Is It Safe to Resign Based on an Email Offer Without Official Letterhead or Signature?

I received an appointment offer that was not on letterhead, nor was it scanned with an authorized signature. All the details were typed in the email itself. Could you please advise me if I can resign from my current organization based on this information?

Thank you for your support.

Best regards,
R. Srini

Before I proceed with this, I have a couple of questions for you:

- Does the email have a domain name (not the regular Yahoo/Gmail/Rediffmail, etc.) of your company?
- Was the email from the respected HR department?
- An email always has a signature; whose signature was mentioned in it?
- [All the details typed in the mail] — Does the email contain contents like your joining date, notice period, etc.?
- Have you replied with an acceptance to the email before joining?
- After joining the organization, why haven't you asked for an appointment letter from HR or your concerned manager?

You need to provide the above details for our forum members/seniors to understand the core of this to respond accordingly. Thanks!

Thank you for your response. The email contains all the details as you mentioned, and I have replied with the expected Date of Joining (DOJ). The email is from the VP (Operations) to whom I will be reporting, not from the HR department. I have not yet started working there. I am in a dilemma about joining and would appreciate it if you could kindly provide clarification.

Thanks and Regards,
R. Srini.

Just call and ask the VP if it is possible to get a hard copy of the offer letter. Tell him that your existing company is asking for the same to decide the release date. If he is genuine, he will send it over. However, if you ask in the wrong manner, he might get offended and put your new job in danger. So, be careful.

I asked him in the same fashion as you said, and he told me that when he joined, he was given a hard copy after one month. He mentioned that he would ask his HR person to contact me (still no calls). Finally, he said, "If you believe me, you can join here; otherwise, leave it."

I am now at a loss and can't reach a conclusion. Please help me out.

Thanks and Regards,
R. Srini

It's a risk level that you alone are qualified to assess. If you are not sure, it's better not to leave an existing job to join another. Sometimes, small companies do not bother with documentation and formalities. They just work. At times, people find wonderful and rewarding careers in such companies. But then you need to find out by taking a risk.

I do not see any problem in giving someone an offer letter or even an appointment letter. But then there are all kinds of people. Some actually think it's risky to give it. Some believe you will use it to negotiate a higher salary in the existing job.

Again, there are four threads in this forum in the last month about people who have received offer letters, resigned from their jobs, and then the new company suddenly canceled their appointment. They don't know what to do. So, again, the fact that you do not have an appointment letter would not weigh adversely with these cases.

Thank you very much for your valuable reply. As you mentioned about having belief in him, I emailed him stating that I had quit my current job solely in anticipation of his response, but unfortunately, there has been no reaction from his end.

After consulting with you, I have come to the conclusion that it would be wiser to remain in my current job and only proceed with the resignation once the hard copy is received.

Could you please confirm this, sir?

Thank you and Regards,
R. Srini