How to Respond to a Job Offer (Accept, Decline, or Counter — With Templates)

The email arrives on a Thursday and you read it twice. “We’d love to have you.” A start date. A number. And somewhere near the bottom, a soft deadline — let us know by Monday. For a second you’re just relieved it came at all. Then the questions start. Is that number fair? Am I allowed to ask for more? What if I say the wrong thing and they pull it? Do I reply tonight, or is that too eager?

Take a breath — responding to a job offer is a smaller, more ordinary task than the dread makes it feel. You have four possible responses, not one, and each has a template you can adapt in five minutes: accept it, ask for time, counter it, or decline it. This guide gives you the exact words for all four — and then, for the one response that actually gets tested in real time, points you toward the part no template can do for you.

Start by knowing your four options

Most of the panic comes from thinking there are only two doors: say yes, or lose it. There are four, and three of them keep the offer alive.

1. Accept — you’re happy with the terms and ready to commit.
2. Ask for time — you need a day or two to think, compare, or run the numbers.
3. Counter — you want the job, but at a different number or with different terms.
4. Decline — it isn’t the right role, and you want to close it gracefully.

Whatever you choose, reply promptly and warmly. Indeed’s guide is to respond quickly, and notes you can ask the employer “for 24 hours or a few days to consider the offer” if you need it. The Muse puts a finer point on the timing — aim to answer within 24 hours, and if you need longer, say so and ask the recruiter for their deadline. The only response that genuinely reads badly is silence.

If you’re accepting

If the number and the terms are right, don’t overthink it. State your acceptance directly, name the role, and confirm the practical details so nothing is ambiguous. Indeed’s sample does it in a line — “I am pleased to accept the project manager role at Bold Solutions.”

Hi [Name],

Thank you — I’m delighted to accept the [Job Title] role at [Company]. I’m looking forward to starting on [start date]. Could you let me know the next steps and anything you need from me before day one?

Best, [Your name]

One caution: before you send this, re-read the written offer against what was said in your interviews — especially salary, title, and start date. Accepting is the one response you can’t easily walk back, so make sure the paperwork matches the conversation.

If you need time to decide

Needing a couple of days is completely normal, and asking for it costs you nothing. The move is to sound enthusiastic and deliberate — you’re not stalling, you’re taking the decision seriously. The Muse’s version is as simple as “Could I get back to you on the offer by the 15th?”

Hi [Name],

Thank you so much for the offer — I’m genuinely excited about it. I’d like a little time to review the details carefully so I can commit fully. Could I get back to you by [date]? Happy to jump on a call in the meantime if that would help.

Best, [Your name]

Use the time you’ve bought to do the one thing that changes everything downstream: settle on your number before you reply again. Walking into the next conversation still doing the math is how people talk themselves down.

If you want to counter

This is the response most people are secretly asking about, and it’s the pivot point of the whole decision. Countering isn’t a rejection — it’s an acceptance with a condition. You want the job; you’d like to align on the number first. Say the excitement out loud, then put one specific figure in writing with a short reason. The Muse frames the opener as “I had a few questions I wanted to run by you — particularly about the base salary.”

Hi [Name],

Thank you for the offer — I’m genuinely excited about the [Job Title] role. Before I sign, I’d love to discuss the base salary. Based on [the market rate for this role / the scope of the position / a competing offer], I was hoping we could land at [your specific number]. I’m confident we can find something that works for both of us.

Best, [Your name]

That template is the opening of a counter, not the whole thing. Picking the right number, putting it in writing so it holds, and anchoring it to a reason rather than an apology each have their own craft — the full step-by-step is in how to counter a job offer. If you want the wider process, from the interview stage through the final number, start with the pillar on how to negotiate a salary offer. Both walk through the parts this template only gestures at.

If you’re declining

If it isn’t the right fit, close it kindly and briefly. You don’t owe a detailed reason, and The Muse’s advice is to give a short, valid one without saying anything negative about the company. Indeed’s sample keeps the decline itself direct — “I regret to inform you that I will not be accepting your job offer.” Keep the door open; the industry is smaller than it looks.

Hi [Name],

Thank you for the offer, and for the time your team spent with me — I really enjoyed getting to know [Company]. After careful thought, I’ve decided to pursue a different opportunity, so I won’t be moving forward. I hope our paths cross again down the line.

Best, [Your name]

Should you ask for more money?

If you’re hovering between “accept” and “counter,” this is the real question. The short answer is usually yes — provided you can do it once, professionally, with a reason attached. Recruiters build room into the first number precisely because they expect a counter, so a single, well-reasoned ask reads as normal, not greedy.

The stakes aren’t trivial. Harvard’s Program on Negotiation reports that people who negotiated their starting salary, rather than accepting the first offer, raised their starting pay by an average of about $5,000 — and because raises compound off that base, the same source notes a $5,000 head start at 25 can be worth roughly $634,000 over a 40-year career. Countering is simply how you negotiate pay after a job offer lands, in the short window before you sign, while you still have leverage.

The one time to skip it: if the number is already at the top of the range you researched and the offer arrives with a firm “this is our best and final,” accepting cleanly is the stronger, more graceful move.

Where the template runs out

Here’s the catch that ties all four responses together. Three of them are finished the moment you hit send. Accept, ask-for-time, decline — you write the words, you’re done. The counter isn’t. The second you name a number, the recruiter writes back, and now you’re in a live conversation, not an email. “That’s above the band for this level.” A pause. “What would it take to get you to yes today?” The template ends exactly where the hard part begins.

This is where well-prepared people quietly leak money — not on the page, but in the five seconds after the pushback, when the calm number they typed turns into a nervous walk-back out loud. Knowing your line and being able to say it, steadily, without discounting yourself to fill the silence, are two different skills. The first is reading. The second is a rep you either have or you don’t.

So rehearse it the way you’d rehearse anything that matters under pressure — out loud, against resistance, until saying your number feels boring. That’s the whole idea behind Voiced: you load your actual offer and practice the counter against an AI recruiter that pushes back like the real one, then it names the exact phrase that just cost you money and hands you a stronger one to say instead.

So pick your door. Three of the four are one email away, and the templates above will get you there tonight. And if it’s the counter — the one response that talks back — don’t let the real call be the first time you hear yourself say your number out loud.