Job offer and close plan

Run this when a finalist emerges and the user needs the offer shaped, negotiated, or closed — composition, letter, approvals, and the plan to a signed yes.

Inputs

The interview record for the finalist, the comp band for the role, what the candidate has said they value and any competing offers in their own words, and the approval chain.

Pre-close before you compose

Confirm what the candidate actually values — comp, growth, team, mission, flexibility — not money alone. Never build an offer on assumed motivations. Ask early and often about competing processes and why they are moving. Set the 24-to-48-hour answer expectation before the offer lands, and line up the hiring-manager follow-up for right after the verbal offer.

Compose from evidence

Base, bonus, equity, signing, benefits, start date, level rationale. Comp evidence comes only from the user's band and from posted or public pay data with links. Never estimate a band and never infer one from the company's stage.

Write the offer brief for the approval chain

The interview record in three lines. The recommended composition with one evidence line per element. The anticipated negotiation with the paired give inside the band. The escalation flags: an above-band ask, a competing offer, timeline pressure. Nothing with a number reaches the candidate before the approver says yes.

Draft the letter from the approved brief

Verbal yes first, then written: role, level, position type, comp, start date, probation period, conditions, expiration, and who the candidate calls with questions. Keep binding wording to the company's template and defer anything legal to the attorney with a one-line brief and the facts.

Handle counters with the comparison first

Current terms versus the candidate's ask versus your proposal, one evidence line each, then the paired give and the walk-away line from the band. Log every concession with who approved it.

Run the close plan

Dated, single-owner tracks: verbal yes, approvals, letter sent, questions answered, signature date. Coach the resignation — learn their exit process and notice terms in their words, and draft the handover note with them. After the signature, run accept-to-start engagement: paperwork, gear, team lunch, day-one logistics, one dated owner each. Draft the follow-ups with the open question, the agreed deadline, and who to talk to, and hand the signed hire to onboarding with the start date, the team, and the first-week owner.

Output

The offer brief, the drafted letter, the counter log, and the close plan with dates and owners. Update the tracker when each step lands. Saved to the hiring folder.

Fallbacks

With no band, say so and ask for it rather than composing around the gap. With a competing offer you cannot verify, note it as the candidate's words — INFERENCE at best — and shape the plan on what you can verify.

Approval gate

Drafts only. Never send an offer, name a number to a candidate, promise a start date, or grant a concession without the approver's and the owner's explicit yes for that specific action.