It’s no secret that the job market is competitive for employers right now. In fact, 72% of employers are having a hard time finding skilled candidates. With 7.2 million job listings and 6 million hires, there’s clearly a divide between employer needs and applications.
In a market in which candidates have many offers falling into their laps, you need to stand out. You need to pull out the big guns if you want to attract new talent.
New employee welcome kits are a great way to engage with new hires, especially in a remote environment. But who says new hires should have all of the fun?
A “congratulations on your job offer!” box from your business can be the deciding factor that convinces a qualified prospect to join your team. Since the average new hire conversion rate is just 20%, an offer letter kit can help you bring on more skilled team members for less hassle.
What is an offer letter kit?
An offer letter is a big deal to job seekers. It spells out, in writing, what they can expect during their time working for you. An offer letter also allows candidates to consider all of their options and begin the transition to your team. It’s an exciting time!
An offer letter kit allows you to send candidates a celebration in a box, giving them the low-down on their job offer as well as a taste of your corporate culture.
While new hire kits are helpful, you don’t have to wait until Day 1 to give promotional swag to your team. A job offer letter kit:
- Makes the prospective employee feel welcome
- Orients prospects to your culture
- Fires up prospective employees about working with you
- Gives you a golden opportunity to market yourself on prospects’ social media
Instead of just sending an email or mailing a hard copy of your job offer letter, a kit gives prospective employees something more tangible. Aside from giving people something cool to hold, offer letter kits also have tangible benefits like:
- Persuading workers to choose your offer over a competing offer (especially if they receive a counter-offer from their current employer).
- Speeding up how quickly a worker takes your offer—no more biting your nails for two weeks!
- Helping to Create Brand Love™ moments with employees before they even start working.
- Transforming candidates into brand advocates, even if they don’t accept your offer. They’ll never forget how you treated them, and that’s powerful stuff.
5 tips for creating offer letter kits
So, what should you put in an offer letter kit? Since this is different from a new hire welcome kit, these five tips will help you get more mileage out of your offer letter kits.
1. Tie it into your culture
Your offer letter kit needs to look, sound, and feel like it came from your brand. There’s no need to hold back here—get creative! Choose products that represent the employee experience and pair them with multimedia options that get candidates fired up.
That might mean choosing branded swag like:
- Water bottles, travel mugs, or thermoses
- Apparel like T-shirts, sweatshirts, or hats
- Snacks and candy
- Fun decor like flags or Zoom backdrops
- Journal and pens
- Travel-friendly work bag
- Mindfulness accessories like a head massager
- Tea or coffee
- Stickers
Try to include signage in the box that shows off your culture and values. For example, you can add a QR code to the offer letter kit with a custom video offering the candidate the job.
You could even do a Cribs-style tour of the company HQ where employees introduce themselves and give a tour of their workstations. Make it fun!
2. Treat interviewees well
This should go without saying, but it’s important to give prospective employees a consistent experience. Candidates are evaluating your business as much as you’re evaluating them, so give them something to be excited about.
Your offer letter kit is going to fall on deaf ears if:
- You have a lengthy and inefficient hiring process
- Your communications haven’t been transparent
- Hiring managers or employees aren’t acting in accordance with your values
Make sure your hiring process is up to snuff before adding offer letter kits into the mix. As long as you give prospective employees a positive experience during each interaction, there’s a much higher chance that they’ll take the job—and fall in love with your offer letter kit!
3. Share important information
Fanfare and celebration are a must for your offer letter kit, but it needs to have some meat to it, too. Your kit should give candidates enough information to make an educated decision about the future of their careers.
Every business is different, but consider sharing essential information like:
- FAQ: Link to an online portal that answers prospects’ most common questions about onboarding and working at your organization.
- Schedule: Let prospects know what they can expect during their first month on the job. Tell them their start date, who they’ll work with, and their schedule for training. For bonus points, include expectations and training they’ll receive in the first quarter, the first six months, and what they can anticipate their role to look like after the first year.
- Forms: Make it as easy as possible for prospects to onboard. Include information about forms you need them to sign, like an NDA, code of conduct, or contract. Let them know how to sign the forms, whether you need a hard copy or have them sign via DocuSign or HelloSign.
4. Personalize your offer letter kits
If you send a cookie-cutter offer letter to every prospective employee, it’s not going to look like you care. It’s OK to send a consistent spread of corporate swag, but you should personalize your offer letter kits wherever possible.
Make it obvious that you’ve personalized this kit to this interviewee with little touches like:
- Printing their name directly onto the box and the paperwork inside. You can even print their name onto your branded journal or water bottles.
- Adding a handwritten note from HR, the CEO, or the hiring manager.
- Recording a video message from their direct supervisor, welcoming the candidate to the team by name.
5. Consult with your current employees
Not sure if prospective hires will like your offer letter kits? Crowdsource input from your current employees beforehand. Ask them what they would want to receive as a prospective hire.
What would they find fun? What kind of practical information did they need to accept a job offer? Ask your team to look over your onboarding documentation so they can recommend updates or additions to get prospects up to speed ASAP.
Welcome new hires before they even start
Slushie Fridays and flexible hours are a great way to make your business stand out, but job offer kits are another smart way to get your team fired up, too. Offer letter kits show a more human side to your business, and in a competitive hiring market, they give you extra leverage to attract all-star talent.
Keep in mind that quality matters here. That’s why it’s essential to work with a promotional product team like Boundless. We help the world’s most beloved brands turn every day offer letters into true Brand Love moments. See how we can help your business delight employees at every turn.
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