Just had an interview yesterday for a job that was a great fit for me. Problem is I was one of the first candidates to be interviewed and they will still be interviewing for the next week and making a decision by the end of the month. While the interview went well, it was only scheduled for half an hour but stretched out for two, I don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. I was thinking of sending a follow up letter thanking the interviewers for their time and reinforcing why I would be a good fit to the company. Is this OK? Would it be considered too pushy? The company seems very laid back so I don’t think it would be a problem but I just wanted some opinions from the others.
Just my two cents: When I was a hiring manager a thank you letter was barely skimmed and then tossed. It did nothing to further or hurt the applicant’s chances.
I put my interviewees into two piles: Keep and reject. If you were in the keep, you got a second interview, reject and nothing you did would change that.
Let me say again though: this is only from my point of view. Others hopefully will chime in as well.
I was always taught that thank-you notes after interviews were mandatory. I have seen, though, that it’s unusual these days. If a candidate didn’t send me one it wouldn’t hurt them, but I have to say I’d think well of a candidate that did send one. It would NOT bump them up further in the rankings, but it would be a little something extra that I’d make a mental note of.
I would send the thank you, ASAP. I don’t think it will make the definitive decision, if someone is more qualified, and doesn’t send one you’d still be out.
But if it’s very, very close, every little thing you do can push it in your favour.
That’s what I’ve gathered. My dad (who’s not in HR but as a tech guy has been in on many hiring decisions) always told me that you send a thank-you note, ASAP, regardless (unless, of course, you walked out of the interview or something). Many of my peers (who like me are really just entering the working world) haven’t even heard of doing so, let alone consider it mandatory.
So I can’t imagine that any substantial weight is put on them, but then again, I don’t imagine how it could hurt to send one, and it may keep you slightly closer to the forefront of someone’s mind as they’re making a decision.
It certainly is the polite thing to do. No need to reinforce your skills or anything, a simple “thank you for your time” etc. is definitely proper manners.
I agree with Claire Beauchamp–not sending one won’t hurt you, but it might give you a slight (very slight) edge with the interviewer.
I interview a couple of people a week. I get maybe one thank you letter a year. It did make that person stand out. It didn’t alter their standing in the pile.
Still, I’d do it if I was looking for work.
The value, if any, isn’t in the thank you, but in the things you can say to remind the interviewer of what is special about you, or your fit to the job. You won’t change my initial impressions, but you may well jog my memory about some forgotten factoid and that might make the difference when we cut the pile from 10 to 5.
I REALLY wanted the last job I interviewed for, and sent a thank you email the next day to both the HR Rep and the Supervisor of the position.
I kept it short and simple - basically I said it was nice to meet you, thank you for your time, that the position sounded very interesting and I appreciated the opportunity to meet with them. I believe I also stated that one thing I’d neglected to mention in the interview was my willingness to take courses to bolster(?) my skills (that seemed like their only concern with my application).
I don’t think it GOT me the job, but I am sure that it didn’t hurt.
A thank-you email is not equivalent to a thank-you note. It is nice and polite and everything, but an old-fashioned handwritten thank-you conveys a few things that an email cannot such as "I spent more than three minutes on this"and “I’m familiar with customs before 1990.” That said, I sometimes send thank-you notes and I sometimes get jobs, but I have yet to get a job that I send a thank-you note for. Perhaps my note-writing skills are poor.
As a guy who has hired more people than I can count, I find the follow letter an indication of the applicant’s interest and social/business skills. I think it is important. (although not a prime hiring consideration)
The OP worries that he/she was the first of many applicants and there may someone else later that remains fresher in the hiring manager’s mind.
The flip side of that is that if I find an applicant that I really liked (and a 2 hour, half hour interview is a good sign) I worry that there is likely other companies that like him/her also.
A thank you note suggests to me that this applicant is interested in pursuing the job opening further, and unless I really wasn’t interested it registers in my mind as a positive.
I do lots of interviewing and have mentioned a few times that sending a thank you message in Australia would creep out the interviewer. However since that is not the case in the US go for it.
The other bit of the OP that interested me was that the interview went way over time. I can promise you that if you were being interviewed by me and you got that long it would only be because we liked you. Once you have proved your unsuitability I would have gotten rid of you. So I think that is a good sign.
I agree: Can’t hurt to send a thank-you. However, unless there’s some important detail that didn’t get covered at the interview, don’t talk about yourself. Just a short note to say thank you for the interview and that you’re interested in pursuing the position further.
It’s worth the effort.
As a hiring manager I usually open those things and think, “Oh, yeah, here’s another one of those thank-you letters” :rolleyes: So it won’t consciously affect the decision; nobody’s going to think, “Oh, what a polite person, let’s hire him.”
But OTOH, it does make you more memorable. Think of it as marketing. In marketing, there is a concept known as “impressions.” This is what makes advertising work. An impression is when a message reaches a person. If the same message reaches the same person three times, it’s three impressions and after enough impressions people start to buy the product. They are not thinking, “You know, I really like that ad, I think I’ll buy it.” The whole process is somewhat subconscious. When faced with choices, people often gravitate towards the familiar.
I always send a thank you letter… after each round of interviews. I was told by both of my last two employers that it aided in their decision to hire me. In my current position, I interviewed with two people in a conference room, while a third was conferenced in. After that round I Fedexed my thank you note to ensure that the phone conferenced person would get it in a timely manner. My current position had three rounds of interviews; After one round I sent an email, after another round I sent the FEDEX package above, and after one round I sent a personal handwritten note that I dropped off at reception desk. They later said they admired my ingenuity in getting their email addresses, and mailing addresses. In truth, the second they walked me out of the building after the interview, I waited a couple of minutes and went back in to talk to the receptionist. She helped me confirm name spelling, told me know the format of their corporate email addresses. amd gave me their USPS mailing addresses too.
So in summary, it may help, it won’t hurt. Look at it this way, do you really want to work for a company that would say “Ewww, he sent me a personal thank you. I’m not going to hire him now!” No. In other words why not do it? Seems like a no brainer to me.
Would I rather hire a person that “fires and forgets” or someone who follows through on a task to make sure it is completed succesfully? I say, IMHO, send the letter, as long as it doesn’t come off as too pushy.
Thanks for all the replies. I did go ahead and send the letter. I even went the extra step and had it printed on some really nice, heavy bond paper with a watermark and everything. I realize that this isn’t something that’s going to get me the job if I was never in the running but like others said, it will remind them who I am and keep my name fresh in their minds. Now begins the waiting game.
I wonder if this is a cultural thing, or if I am just unbearably ignorant? I’ve never heard of anyone sending a thank-you letter after an interview, and certainly never done it myself (I’m in the UK). That said, I have got every job I ever applied for, so my rudeness mustn’t have held me back!
You learn something new every day.
It is generally speaking the custom in the US, but these threads have revealed, as above, that other countries may think it’s creepy.
I’m happy to hear you sent a formal letter; they always count in the applicant’s favor for me.
Receiving thank-you letters is always a positive. I don’t do a lot of hiring anymore, but I have done a fair amount over the years.
That said, it does depend upon the position. It won’t have a big effect on my decision if I’m hiring an engineer or tech, but it will definitely affect my decision if I’m hiring someone like an events coordinator or sales rep.
If a sales candidate sends me a thank-you letter after a job interview, that means they’re the kind of person that would send one after a customer presentation, and that’s the kind of sales person I want!