Job Offer Review: read your offer before your deadline moves it for you

What a job offer review actually explains

A written offer is several separate mechanics stacked into one document: base pay, the timing of any signing bonus, an equity grant with its own vesting schedule, a retirement match formula, paid-time-off policy, and clauses that outlive the offer itself — at-will language, a non-compete or non-solicit, and, occasionally, a signing-bonus clawback. A review reads each one on its own terms rather than compressing them into a single number.

• Signing bonus timing. A signing bonus is typically withheld at the 22% flat federal supplemental-wage rate rather than your regular payroll rate, which is why the check that arrives is smaller than the number on the offer letter. IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide — supplemental wagesJan 1, 2026
• Equity type and timing. Incentive stock options are not taxed at grant or, in most cases, at exercise (though the alternative minimum tax can still apply); nonqualified options and RSUs are taxed on the value received when the restriction lifts or the option is exercised. Which type you were granted changes when a tax bill shows up, not just how much equity you were offered. IRS Topic no. 427, Stock optionsApr 28, 2026
• At-will employment. Most US offers state that employment is "at will," meaning either side can end it at almost any time, for almost any reason — subject to exceptions that vary by state, including public-policy protections and, in some states, an implied covenant of good faith. This page names the doctrine; it does not determine which exception, if any, applies to your offer. Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute — Employment-at-will doctrineMar 1, 2025
• Retirement match formulas. A match described as "50% up to 6%" means the employer contributes 3% of your eligible base salary if you contribute at least 6% yourself — the match is worth reading as its own line item, separately from base salary, because it is a formula against your contribution, not a flat add-on. IRS, Retirement topics — matching contributionsJan 1, 2026

Naming a term as worth a question is not the same as ruling on it. This page never states on a clause's enforceability — see the methodology page for exactly how a review is built and where its limits are.

Accept, negotiate, investigate, or decline

Every offer decision reduces to one of four paths. What each one requires and costs in time is different enough to plan for before your deadline, not during it.

A worked example: reading one offer, step by step

Say a written offer reads: base salary $145,000; signing bonus $10,000, paid on the first regular payroll after start date; 8,000 RSUs vesting 25% after one year then monthly over three more years, current share price $42; 401(k) match "50% up to 6%"; unlimited PTO; standard at-will language with a one-year non-solicit of clients and coworkers.

1. Base salary is the one figure with no mechanics attached — $145,000 a year, before tax withholding, starting on the stated date.
2. Signing bonus. $10,000 arrives on one paycheck, taxed at the 22% supplemental rate, so the deposited amount is roughly $7,800 before any state tax — not $10,000.
3. Equity. 8,000 RSUs at $42 is a $336,000 headline number, but nothing vests for a year, and even after the first-year cliff only a portion vests per month — the number on the offer letter and the number actually received in year one are very different figures. Comparing this offer to another one on equity alone, without the vesting schedule, compares two different things.
4. Retirement match. "50% up to 6%" on a $145,000 base is worth up to 3% of base — about $4,350 a year — if at least 6% ($8,700) is contributed. It is worth reading as a separate line, not folded into "benefits."
5. Unlimited PTO has no computable dollar value here — there is no accrual balance to price, so it is stated as a policy, not a number.
6. Non-solicit clause. A one-year non-solicit of clients and coworkers is named as a term worth a question — what "solicit" covers, and whether it is standard for the role — not as a ruling on whether the restriction would hold up, which is a state-specific legal question this page does not answer.

Read this way, the offer is five separate mechanics plus one clause to ask about — not one number to accept or reject. Run your own offer's exact numbers through the job offer comparison tool to see the same read applied to your figures, in the browser, before you talk to anyone.

Assumptions

This page and the worked example above hold the following fixed. Change any of them and the read changes with it.

Offer type

A written US offer, with at least 24 hours remaining before its deadline

Compensation band this page is written for

Roughly $100K–$250K total target compensation

Enforceability of any clause

Never determined here — state law and your specific facts control; this page names attorney-referral candidates only

Negotiation outcome

Not estimated or promised — the review explains mechanics and options, not the odds an employer agrees to anything

When this answer changes

• The offer is verbal only, or nothing is in writing yet — read it once you have the written terms.
• You have fewer than 24 hours remaining before the deadline — the eligibility screener will tell you whether the Sprint can still complete in time.
• The employer is outside the US — this page and the underlying service are built around US offer terms and US employment law categories.
• A clause looks unusual for your state or role — that is exactly the point an attorney referral applies, since this page and your Decision Brief explain mechanics rather than rule on enforceability.