An Open When Letter
Open When You Get the Job
For the morning the email starts with 'we would love to.'
Job offers are private. The person reading the offer email is usually alone, at their kitchen table, trying not to scream. That is the moment a letter can mean something specific — a real piece of mail showing up on the same day, from someone who saw them coming.
Write yours during the application process, before you know how it lands. We mail it on the date you guess they will hear back. If they get the job, the letter validates them. If they did not, you can ask us to hold the letter and re-aim it at the next offer.
Timing
When to have it arrive
This is the guessed-date letter, so guess generously. Since we can't mail sooner than a month out, it suits a longer hiring process: the academic job market, a government role with a background check, a final round with a company that said “we'll be in touch.” Aim for the week you expect an answer, then add a few days, because hiring timelines slip more often than they speed up. Early is the worse mistake; congratulations before the offer is a jinx with postage.
Some yeses come with a public date. Match Day for medical students and fellowship notification days are fixed in advance, which gives you both: no guessing, and you still write before anyone knows the answer. The other fixed option is the first day of the new job, once they've accepted and as long as it's at least a month away. By then the outcome is settled, though, so the letter becomes a welcome rather than a bet.
Suggested Prompts
What to put inside
Pick one or two. The letter does not need to cover everything. It just needs to be specific.
- — What you saw in them six months ago that made you think they would get this job
- — A specific story of how they earned this, that they have probably forgotten
- — Permission to celebrate it loudly, on a Tuesday, alone if they have to
- — The reminder that they belong at this level
- — What you want to do to mark it, in person, when you can
One way to start
If you're reading this, they said yes, and I would like it noted that I said yes first. I said it in April, at the bad Thai place, while you picked the peanuts out of your noodles and explained why you probably weren't qualified. You'd rewritten the cover letter four times. You'd practiced the tell-me-about-a-time-you-failed answer on me so often I could deliver it myself. None of that was luck. They just finally caught up to what the rest of us already knew.
Skip These
What to leave out
- — Salary talk, negotiation tips or opinions about the benefits package, since they'll get plenty of that from people who've read one article about it.
- — Hedging like “and if it doesn't happen, that's okay too,” which belongs in a different envelope for a different day.
- — Predictions about where the job leads next; let them have one afternoon of having arrived before anyone asks about the five-year plan.
Simple Pricing
One payment. No subscription.
$9 digital or $19 handwritten — both arrive sealed on your chosen date.
Frequently Asked
The short version
What is an open-when letter?
A sealed letter labeled with the moment it should be opened — “Open when you miss me”, “Open when you can't sleep”. The tradition started in military families; the format is now used by everyone in any long-distance or high-stress relationship.
How does delivery work?
You write the letter (digital $9 or handwritten $19), pick a future date one month to two years out, and we mail it on the morning of that date. Real envelope, real wax seal, US mail.
What if they do not get the job?
Email support and we will hold the letter until your next chosen date. The same letter can be re-aimed at the next offer. We will not open it in between.
How early should I write this?
After the interview, before the decision. The letter from before-you-knew is the one that lands hardest, because it is proof someone bet on them before the outcome existed.
Should I send it to their home or their current job?
Home, nearly always. A letter congratulating them on a new job, delivered to the old job they're quietly planning to leave, is a plot twist nobody needs. Use the address where they'll be on the delivery date, and if they're relocating for the role, hold off ordering until you know where they'll actually be living.
Can I write one to myself?
Yes, and it's a good use of the format. Write it the day you send the application, while the doubt is still fresh, and set it for when you expect to hear back. If the offer comes, it's a high-five from your past self. If it doesn't, the letter still holds the reasons you went for it, which are worth re-reading before the next one.
Other Open When Letters