part of your salary.
What to get in writing
The letter binds the company; the conversation does not. Anything that changed your mind about taking the job belongs in the document: remote or hybrid arrangements, a title, a specified review date, an agreed start salary for a role you are being hired into ahead of a promotion. Asking is normal. "Could we add a line reflecting the hybrid arrangement we discussed" is a sentence recruiters hear weekly and rarely refuse.
Nothing here requires confrontation. "Before I sign, could you confirm the health coverage start date and whether the signing bonus has a repayment condition" is an ordinary email that hiring teams answer every week.
The Department of Labor explains health plan enrollment rules and waiting periods, and the Federal Trade Commission publishes the current position on non-compete agreements.