Confirm the decision and conditions
Before an offer, resolve the scorecard, required experience, work location, compensation approvals and any employer-required verification. Do not ask a candidate to accept material terms that remain undecided.
Communicate one approved version
Give the candidate a consistent explanation of role, reporting relationship, compensation, benefits, schedule and start-date process. Identify the employer contact who can answer questions and approve changes.
Plan the first weeks
Name the onboarding owner, first-day logistics, initial matters or projects, technology access and early feedback checkpoints. An accepted offer is not the end of the hiring process.
Keep the hiring decision with the employer
BEGHR helps employers prepare permanent-hire searches. The employer decides whom to hire and directly employs the successful person. Scope, fees, candidate ownership, timing and any replacement terms are established in the written engagement before a search begins.
The offer checklist
Nothing on this list should still be open when the offer is made.
- Compensation package approved, including bonus structure and any exception for this candidate.
- Title, reporting line, office address and attendance pattern confirmed in writing.
- Admission and standing verified through the District of Columbia Bar; any discipline or restriction resolved with the authority.
- Conflicts check completed where the firm or department requires one.
- Background check or other employer-required verification scheduled with the candidate’s consent.
- Start date range agreed around the candidate’s notice period.
- Offer letter drafted with the acceptance deadline, usually three to five business days.
- One named employer contact who can answer questions and approve changes.
Verbal first, written inside a day
Make the offer by phone through the person the candidate will report to, with the recruiter aware of the timing. Cover the package, the title, the location and the start-date expectation, then send the written offer the same day or the next morning. A written offer that arrives a week after the call reads as hesitation; employed candidates use that week to listen to their current firm.
Counteroffers
Expect one. Most arrive within 48 hours of the candidate’s resignation. Prepare the candidate for it before they resign: the reasons they entered the search have not changed, and a counteroffer is a reaction to the resignation rather than a plan for their career. Decide the firm’s own position in advance: the offer is final, or there is a defined ceiling for one response. Do not improvise a second package on the phone.
From acceptance to the first week
Confirm the start date in writing once notice is given. Keep contact during the notice period: a welcome note from the practice group, the onboarding schedule, technology access and the first matters or projects. Name the onboarding owner and the first-month check-in. A placed attorney or paralegal who hears nothing for four weeks is the most common early departure, and the 45-day replacement guarantee is a backstop, not a plan.