Questions to Ask After Job Offer
Questions for the window between receiving an offer and accepting it, covering what the written offer must contain, how pay and bonus are actually calculated, the clauses you are being asked to sign, and what the role is really for.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Could you send the full offer in writing, including everything we discussed verbally?
Why ask it
Verbal terms disappear. Anything agreed on a call, such as a start date, a title, remote days or a review at six months, only survives if it appears in the document, and asking is entirely routine.
When do you need my answer, and is there any flexibility on that date?
Why ask it
Deadlines on offers are usually softer than they sound, and asking is not a refusal. A company unwilling to give you a few days to consider a decision of this size is showing you how it treats people once they are inside.
How was the base salary set, and where does it sit in the band for this level?
Why ask it
The band matters more than the number, because it determines your ceiling and your next few increases. If you are placed at the bottom of a wide band, ask what it would take to move up it and when that would be considered.
How is the bonus calculated, and what did it actually pay out on this team last year?
Why ask it
Target and actual are different numbers, and only one of them is in the offer letter. A team that consistently pays below target has a compensation problem the letter will not show you.
If there is equity, how many shares, over what schedule, and at what current valuation?
Why ask it
A percentage or a dollar figure without a share count and a strike price cannot be evaluated. Ask about the vesting schedule, any cliff, and what happens to unvested equity if you leave or the company is sold.
When do benefits start, and is there a gap I need to cover myself?
Why ask it
A waiting period between your start date and your coverage is common and rarely mentioned. If your current coverage ends when you resign, you need to know how many weeks you are exposed and what it costs to bridge.
What does the health plan cost me per month, and what is the deductible?
Why ask it
Two offers with the same salary can differ by thousands a year here. Ask for the actual plan documents rather than a summary, particularly if you are covering a family or have ongoing treatment.
How much paid leave is there, does it carry over, and how much did the team take last year?
Why ask it
Policy and practice diverge most on leave. Unlimited leave with an unspoken norm of ten days is worse than a fixed twenty-five, and the only way to tell is to ask what people actually took.
Is there a signing bonus, relocation support, or anything to offset what I give up by leaving?
Why ask it
This is the easiest part of an offer to move, because it is one-off money rather than a permanent salary line. Companies routinely have room here even when they say the base is fixed.
Is anything I am walking away from, such as an unvested bonus or equity, something you would make up?
Why ask it
Naming the specific amount you are forfeiting gives them something concrete to solve. Candidates who quantify it are frequently compensated for it, and those who mention it vaguely are not.
Is the offer contingent on anything: references, a background check, a qualification?
Why ask it
You need to know before you resign. A contingent offer is not a job, and the gap between accepting and clearing checks is where people end up unemployed by accident.
Is there a probation period, and what changes at the end of it?
Why ask it
Probation often affects notice periods, benefits eligibility and how easily either side can end things. Ask what is different during it and what the criteria for completing it are.
Am I being asked to sign a non-compete, an arbitration clause, or an assignment of anything I build outside work?
Why ask it
These sit in the paperwork rather than the offer letter and they constrain your next job, not this one. Ask for the documents before you accept, and take advice on anything you do not understand, since it is far cheaper now than later.
Who would I report to, and how long have they been in that role?
Why ask it
You are being hired by a person more than a company. A manager who arrived last month, or who is themselves interviewing elsewhere, changes the job you are accepting, and the answer to this is not usually volunteered.
Is this a new position or a backfill, and if it is a backfill, why did the last person leave?
Why ask it
New roles come with ambiguity, and backfills come with history. Repeated turnover in the same seat is the single most useful warning available, and most people never ask for it.
How large is the team, and is that number growing, flat or shrinking?
Why ask it
Headcount direction tells you more about the next year than any statement of strategy. A team that has lost people and not replaced them means the role you are joining is likely to absorb the difference.
What is the first thing you would want me to fix?
Why ask it
The answer is usually more honest than the job description, because it comes from what is actually causing pain. If nobody can name one thing, the role may not have been thought through beyond getting a person into the seat.
How will my performance be judged at six months, and by whom?
Why ask it
You want the criteria and the person, since the two are often not aligned. Anything that depends on a team, a budget or a decision you do not control is worth identifying before you accept it as your measure.
How long is the company funded for, or how does the business make money?
Why ask it
Reasonable to ask at offer stage and revealing in how it is handled. A candid answer about runway, profitability or the main revenue line is a good sign; deflection to growth language at this point is not.
Could I speak to one or two people who would be my peers before I sign?
Why ask it
Almost every company will arrange this, and the ones that refuse have told you something. Ask peers what they were told when they joined that turned out not to be true, which is the question that actually produces information.
The window between offer and acceptance
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to use the window
Say thank you, ask for it in writing, and do not answer yet
Enthusiasm and a decision are separate things. Being pleased on the call while asking for the written offer and a few days to review it is standard, and it buys you the only period in which your questions carry weight.
Get the whole picture before you negotiate any part of it
Base, bonus, equity, benefits cost, leave, start date and the legal documents all interact. Negotiating salary first and then discovering a three-month benefits gap means spending your leverage on the wrong item.
Ask the recruiter about money and the manager about the work
Recruiters answer bands, plan documents and process questions without it affecting how you are seen. Save your conversations with the hiring manager for what the role is for and who you would work with.
Read the documents you are being asked to sign
The offer letter is not the contract. Ask for the employment agreement, the IP assignment, any non-compete and the benefits summaries, and read them before you resign anywhere.
Checking what you have been told
Ask peers what turned out not to be true
This is a better question than asking whether they like it. People will answer it honestly, often about scope, promotion timelines or how much the role changed, and it surfaces the gap between the interview and the job.
Compare stated policy against last year's behaviour
Leave, flexibility, promotion and bonus all have a written version and a practised version. For each one that matters to you, ask what actually happened on this team in the last twelve months.
Put anything unusual in your own email
If you have been promised a start date, a remote arrangement or an early review, send a short note confirming your understanding. It is not confrontational and it survives the departure of the person who promised it.
Answers worth taking seriously
- The written offer omits something you were told on the phone.
- You are pressed for an answer within a day.
- Nobody will say why the previous person left.
- The band, or where you sit in it, cannot be discussed.
- Equity is described as a percentage with no share count or valuation.
- You are asked to sign before seeing the employment agreement.
- You are not allowed to speak to anyone you would work with.
- The first thing they want fixed cannot be named.
Common mistakes
Accepting on the phone
The offer call is not the moment to decide. Almost nothing is negotiable afterwards, and the cost of asking for two days is close to zero at any organisation you would want to join.
Negotiating only the base salary
Signing bonus, start date, leave, title, remote days and a review at six months are often easier to move than base pay, because they do not disturb an internal band. Candidates who ask only about salary leave most of the available value untouched.
Resigning before the offer is unconditional
References, background checks and final approvals do occasionally fail. Wait for the contingencies to clear in writing before you hand in notice.
Ignoring the paperwork because the job sounds good
A non-compete or an IP clause affects the job after this one. It costs an hour to read and occasionally an hour of professional advice, which is small against the years it can constrain.