IMHO, expecting candidates to wear a suit is pretty much implicit in the interview process (for even the lowest-level white collar job).
Except engineering. I interview a lot of people and maybe 15% wear suits to the interviews.
I disagree with this. I have no opinion on whether people should send thank you notes are not, but IMO I as an interviewer have no obligation to inform you of the standards of professionalism in our field. In fact, how well the candidate demonstrates he or she knows them on their own is one of the ways by which they will be evaluated.
As an interviewer, my getting a thank-you note smacks of ass-kissery and slime. It’s disingenuous. The candidate would be duly eliminated from the pool of prospectives.
Being Southern, I have almost always (almost taking into account the few times I applied for non-professional jobs) sent a thank you note after the interview. The real purpose is to remind them that you came in – if I am one of the first interviews, and didn’t particularly stand out, that thank you note might remind them “oh yeh, Litoris was a decent interview, and took the time to say thank you, maybe I will put her at the top of the pile.” It certainly doesn’t hurt to send them if you want the job – if you decide you don’t want the job, by all means, don’t waste their time or yours. On the other hand, it also helps with networking – HR people talk to other HR people.
I agree that it is all a matter of context. In other words, what Jodi said.
What do they wear? 
I do the same with those suck-ups who show up on time.
Wearing a tie also. It smacks of elitism.
While I have heard about thank-you notes before, I’m trying to remember any interviews where I knew both the full name of the person interviewing me and an address…
AFAI can recall there were only three. One got me a job; another got me a promotion within that same company; the third one, I didn’t have her address but I knew her husband (Mom was a customer at his flower shop) - she would have given me the job but got overruled by her boss (the person who got it had “contacts”).
I could write a note in peach-colored paper, but it’s difficult to send it when all you know is that you’ve been interviewed by phone by “Hans from the consulting firm whose name you won’t be told until, if, you sign up” and “Dieter from the end client, whose name again you won’t be told until, if, you sign up.”
Maybe I’d need six notes. One each to Hans and Dieter by email, one each handwritten in peach-colored paper with perfumed ink, one each printed in 12pt Times New Roman on heavy stock white paper. That is, assuming they are OK with me using a computer and printer, rather than the Olivetti - I believe the Olivetti doesn’t have any ink.
Really Not All That Bright, I’m an engineer and I’ve gone to interviews in slacks and a blouse (office based job) or even in new jeans and a blouse (factory based job). And yes, I’ve gotten jobs for which I interviewed in jeans. The idea is to wear the high end of the kind of clothes you’d wear for work - I wouldn’t hire a lab tech or process engineer who came wearing a pencil skirt, pantyhose and needle-heels, or a three-piece suit.
This is another example of how a thank-you note works well. In this case, there is a fundamental disconnect between you and the candidate as to what is not only ideal behavior but even what is acceptable behavior, and they are probably not a good fit for your organization.
What gets me is the competent ones. Acting all better than me. Who do they think they are anyhow?
If you’re implying that being present at an agreed-upon time is the same as sending a bullshit thank-you note, then you’re a fucking idiot.
And if you really would not employ someone because they sent a thank you note, you are not only a fucking idiot, but a fucking idiot who would run a business into the ground.
Not that I believe for one instant you actually would refuse to hire someone on those grounds.
You’re absolutely right.
Same here. I am very surprised to see people who haven’t heard of it or refuse to do it. The only time I haven’t written a (paper, snail mail) letter was when I interviewed in-house and was kind of a shoo-in, and in that case I sent an email to everyone. I consider the letter a requirement of continuing to be interested in being considered for a job.
My boss commented on an applicant who did not send a thank-you so it does matter a lot to some people.
Wrong. If I’m hiring for a technical position (which I usually am), I want someone who’s going to sit in front of their monitor all day figuring out problems. I don’t want someone who follows the status quo "just “because.” I want people who can think for themselves and won’t trap themselves in a box doing things they think will make others happy. They need to be independent thinkers to be successful at their jobs. Showing up late for an interview is disrespectful; not sending a thank-you is not.
If I’m going to hire a receptionist, I want a thank-you note. Why? Because they’ll go through the proverbial checklist of the “things you’re supposed to do” – a quality that makes a receptionist good at their job.
Bastards, the lot o’ them. And the ones without any body odor problems - we should all be so lucky!
Count me in the group that really doesn’t believe that Dudley Garrett actually disqualifies people because of politeness on their part. But if he does… :rolleyes:
A thank-you note is whole lot more than “politeness.”
:rolleyes: right back-atcha.
Many times “figuring out problems” means running through a checklist, even for technical people. Same thing with “flying an airplane”, “balancing the books”, and a whole host of job tasks.
Last thing I’d want in a technical guy is somebody who’s going to ignore the 80% probability because s/he’s too busy wasting their (and my) time rewriting the book for the 20% possibility. I have one of those people underneath me and trust me, it’s a pain in the ass.
Wow - that’s not the point. What that would justify is not giving extra kudos to someone who wrote the thank you note. You, on the other hand, claim you would not hire someone who wrote one, despite the fact they might be simply a person who considers it the polite thing to do to thank someone for taking time out of their day.
As you said, you don’t think not sending a thankyou note is disrespectful. How on earth does that translate into sending a thankyou note is a diaqualifier. Only in your contrarian little universe, apparently.
The idea you cannot be an independent thinker and show what MANY people consider to be a common courtesy is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.