Career Advice

Declining a job offer is never easy. Countless hours would have gone towards putting together a job application, sitting through interviews, and working to pass tests or demo projects.

However, there are multiple cases where you may need to decline a job offer, and you need to be able to establish a clear-cut reason. These are the most common reasons you need to decline a job offer:

• Got a better offer

After comparing offers, if one meets your career and income goals better, you would have to decline the others. When declining, you need to state clearly that ‘although your interests align with a different organization at the time, you are open to future connections, partnerships, or opportunities with them.’ Remember that the goal is not to burn bridges.

• Role/Offer is not a fit

It is best to decline an offer when this occurs so that you don’t get stuck in a job you are not passionate about or interested in. When declining an offer, for this reason, be sure to specify that ‘while the role doesn’t fit your career goals at the time, you will be open to working for them in (whatever your actual capacity/interests are) roles that may be available in the future.

• Choose not to leave your current position

Declining a job offer, for this reason, is a slippery slope because you don’t want to come across as indecisive or unserious. Be sure to state that there are certain ‘milestones or goals that you want to achieve in time at your current position, and for that reason, you will be staying in your current position.’ Once again, be sure to include that you are open to future opportunities and connections with them.

How to decline a job offer

There is no formula to declining a job offer, but there are some key things you need to keep in mind when drafting that email.

• The first thing you need to remember is to be gracious. It doesn’t matter if you got a better offer somewhere else or the offer was so insulting you scoffed at the email.

• You need to maintain polite professionalism (or a corporate casual tone, depending on the organization) while declining a job offer. Address the recruitment officer, and whoever was involved in the interview process, and appreciate their time and effort.

• Be brief and assertive in your email content. You don’t need to go into details on how your new offer is much better than theirs or anything like that. Keep it short and sweet. And send it soon after you decide not to accept, don’t keep them waiting.

• Finally, be sure to leave room for future connections, opportunities, or partnerships.

Looking for new career opportunities is a rollercoaster. You have the ups; job offers that are so enticing that you are ready to drop everything and accept. You have the downs, job offers that may pale in comparison to your career/earning goals. And sometimes, you have the still states; job offers that remind you why your current position or place of employment is good enough (for now). However, when an offer is not suitable for you, there is no choice but to pass on it -and do so gracefully!