Is It Safe to Resign Without a Formal Offer Letter on Company Letterhead? Seeking Advice!

Hi, I was interviewed by a consultancy for the position of Team Leader Recruitment. After negotiating over the phone, we reached a conclusion and agreed on the offer. I requested her to send me the offer via email, and she did send an email but without the CTC mentioned in it. When I inquired about it, she mentioned that she could not send the offer through email. Therefore, I accepted it and offered to come and collect it in person. She then mentioned that she would mail it to me.

After 4 days, she sent me an email with the offer attached, but it was in a plain Word document and not on the company letterhead. When I asked her about the offer letter on the letterhead, she stated that I should consider this as official communication. Additionally, she insisted that I resign first before sending the letter.

I am hesitant to resign as the company appears to be questionable. What course of action would you recommend?

Your decision is right. You should speak to the lady in person and take the hard copy of the offer letter if she can't mail it to you. Tell her that you can't resign until and unless she provides the same.

Many SMBs do not give offer letters with CTC as candidates misuse them by negotiating for higher pay with other companies. Even in my company, we just extend the offer over email. Although we used to hand over the appointment letter on the first day, after experiencing people absconding, we started issuing the appointment letter after one week.

In your case, ask for the appointment letter. Make sure the appointment letter is on the letterhead and has the signature of the CEO or the responsible person in your office.

Difference Between Offer Letter and Appointment Letter

An Offer Letter and an Appointment Letter are two different things. An Offer Letter is the Letter of Intent to hire you. This letter is issued by the company and states they wish to hire you for a specific designation with a specific salary as discussed in the interview on a specific date. The candidate can accept or reject the offer. Acceptance of the offer does not establish a formal employer-employee relationship. For that, an appointment letter has to be given, which states the designation of the employee, date of joining, department, salary breakup, certain rules, and procedures, etc.

Also, note that the appointment letter is always in duplicate (2 copies). You need to sign a duplicate copy and hand it over to the employer for their records. When you accept or sign the appointment letter, you will have to abide by the terms and conditions of the company.

Since you have not been given any appointment letter, you should ask your manager to provide you with one.

If you wish to leave the firm, convey the same in writing to the manager stating your last day of working. This is so that you do not fall into the bad books.

When you say your boss is insisting you resign first so that she can give you a letter, ask her to explain why she wants you to resign and ask her to do so over email. Tell her that since you do not have an appointment letter, you are not liable to resign and cover a notice period. But ensure you do so early next month after you get your paycheck, else she would not pay you a penny for your month.

Hope it helped :-)