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.
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.
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.
Well…from the sound of it, if you aren’t getting a job with your attitude, the system works.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I’ll bet some HR person somewhere will think that the note sender is either trying too hard or is a ass-kisser.
So far, it’s helped me get quite a few jobs that I’ve really wanted.