Making an Offer
Offering a position is an important supervisory responsibility. Since hiring a new employee creates an employment relationship with the University of Michigan, this cannot be done without approval from the Human Resources Service Center. Once approval has been received from Human Resources, you may proceed with your offer to your candidate.
Before making the offer, make sure you go through the Offer Creation/Review Checklist (DOC).
Setting the Salary
Once you have selected the best candidate and verified qualifications, you must determine an appropriate salary based on external market data and internal equity.
Considerations in determining base pay for a new hire include:
- Range of pay assigned to the job, if it is temporary or bargained-for
- Knowledge, skills, and experience of candidate relative to current employees
- Pay of others in same jobs
- Pay of others in related jobs
- Departmental budget
- Current pay of individual
- Future plans for career development
- Credit for prior service: an employee who is rehired by the University may apply for reinstatement or credit for prior service under certain circumstances.
Verbal Offers
After you determine the appropriate pay, you should make the offer verbally before sending a follow-up offer letter.
Get right to the point when you talk to the top candidate. Be enthusiastic about the position, but don't oversell.
Give candidate time to consider offer; don't let candidate string you along, but a few days to consider is acceptable.
The offer should be made contingent upon verifying all qualifications and verifying employment eligibility through the I-9 form (PDF).
Written Offer
A sample offer letter suggests ideas for supervisors. However, supervisors should write their own letters using more specific information regarding the position.
Make sure you include the following in your letter:
- Position title and department
- Rate of pay and appointment fraction
- Work hours/schedule
- Name and telephone number of contact person
- Starting date and instructions on where to report the first day
- Parking instructions
- Information on the Employee Orientation Program
For all out-of-town hires, please refer to Moving and Relocation Expenses(PDF).
After the Offer is Accepted
Employee Health Service: After the employee has accepted the offer, he or she needs to contact the Employee Health Service at 724-764-8021 to schedule a health screening. This assessment will not affect the offer, but will identify any job safety issues.
I-9 Forms (PDF): All employees are required to fill out I-9 forms, which determine their employment eligibility per the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services.Staff Orientation: All employees are required to attend a two-day orientation which is presented by the University Health Systems Human Resource Department. At this orientation, new employees will learn about the University and fill out other necessary forms.
