# I pit Human Resources **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 5, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204 "2008-05-05T22:18:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/121 "2008-05-17T22:20:44Z")
As someone who has done recruiting for his company, the purpose of the thank you note is so that I, the hiring manager, will remember you. Every little bit of contact helps. No one is completing a check list to see if you did or did not send a thank you note. The article said what Recruiting managers “expect”. What they respect and what is reality are two different things. The fact is, if you are doing your job search properly, you are dealing with the hiring manager, not some HR goon. HR operates in their own little beurocratic fantasy world ourside the normal workings of the company. [QUOTE=villa] I do the same with those suck-ups who show up on time. [/QUOTE] Yeah and those syncophants who actually DO THEIR JOB?! Those brownnoses aren’t getting promoted on MY watch! Give me a good old fashioned insubordinant malcontent slacker. That man has upper management potential written all over him. > [@Algher](#): > > > [@gonzomax](#): > > > > There was a time when you applied for a job and if you were rejected you automatically got a HR letter explaining that you were not right for the position. Now ,you can apply for tons of jobs and it is rare to get a response at all. You wonder if your application is being passed around for other consideration of trashed. Before HR gets ugly demanding thank you notes they should be thorough about their jobs. > > The original article suggested that in some cases the lack of thank you note was a disqualifier. Does not seem right to me. > > Stop filing lawsuits and the letters will appear again. Actually, the real reason is that with this whole internet thing, companies receive a thousand times the number of resumes they used to and they don’t have the time or resources to respond to every idiots resume. Large companies will often keep your resume in a database until there is an opening that fits their needs, but once again, it may be in there with thousands of other resumes. > [@hotflungwok](#): > > Oh well, if that’s the only reason necessary then I guess I better just go and send em a big box of chocolates, cuz it might help me get the job. And then I’ll send em a big bunch of flowers, cuz it might help me get the job. And then I’ll send over a hooker to suck them off during their lunch hour, cuz it might help me get the job. > > If the fact that I didn’t send a hand written note to the person I’m going to be least connected to if I get the job means I don’t get the job, then I don’t want the job, cuz there’s some stupid shit going on there. Fuck HR in the ass sideways with a cactus. Process my goddam huge pile of amazingly redundant paperwork and leave the decision to the people who actually matter in the whole thing, you know, the people I’ll actually be working for? Well…from the sound of it, if you aren’t getting a job with your attitude, the system works. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/122 "2008-05-18T02:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Does that mean that 75% of HR managers don’t want a note, or don’t care? [/QUOTE] And how many consider a thankyou note a Bad Thing? 😕 I’ll bet some HR person somewhere will think that the note sender is either trying too hard or is a ass-kisser. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/123 "2008-05-19T12:14:41Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] It was obvious. The term that they expect a note or hand written letter should have made that clear. Plus why emphasize it at all if it is irrelevant. [/QUOTE] It’s not obvious, and you’re wrong. I expect lots of things from an applicant (appropriate attire, show up on time, have their own copies of resume, know who I am, know what our company does, asks intelligent questions, can talk to how they are qualified, etc.). If I was polled I would truthfully say I expect them. Hardly any of them mean that I would automatically disqualify someone who broke my expectations, and that’s a logical leap that can’t be made from the OP. [QUOTE=gonzomax] When they expect a letter , you can expect not sending one to be a demerit. With enough people competing for the position ,you do not need a black mark regardless of how silly it may be. [/QUOTE] Yep, I agree with this. It may be a black mark for uptight interviewers and HR. But a black mark is not the same as a disqualifier. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/124 "2008-05-19T14:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Algher] Folks, lets start over. When you are applying for a job, you are selling a product. That product is YOU. The company is comparing You to other available products. [/QUOTE] You know, I think most people like to see these as two-way things. I go to interviews to make a decision about whether I’d like to work for the company. If they like me and I like them then a deal is done. If either party doesn’t think it’s going to work then it isn’t. Maybe this is one of those US customs, but it would never enter my head to send a thank-you note for an interview - they’ve interviewed me because I potentially have the skills, etc. they want and I’ve gone to the interview because they might be the kind of place I want to work for - it’s a mutual arrangement, not one that either party should be explicitly grateful for. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/125 "2008-05-19T15:18:46Z")
A surprising number of US employers DO expect you to be pathetically grateful for the opportunity to work long hours and/or for low pay and prefer to see groveling accompany the gushing expressions of gratitude. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/126 "2008-05-19T17:40:47Z")
[QUOTE=Broomstick] A surprising number of US employers DO expect you to be pathetically grateful for the opportunity to work long hours and/or for low pay and prefer to see groveling accompany the gushing expressions of gratitude. [/QUOTE] Wait, I thought the thank-you note was just a friendly courtesy?! Y’know, just being polite and all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/127 "2008-05-20T00:22:51Z")
[QUOTE=Algher] When you are applying for a job, you are selling a product. That product is YOU. The company is comparing You to other available products. Do not question the thank-you note or email - just send the damned thing. It costs little, and it MIGHT be the extra edge (be it conscious or unconscious) that gets you the job. [/QUOTE] I always look at it as if they are trying to sell me the job. And sure, it might be the extra edge- in a bad way. Can you claim there are no HR dudes that hate thank-you notes? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/128 "2008-05-20T01:16:44Z")
If some unit in a business wanted to hire me, and HR said no because I didn’t send a thank you note, I 'm reasonably sure the management of most companies would tell them to fuck themselves and make me an offer. I can see where a note might make a difference if none of the applicants really stood out and they were desperate enough to need to hire someone FAST. Otherwise I just don’t see it mattering at all. When I first moved to Madison and went job hunting in 1992, people told me this note thing was – if not exactly expected – was considered the right thing to do. I never did it, because I’m not especially polite and I wasn’t looking for diplomatic work. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/129 "2008-05-21T06:45:52Z")
[My HR rant](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389222) ---
**Author:** ![threnodyangelfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@threnodyangelfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threnodyangelfire)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204/130 "2008-05-21T06:51:24Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] I write thank you notes when I interview for a job, but I send it to the person who interviewed me, not HR. [/QUOTE] Me too 🙂 So far, it’s helped me get quite a few jobs that I’ve really wanted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-human-resources/448204.md?page=6)