Hand-written (neatly) or typed? Computer/Typing paper, stationery or card?
Personally, if I were interviewing people and received a thank you note, I would be happiest getting a legible hand-written note on decent stationery or a nice (blank) card. I would feel like that showed more effort on the part of the candidate, as opposed to perhaps just firing up the word processor and opening the saved thankyounote.doc file and pasting in my name. As a candidate, I prefer the idea of hand writing it on nice stationery or a card, because this note is going to be at most three sentences, maybe four, and typing that up on a 8.5x11 piece of paper is going to leave like a six-inch blank space at the bottom of the page, which to me looks really bad.
Most interested in hearing from HR and other interviewer types, but what say the rest of you?
I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really care at all. I know it is supposed to show that the people were really interested and such, but mostly it never affected our decision either way. either the candidate was qualified or he wasn’t. But this may be because we were getting so few qualified candidates.
Hmmm…hand-written note says “personal” to me. A typed note says “business”. You want to say thank-you, but you want to do it in a businesslike manner. I’d prefer type-written.
I don’t need or want thank-you notes for having granted job interviews, and I have never once made a hiring decision based on whether I received a thank-you note or not. IMO, they are just a means for the job-seeker to keep his or her name in front of the recruiter.
Having been on both sides of the desk (and both within the last several months), I personally like a handwritten note on the card. However, the person writing their report is going to be doing it before they get the little card through the mail, so I think an email that afternoon or the next morning is becoming the standard. It’s hard not to make it sound like a form thank you, but you have to differentiate is somehow.
I think a lot of it depends on what kind of position you’re trying to get. If you’re a technician and you don’t deal with the public, no one will really care. As an admin, I was expected to know how to respond graciously in different situations, and it would give the interviewer a taste of my style to send a thank-you note.
I still don’t understand the thinking behind sending a thank you note after a job interview. Believe me, it has never made an impression or been the reason I hired somebody. I hire based on qualifications, experience, knowledge of the job and all that stuff. The notes get tossed. They just do not affect getting hired one way or the other.
They’re not decisive for me – I’ve never thought “I’d offer Person A the job, but s/he didn’t send a thank-you note, and Person B did, so I’ll hire Person B” – but I think they’re a good way to emphasize your enthusiasm, and perhaps add some little bit of “damn, I forgot to mention…” information.
If you are going to send, I don’t have a preference between handwritten and typed; either is fine.
As an interviewer, it is a slight positive to receive a thank-you note, especially if it is well written and concise. I also view not receiving one as a slight negative. To me, writing a post-interview thank-you is one of the things you’re “supposed” to do, so by not doing it, you’re demonstrating either that you don’t care (bad) or haven’t bothered to find out what it is you’re supposed to do after an interview (also bad). In a similar vein, while I don’t usually waste time asking inane interview questions like greatest strenth/weakness, if I happen to ask and there’s not a ready response, it indicates a surprising lack of preparation for a job interview. The thank-you is never going to be a deal breaker or a deal maker, but could tip the scales on a borderline case. That said, a thank-you note that is obnoxious and/or poorly written could tank an otherwise successful interview.
For a thank-you note, I prefer email. If someone sends me one in the mail, I will likely have already evaluated the interview and decided to proceed or not by the time it got through a corporate mail room to me. The thank-you note shouldn’t be long, but is a chance to highlight a few key strengths and maybe point out something you meant to say in the interview but didn’t get to.
FWIW, I got my first “real” job after getting out of the military specifically because I wrote a thank-you note. The interview was at a huge and very structured job fair, and I had already received feedback that the company did not intend to give me a second interview. I sent a thank-you note anyway, and, as politely as possible, told them why I thought they were making a mistake by passing on me. For my Chutzpah, I got a second interview, and eventually a job offer. I stayed with the company for almost five years.
I do tons of interviewing and have only ever received thank you notes by email.
A simple “thank you for taking the time to interview me” has no effect on my decision. However, a short note displaying enthusiasm about the job is a plus.