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A silly question. I obtained an offer letter, but the name on it is spelled incorrectly. Should I ask for a correction or simply sign the document and then return? If I ask for a correction, how long should I wait for a reply?

Hanky Panky
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David Hopkins
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    The problem with that Joe is if they already have data in their system, it's probably wrong too. Forcing them to make the change at least ensures that people are actually aware of the problem and hopefully can change it in their systems as well before he's fully onboarded. – Chris E Oct 13 '16 at 14:33
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    "A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct." – Dan C Oct 13 '16 at 15:55
  • As a consultant, my client once had my name spelled wrong and it caused many issues where it wasn't corrected (like email). I can't imagine what it would have been like to deal with it as an employee. Once you start, make sure everything is corrected, even if they did correct the letter. – Guy Schalnat Oct 13 '16 at 20:28
  • Hate to break it to you, but the offer isn't for you, it's for the guy whose name is spelled out on the letter. /g –  Oct 13 '16 at 21:38
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    @JoeStrazzere I once received an offer letter but the salary was too low. I added a few zeros myself, signed it and returned it. Seriously, if it is a pain for them to send you a new corrected offer letter, then you probably don't want to work for them. – emory Oct 13 '16 at 22:27
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    You're clearly headed for this exact situation :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN4_NiCIdcw – Deepak Oct 14 '16 at 14:36
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    @emory They might have changed the currency to the Vietnamese dong and had the last laugh. – Deepak Oct 14 '16 at 14:43
  • Nobody else has mentioned it, but congratulations on getting the formal offer! :) – Lyall Oct 14 '16 at 16:16
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    Reject the job offer - if they can't even get your name right, it's a bad sign. – Robin Green Oct 14 '16 at 17:29

5 Answers5

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I definitely would try to get a fixed/revised offer if I were you, you avoid a lot of potential problems in the future both within the company and externally.

Just give the person listed on the letter a call or potentially email if they have been responsive and ask.

  • "Hey, I am absolutely interested in accepting this but there is one small and awkward clarification, can you correct the spelling of my name? I don't know if it's a big deal or not but I would like to get that fixed prior to accepting"

Note that you are making it very clear you plan and want to accept. Framing your request this way makes it seem less awkward.

I've known people who have spent a while with HR trying to get their name fixed in all the different systems... email, ids, logins, etc.

Regarding timeframe, it's somewhat dependent on how long you have to get back to them. If they gave you 24 hours, you should call rather than email 100%. If it's longer you have more time - realistically the "how long should I wait?" piece is fairly dependent on how long you have.

This becomes important because of a variety of situations:

  • Employment verification
    • A lot of processes require this (I had an issue with my mortgage aplication because my company screwed up my employment verification and that wasn't even with a misspelled name!)
  • Depending on where you live, the level of enforceability of the job offer may vary based on how accurate it is
  • If anyone ever needs your offer as proof of something and compares to an ID it will look suspicious at best if they don't match
  • Your email/id/login may depend on your name spelling
    • This process can be awful at larger companies from my experience if you need to fix it

The risk behind a misspelled name and the above are not worth the small amount of work in order to get it fixed.

