You recently met the manager of a new company in your city. The manager later offered you a job, but you cannot accept it. Write to the manager. In your letter: - say how you feel about the job offer - explain why you cannot accept it - provide a reference for a friend who might be interested
Sample Response
Dear AlexDear Mr Alex, I hope you are wellHope you are doing great. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversationconversation during our meeting and would like to thank you for a fabulous lunch. I am veryso honoured to be offered a job at your company. However, I cannot accept it at presentright now. I am really fortunate that you have offered me the Design Engineer positionthe position of “Design Engineer” at your biomedical device manufacturing companyin the Biomedical Device Manufacturing company that you have recently started in our city. UnfortunatelyBut unfortunately, I am unable to accept this offerin a situation to deny this offer because of the contract I have with my current employer. I am quite happy with the remuneration, working environment and benefits my current role providesfacilities I get from my current job and do not plan to change jobs at presenthave no plan to change my job now. Though I cannot join your new teambe a part of your new team, I could suggest one of my friends—Ruhan Chowdhuryfriends - Ruhan Chowdhury, who is a passionate engineerEngineer and is currently seeking a job opportunity. If you are interestedAfter hearing from you, I can ask him to meet you in personmeet you personally for an interview to discuss his credentials. He is a talented individual and I believe he would add value to your company. I regret not accepting this offer but I hope once my contract is over, I would be privileged to work for your company and thank you for the offer. I look forward to receiving your replyLooking forward to receiving your reply soon. Yours faithfully, S. Nivetha
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly expresses appreciation, gives a convincing reason for declining, and recommends a named friend with relevant positive qualities and a practical next step. Its main limitation is presentation: the whole response forms one block, while several expressions and the closing are less natural for this relationship. Prioritise clear functional paragraphs and more precise professional phrasing when declining the offer and introducing the candidate.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully covered, and the reference includes useful supporting detail.
Add one specific professional qualification or experience that makes Ruhan a strong match for the Design Engineer role.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from gratitude to refusal and recommendation, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens the letter's organisation.
Use separate paragraphs for the response to the offer, the reason for declining, and the friend's reference.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and suitably professional overall, with occasional unnatural choices such as deny this offer and passionate Engineer.
Use natural expressions such as decline the offer and a highly motivated engineer.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is generally well controlled, though a few agreement, conditional, and sentence-attachment problems remain.
Revise the final long sentence and use I would be privileged if a future opportunity arose for a cleaner conditional structure.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently met the manager of a new company in your city. The manager later offered you a job, but you cannot accept it. Write to the manager. In your letter:
- say how you feel about the job offer
- explain why you cannot accept it
- provide a reference for a friend who might be interested
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.