Fill in an offer-letter template, then track the renegotiated terms
An HR representative uploaded the University of Iowa’s offer-letter template for staff posts and asked for a finished offer for one candidate. replaced every bracketed placeholder, moved the probation, hybrid-work and relocation paragraphs from the menu at the end into the letter, and deleted the instructions. When the candidate negotiated, it changed the salary and start date and struck the relocation line as Word tracked changes for the director.
1Reads the university’s template: bracketed placeholders
Career-Probationary-and-At-Will-Offer-Letter.docx — WordTrack Changes: Off
IOWA
I am pleased to offer you the [position title] [job code] in [college or department] at the University of Iowa. The position is [full time or % part time] and pays [dollar amount] per year. You will be paid monthly through direct deposit.
Your Professional & Scientific (P&S) employment status is Probationary. For more information on your employment status, please refer to the status definitions in the addendum.
Your own template, filled in18 placeholders replaced and the optional paragraphs moved into the body, on the university’s letterhead. Nothing retyped.
Real Word tracked changesThe new salary, the new start date and the struck relocation line come back as tracked changes for the director to accept or reject, with a clean copy beside them.
One letter you keep editingRequest 2 edited the letter from request 1, not the template: three changes and nothing else. Same conversation, same file.
01 · REQUEST 1
turned the template into one candidate’s offer letter
The HR representative
Fill this out for Priya Natarajan, Research Data Analyst (job code PAA2), Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health. Full time, $74,000/yr, probationary with the 12-month probation paragraph, hybrid (use the hybrid/remote paragraph), $3,000 relocation. Mon-Fri 8:00-4:30, N300 College of Public Health Building. HR rep is Dana Kim, 319-335-0000, [email protected]. Start date November 3, 2026. Letter date today. Signed by Dr. Alan Reyes, Chair. Delete the instructions and the optional-paragraph section at the end.
Read the template: a letter, an addendum and a menu for HR
Page 1 is the letter, with 18 bracketed placeholders and a red title line that is not part of the letter. Pages 2 to 5 are the addendum the candidate initials. The end of the file is for HR only: six optional paragraphs to move into the letter when they apply, and a checklist. None of that may go out to the candidate.
Page 1the letter · 18 placeholders
Pages 2–5the addendum · kept as is
The end6 optional paragraphs + a checklist · HR only
Replaced every placeholder from the request
Candidate, post, job code, department, hours, pay, workdays, building, HR contact and signatory all come from the one message, and the letter is dated the day of the run. The template has no slot for a start date, so a sentence was added for it.
The template
I am pleased to offer you the [position title] [job code] in [college or department] at the University of Iowa. The position is [full time or % part time] and pays [dollar amount] per year. You will be paid monthly through direct deposit.
The letter
I am pleased to offer you the Research Data Analyst (PAA2) in Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. The position is full-time and pays $74,000 per year. You will be paid monthly through direct deposit.
Your anticipated start date is November 3, 2026.
Marked: what was filled in. The sentence about direct deposit is the template’s own; the start-date line is new.
Moved three optional paragraphs into the letter and deleted the menu
The 12-month probation, hybrid-work and $3,000 relocation paragraphs now sit after the workdays sentence. The driver’s-licence paragraph, the two other status paragraphs, the “insert a paragraph about your unit” line and the checklist are gone. The addendum and “Go Hawks!” stay.
Your anticipated workdays are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at N300 College of Public Health Building.
This position is eligible for career status upon the successful completion of a probation period during which your performance is evaluated against the department's standards. Based on your classification, your probationary period will be 12 months. For more information on probationary status, please refer to the P&S status definitions below.
As previously discussed, this position is eligible for hybrid work in Iowa and requires a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Work arrangements will be reviewed annually and must comply with the remote work program and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.
After beginning employment, the university will provide up to $3,000 in relocation incentives for you, which will be paid as taxable extra compensation with appropriate payroll tax withholding.
This offer is contingent upon your having or obtaining the appropriate work authorization and being able to maintain that authorization for the entire employment period. In addition, this offer is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check and credential verification. Please review the attached addendum for additional details – including employment requirements and benefits information – about working at Iowa.
The letter from the workdays sentence to the contingency paragraph. The three paragraphs between them came from the menu at the end of the template.
Delivered on the letterhead, with one line it should have removed
Page 1 of the delivered letter: the university’s mark, the date, the candidate’s name. The red template title above the date is a label for HR, not part of the letter, and it was left in place.
Picture of the delivered filePage 1 as delivered. The red title line should have gone.
Asked for the renegotiated terms, made them as tracked changes
The HR representative
She negotiated - make it $78,500 and start January 5, 2027, and take out the relocation line, she's local after all. Track the changes so my director can see them.
Edited the letter from request 1, not the template
The message names no file. took the letter it had just delivered, so the filled-in details and the moved paragraphs stay, and made the three changes on top of them.
The templatethe university’s file
Request 1the offer letter
Request 2a clean copy and a tracked copy
Changed exactly three things
$74,000 became $78,500, November 3, 2026 became January 5, 2027, and the relocation paragraph was struck. Every other word of the letter and the addendum is the same. Switch the view to see the page before and after.
I am pleased to offer you the Research Data Analyst (PAA2) in Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. The position is full-time and pays $74,000$78,500per year. You will be paid monthly through direct deposit.
Your anticipated start date is November 3, 2026January 5, 2027.
Your Professional & Scientific (P&S) employment status is Probationary.For more information on your employment status, please refer to the status definitions in the addendum.
· · ·
As previously discussed, this position is eligible for hybrid work in Iowa and requires a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Work arrangements will be reviewed annually and must comply with the remote work program and employee travel policy when working at a remote location.
After beginning employment, the university will provide up to $3,000 in relocation incentives for you, which will be paid as taxable extra compensation with appropriate payroll tax withholding.
This offer is contingent upon your having or obtaining the appropriate work authorization and being able to maintain that authorization for the entire employment period. In addition, this offer is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check and credential verification. Please review the attached addendum for additional details – including employment requirements and benefits information – about working at Iowa.
· · ·
The changed paragraphs of the tracked copy, with the paragraph before and after each.
Handed over both copies, and misreported one of them
The reply delivered the clean letter and the tracked copy, and in the same message listed the tracked copy as missing. The file was there. We opened it: three tracked changes, no others, and accepting them all gives the clean copy word for word.
✓3 tracked changes, no others. Accept all of them and you have the clean copy, word for word.
Where the file comes from: University of Iowa Human Resources, “Career, Probationary, and At-Will Offer Letter” template for Professional & Scientific staff. The candidate, salary and people in this example are made up. The University of Iowa has not reviewed or endorsed this example.
Bring your own template
Most AI tools hand you text to paste back into Word. edits your own file: it fills the placeholders, moves the optional paragraphs where they belong, removes the instructions, and gives later changes back as real tracked changes.
