Job Offer Kit is a free AI skill that writes a job offer email for an engineering hire, plus everything around it: pre-close questions, an offer call script, equity explained in plain words with your numbers, and a negotiation playbook. It also fixes the common mistakes first, like asking for current salary or a 24-hour exploding deadline.
An offer email on its own is the easy part. Engineers you want usually decide on the call before it and the conversations after it.
What you get
Tell the skill the role, your salary band, the equity grant and what you know about the candidate. In about 10 minutes you get:
- Changes to your plan: anything risky, fixed, with a one-line reason
- Pre-close questions for a 10-minute call before the offer
- Your numbers sheet (internal): opening offer, flex order, walk-away, honest deadline
- A verbal offer script and a paste-ready offer email
- An offer letter checklist: what goes in, what stays out
- Equity in plain words with your actual numbers
- A negotiation playbook: if they say X, you say Y, with the lever and its limit
- A close plan from verbal yes to day one
Sample output
From a real run on a fictional Series A company hiring a senior full-stack engineer in California. The founder planned to ask for current salary, give a 24-hour deadline, keep a non-compete and promise a future equity refresh. Part of what came back, including the sign-on line in the letter checklist:
0. Changes to your plan
| What the plan said | What the kit does instead | Why (one line) |
|---|---|---|
| Ask what she makes now and beat it by 10% | No pay-history question at all. Anchor to your $165k-$185k band; her stated "around $180k" is the reference point. | California bars seeking salary history (Labor Code 432.3), and she works in Sacramento. As of 2026-10, not legal advice. |
| 24 hours to decide | Decision date Friday 2026-10-09 (4 business days), an honest reason, and one extension to a specific date if she has a concrete reason | An exploding offer tells a senior engineer how she will be treated, and a forced yes is the one most likely to renege. Her other offer lands that week anyway. |
| 12-month non-compete in the template | Removed. Keep confidentiality and invention assignment, with the California notice (Labor Code 2870 and 2872). | Unlawful to include one for a California employee since 2024 (Business and Professions Code 16600.1). As of 2026-10, not legal advice. |
| Tell her you'll probably do an equity refresh after the Series B | Not said on the call and not in the letter. The 12,000 options are the offer. | Nothing important is verbal only, and future grants are never promised. |
- Sign-on: amount and when paid. Recommended: no repayment condition. If you want one, counsel drafts it as a separate agreement that meets AB 692 (Labor Code 926; Business and Professions Code 16608): at least 5 business days to consult a lawyer, prorated, no interest, retention period of 2 years or less, her option to take the bonus at the end of the period instead, and repayment only if she quits or is fired for misconduct
How it works
Pre-close before you offer. Three things must be known before you name a number: what else is in play and when, how the candidate will decide (in their words), and what they'd do if their employer counters. An offer made without them is a guess. Then move fast: verbal offer within one or two working days of the final interview, written offer the same day.
Never ask for salary history. Many states and cities ban it, and for a remote hire the candidate's location usually counts. Price from your band.
Trade, don't concede. "If I can get to X, are you ready to accept?" Each lever has a job. A sign-on bonus covers a one-time loss, like a bonus they forfeit by leaving, without breaking your salary band; in California, making it repayable has been tightly restricted since 2026 (AB 692). Start date is cheap for you. Title is the expensive one.
Honest deadlines. About 3 to 5 business days, with the real reason, extended once for a concrete reason. A 24-hour exploding offer tells a senior engineer how they'll be treated.
Counteroffers raised early. Ask about them in the pre-close and have the candidate rehearse the resignation. If a counter arrives, go back to their own reasons for looking.
Equity in both units. Option count and percentage of fully diluted shares, plus strike, cliff, exercise window and dilution. Never what the equity "will be worth". If early exercise applies, it notes that an 83(b) election must be filed with the IRS within 30 days. Not tax advice.
Paper that matches the promise. Nothing important stays verbal. The letter avoids "guaranteed", lists contingencies (including the Form I-9 check within 3 business days of the start date) and never conditions the offer on citizenship. For California employees, a non-compete is unlawful to include since 2024. General information as of 2026-10, not legal or tax advice.
How this compares. A job offer email template gives you a polite paragraph with blanks. A chatbot asked cold usually writes exactly what you asked for, salary-history question and 24-hour deadline included. This skill checks the plan first.
How to install and use
Claude.ai: download the skill's .zip and upload it under Customize > Skills in Claude (any plan, including Free; code execution must be on). Then describe the hire and your package.
Claude Code: run /plugin marketplace add Remutopia/ruzora-skills, then /plugin install hire-close@ruzora-hiring, and ask for an offer kit.
Any other AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot): copy the prompt version of the skill, paste it as the first message, then describe the hire.
Include where the candidate will work (state or country). It changes which rules apply.
Frequently asked questions
What should a job offer email include? Title, start date, base salary and pay frequency, the equity grant with vesting, benefits, contingencies, the decision date and how to accept, with the formal letter attached.
How long should a candidate have to accept a job offer? Three to five business days is a fair default for a senior engineer. Give the real reason for the date and extend once if they ask for a specific reason.
Can I ask a candidate what they earn now? In many states and cities, no. Ask what they're looking for instead, and price from your own band.
Hiring outside the US?
If you're comparing offers for US engineers with senior engineers in Latin America, working US hours, see why Latin America and our flat monthly pricing.
For the full how-to on competitive offers, read how to make a competitive offer to a developer.