These days the rules of etiquette dictate that when somebody does something for you, you say “Thank You”. When somebody goes out of their way for you, you thank them. When somebody offers you good advice, you thank them. Why is it that when a hiring manager takes the time out of their busy schedule to interview a candidate, people forget to thank them?
Perhaps candidates fear that it will make them come across as desperate. Maybe people think it gets dumped into a spam filter or ends up in the trash bin before it’s even opened.
The fact remains that sending a Thank You note (email or letter - it makes no difference!) should be a standard that interviewee’s adhere to. Whether you are interviewing for a data entry job or a CEO position, you want people to remember you in a positive light. An excellent way to differentiate yourself from the competition and ensure that your name is on their mind is to follow up with a Thank You note.
The Makings of an Effective Thank You note:
An effective Thank You note has 3 purposes:
1. To Thank the Interviewer (who would have thought?)
2. To reiterate your interest in the position
3. TO RE-SELL YOURSELF
About.com and Quintcareers.com (my personal favorite) have some great examples out there. If you need any help with wording or formatting they provide you with samples for almost every scenario.
The fact of the matter is you want yourself to stand out against other candidates. You want to remind the managers of your conversation and what made it positive. It is also an opportunity to highlight any skills which you may not have had the opportunity to discuss (NOTE: this is a GREAT time to reference the job description). This gives you a second chance to tell him why you are a viable candidate!
True Story: a friend of mine recently applied for an internal position. He went on multiple interviews and sent each person he interviewed with a unique Thank You note immediately after each interview.
He got the promotion.
About a week later he found out through the grapevine that he had been up against a seemingly more qualified internal candidate. One of the folks he had interviewed with for the job told him that he was glad my friend was chosen because his manners were exponentially better than his competition.
Was it his handshake that set him apart? Maintaining eye contract through the interview? Or was it the Thank You notes? Who knows? What I know is Thank You notes can NEVER hurt and can only help. So please, remember to express your thanks.
Tags: etiquette, interviewing, thank you letters
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First, I’m glad you raised this topic. Especially in a weak economy and job market, little things can really mean the difference between a second interview or even job offer. I strongly suggest to job-seekers the importance of writing thank-you notes after interviews.
Second, happy to read my site, QuintCareers.com, is one of your favorites. Our goal is to provide comprehensive expert advice to empower job-seekers to have more success in finding new jobs.
Comment by Dr. Randall Hansen — October 28, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
[...] To Thank You, or not to Thank You? That is the question. [...]
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