The Pulse #03: Are you thankful?
Read time: 1 minute 30 seconds
Three in four executives consider applicants’ thank you notes in making hiring decisions. Apparently, most people do not realize this. Only one in three applicants thinks to send a thank you note….Say thank you. You won’t be alone, but you still will stand out. – “You, Inc.” by Harry and Christine Beckwith
Are you part of the majority of applicants who do not send a post-interview thank you note?
If so, I encourage you to shift your mindset around this one small gesture with massive tremendous upside – and practically zero downside.
And I don’t care what anyone on LinkedIn says. That you shouldn’t send a thank you note because employers don’t always say “thanks”, and they ghost applicants, and “things need to be a two-way street”, and this, or that…
Who cares.
Sometimes you should just take the high road regardless of how others treat the interviewing process.
Winners do the right things and manners never go out of style.
That said, here are a few pointers:
- A great thank you note is brief, acknowledges specifics from the interview, and is not overly “sales-y”.
- Sending a thank you note is simply good manners and can tip the scales in your favor if you are in competition with another equally qualified candidate.
- Mailing a hand-written thank you note can be a nice touch, however, emailing is completely acceptable and lands in the recipient’s inbox instantaneously.
- Sending a thank you note reiterates your interest in the job.
- Send the thank you note within 24 hours after the interview, ideally. Send too soon and the letter may be perceived as canned. On the other hand, do not “play hard to get” and wait several days to send.
- Data released by CareerBuilder shows that 22% of hiring managers are less likely to hire a job candidate if they do not send a thank you note after an interview.
A thank you note will not necessarily get you the job but failing to send one can certainly lose it for you!
Here’s a template for your convenience. Feel free to tweak as you see fit; there’s no one way to do this:
Dear (interviewer’s name),
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me (today/yesterday); I very much appreciate it. After discussing the (job title) role, your expectations, and vision for the company in great detail, I wish to confirm my continued interest in pursuing this opportunity.
You mentioned that two of the most important skills required in this position are (choose 1 skill mentioned during the interview) and (choose another skill mentioned during the interview). If selected, I look forward to applying my extensive experience in these areas as we work to achieve the company’s strategic objectives.
Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you regarding the next steps in the hiring process. If you have any additional questions, I can be reached at (555) 555-5555 or abc123@gmail.com.
Best regards,
Your Name
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