enderland
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  • At this stage I suppose I am bit going mad somehow, though I try to calm down. Thank you! That's very useful. – David Hopkins Oct 13 '16 at 14:15
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    Regarding it being a pain to change later, definitely! I had a coworker once who changed her last name on company records while I worked with her. It had been long overdue and neither name was her maiden name, which was a source of confusion for a lot of her contacts. – called2voyage Oct 13 '16 at 16:00
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    "Your email/id/login may depend on your name spelling" As an IT tech. this is a huge reason to get the correction. The longer you wait, the more arduous it will be to correct your user account later, –  Oct 13 '16 at 16:06
  • I like the precautionary principle, but I think the result depends on the agility of the firm. If it's a small shop, and you were the borderline pick, I'd be worried that they might peg you as uncooperative and rescind the offer. – Aaron Hall Oct 13 '16 at 16:45
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    Absolutely get this fixed before you sign anything. In the worst case, the company sent you a letter that should have gone to somebody else, because they mixed up two applicants with similar names! – alephzero Oct 13 '16 at 16:50
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    @AaronHall I'd say that any company willing to reconsider their offer because THEY mispelled your name on an official document is a bullet dodged... – Erik Oct 13 '16 at 17:22
  • Well, what if you've been looking for a while and the company and their offer seemed perfect? Honestly, I think I'd just correct the spelling on the document, sign it, and send it back, and then followup to make sure they've corrected it on their end. There's risk, and then there's FUD. The risk and possible cost of not sealing the deal seems greater than the risk and possible costs of their systems needing a spelling correction. (hiring manager could move, get dinged for budget, have a bad day, etc...) – Aaron Hall Oct 13 '16 at 17:53
  • Man you'd have to be a next level jerk to demand they fix the typo in the offer letter and not accept, wouldn't you be? – corsiKa Oct 13 '16 at 19:14
  • Just one question: one small and awkward clarification / I don't know if it's a big deal sounds like me that it is really not important at all. It's that polite thingy again ? – Thorsten S. Oct 13 '16 at 20:51
  • @ThorstenS. He really doesn't know because he has no authority in any of the department where this is important (finance, IT, security, HR, etc). In fact, he isn't even employed yet, so it's not up to him to determine its importance. Based on other people's feedback, you can assume it is important, but you're not in a position to demand it changed because you have deemed it important. – Nelson Oct 14 '16 at 01:40
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    "I don't know if it's a big deal or not but I would like to get that fixed prior to accepting" It is a big deal. You should lose the equivocation. "Framing your request this way makes it seem less awkward" I don't know; calling it awkward makes it awkward. – Lightness Races in Orbit Oct 14 '16 at 09:25
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Call them, tell them that your name is misspelled on the contract and ask what they want you to do.

Dave
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It's best to request a correct job offer letter, with your name spelled correctly.

If you ever sought to apply for a mortgage or lease, or you had to cross U.S. borders into another country for work related reasons, a formal and correct job offer on company letterhead is still considered an official document, as much as your letter of resignation would be.

It's a small typo and should be a quick fix. You're best off to keep all your ducks in a row, from the time you enter a new job until the day you resign.

Draken
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Alex
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A minor mis-spelling would not be something that I would be concerned with. I'd sign the letter, making a point of printing my real name next to the signature. If they deem the mis-spell is worth a corrected offer letter, they will send me the corrected offer letter on their own.

Aaron Hall
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Vietnhi Phuvan
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    (I wonder where this answer would be if it didn't have gratuitious political stuff on the first draft?) – Aaron Hall Oct 13 '16 at 17:58
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    This is a pretty good answer, I wonder why it's doing so poorly... *Sees @AaronHall's comment* How bad could the original post have been? *Views edit history* Oh... – user1717828 Oct 13 '16 at 20:20
  • After viewing the edit history: Upvoted. – Thorsten S. Oct 13 '16 at 20:57
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    I think this is too subtle. There's a good chance that they won't notice the spelling correction and you'll have to deal with the problem again. – David Richerby Oct 14 '16 at 07:57
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    @David Richerby - I can live with my name being butchered on the offer letter. I cannot live with my name being mispelled on my paychecks. My name never gets mispelled on my paychecks because the first thing HR does on my first day on the job is to have me fill out the tax collection forms. – Vietnhi Phuvan Oct 14 '16 at 14:14
  • @VietnhiPhuvan: I have had my name misspelled on a paycheck, but the company credit union accepted the first check without incident and I had it corrected on subsequent ones. – supercat Oct 14 '16 at 15:33
  • In my experience (Europe) majority of offers accepted on the phone anyway, so written Offer Letter is just a formality. Raising it as a big issue will put candidate in awkward position as a verbalist – Andriy Oct 14 '16 at 18:34
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You could take following actions

  1. Print your correct name clearly where you sign the offer letter
  2. In the cover letter, mention that you have spelled the name correctly in the letter and request them to correct the records before the job becomes official.
  3. Mention that you are ready to sign the corrected job offer letter if it is necessary to do so. In that case, they can issue revised job offer letter or get you sign it when you go for joining.
Heena Shah
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