Can't see a contract until I accept the offer?

[pjwhitesell]

New grad, just got my first offer at a place that seems like a great place to learn. They scheduled a phone call to give me the offer and communicated salary plus some details (though not all of the ones I asked), and when I asked to have something in writing I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to see a draft of the contract until after I've accepted the job. Is this normal? If I accept the job and then the contract is not good/won't guarantee the shifts and location that I was offered, am I then in a position where I would be burning a bridge by declining? 

[SedRate]

45 minutes ago, pjwhitesell said:

New grad, just got my first offer at a place that seems like a great place to learn. They scheduled a phone call to give me the offer and communicated salary plus some details (though not all of the ones I asked), and when I asked to have something in writing I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to see a draft of the contract until after I've accepted the job. Is this normal? If I accept the job and then the contract is not good/won't guarantee the shifts and location that I was offered, am I then in a position where I would be burning a bridge by declining? 

This seems kind of weird but not necessarily abnormal. For my job, I verbally accepted a verbal offer, and then they drafted the contract to reflect the numbers we discussed. I didn't ask to review the contract prior to verbally accepting, but I did ask for time to review the contract prior to signing.

Maybe you can say that you need more information prior to accepting their verbal offer. You could say that you like what you see/hear so far and look forward to starting your career with them, but you need more details and that you don't want to waste their time by committing to them and them committing to you before more information is gathered.

And then if you do get the contract and it doesn't include the details it needs, send it back for revision. If they won't include the details you need or you don't agree with the contract, you can politely state that it isn't what you verbally agreed on and you appreciate the offer but you will have to regrettably decline. Yes, you may burn a bridge but they didn't exactly give you a choice nor did they choose to work with you in creating a contract agreeable to both parties. You wouldn't want to work for a company like that. Try to handle it with as much tact as possible to prevent any flack in the future.

Good luck!

[beattie228]

I don't think it's unusual. All of my offers have started as verbal and then a written copy is sent to me. Age old saying of it's not in writing, it never happened applies. Every nitty-gritty detail should be spelled out in the written agreement once it's all ironed out verbally.

 

Don't be afraid to counter if something isn't to your liking. It's must easier to navigate that process before they have you on their payroll rather than attempting to get something changed/added after you're on board.