Don’t even go there. Dudley’s not that sort of person.
I already thought you were an idiot for believing that a thank-you note automatically disqualifies someone. I’m surprised that you think your manager being gay is important enough to make it into a one sentence description.
You must be a tough guy to work with.
I’m bumping this because it’s germane: I conducted an interview yesterday for a temporary position in my department, and I received an e-mailed thank-you note today. First time it’s ever happened, and I’ve done around twenty interviews over the past few years.
I don’t want to re-open this issue, necessarily, I just thought it was interesting, the timing of it.
They want a hand written what? HR can slurp my large hairy ass. I can count on no hands the number of actual responses from HR for thank you notes or even the results of interviews. The only time I’ve been able to actually definitively find out whether or not I got the job is when someone calls me to tell me I got the job. If those cockstranglers can’t even be bothered to respond to an emailed thank you note about an interview, then why should I bother with anything else?
Because it might help you get the job?
I predicted such a thing as this happening when “Employee Relations” and “Personnel”
departments changed their names to “Human Resources”.
When I first heard the term, I asked, “What do people do with resources? They mine them, pump them, extract all the good from them, and leave a pile of tailings, heap of slag, field of rotting, rusty pumps,etc., behind.”
Instead of being employees with whom mangement needs to relate, as though we’re just as human as they are, we are resources–mines, wells, farm soil, etc., to use up and discard.
Weren’t the slaves “human resources”?
Indeed! Fuck HR!!!
Well, since you brought it up…
Did it make you think better of the candidate? Did it make you think worse of the candidate? If either of these is the case, why? Had any hiring decision already been made when you received the thank you note? If not, did the note change anything?
Truthfully, my co-interviewer (who also received a thank-you e-mail) and I had already decided to recommend that the gentleman be hired. He’s older and massively over-qualified, but his underlying skills are what we’re looking for and he seems unfazed by hardcore data entry work. His note didn’t influence us one way or another; I was merely surprised to receive one. Knowing that he has a good deal of high-level professional experience under his belt (e.g. IRS auditor, bank auditor, grade-school teacher for 17 years), I guess he’s learned a couple of tricks in the hiring game.
We did our annual reviews at the beginning of April. With 2007 having been the first full year working for the company that bought us out in 2006, the process was slightly modified. I actually got to see the email traffic between my boss and the HR person who “approved” my raise. It went something like this (paraphrased):
Keep in mind that my boss gave me an excellent review filled with glowing praise about how I kick ass at my job, which was backed up in writing by her boss (division director) and her boss’s boss (the VP of technology). Now, please explain how the HR person here is anything other than a bureaucratic roadblock to my boss giving me what she has determined I deserve through her own research.
Oh, I know this one! The consultants work at the consultant’s office. Did I get it right? :rolleyes:
Since you are an HR professional, I’m sure you know that the average HR drone has exactly zero input into the benefits the company’s employees receive. The company’s senior management picks someone (usually someone in Finance) to hire a consultant. Finance person says, “Here’s how much we want to spend on benefits for our employees. What does that get us?” The consultant will crunch some numbers and work out a plan, offering that spending a little bit more will get you this increase in benefits. If the finance guy thinks the increase is worth it, he or she will take it to the CEO for approval.
So where exactly does HR come into this? Oh yeah, they send out a company-wide email telling everyone about their benefits that HR has managed to procure for them for the coming year. Again with the :rolleyes: .
Did you ever notice how much people tend to hate, say, Best Buy employees? It’s because, by and large, Best Buy employees suck ass. It’s hard to not notice a trend when you run into bureaucratic HR roadblock after bureaucratic HR roadblock.
Fiance (in IT) has been interviewing for his team and got his first ever thank you note as well. In the interest of anecdotal research I quizzed him on his reaction - he said it wasn’t a +1 or a -1 because they were always going to go with the best candidate, not the politest one. He said even if it came down to two equally qualified, equally personable candidates the note wouldn’t affect his decision because pretty much everyone gives a verbal thank you at the end of the interview.
He doesn’t have much patience for HR, primarily because they used to send him people who were average developers but interviewed well and wrote nice thank you notes.
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?
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.
You asked why you would send the note. I told you, because it might help you get the job. If you thought sending flowers would help and you wanted the job then you should send flowers. If you think hookers will help, maybe you should do that too.
If you don’t think it’s worth it, then don’t do it. Why are you so worked up about it?
Cite? I don’t see that in the OP. Was there a link to the actual article I missed?
Stop filing lawsuits and the letters will appear again.
I was just informed via HR email that my application packet had survived the initial screening but that I was not selected for an interview.
Do I still need to send a thank you email ?
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.
Now, in a perfect world, it would be a simple comparison of feature lists to decide which product to purchase. However, many of those features are subjective. Other features are not easily evaluated in the interview process (hence the typical 6 month probation period). It is up to the salesman (again, YOU), to not only highlight the most important features but to also go for any edge that they can.
A readable resume, with extra copies brought along.
Good appearance during the interview.
etc.
Now - should a decision ever be made based on the paper you used to print your resume? No - but it will be a factor in the subconscious. This is reality. This is why very attractive women often sell more product than ugly men. This is why marketers spend time on logos, colors, and catch-phrases. What SHOULD be a logical, fact-based decision often is NOT.
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.
Yes, and don’t forgot the hookers.
My agency has its own HR group. Then we have to filter everything through the city’s HR agency. It’s HR Hell. An applicant who we approached with an employment opportunity back in November was finally hired this week.
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. 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.