Don’t Send A Thank You Note After the Interview – Send an E-mail

Guest post by: Peggy Mckee

We’ve recently heard a lot of talk about not sending thank you notes as hiring decisions are made quickly and notes take too long to be received. While our view is still that sending a handwritten thank you note communicates the sincerest interest and makes the best impression we also think an e-mail thank you may also be appropriate. Read this insightful article and decide for yourself.

The era of the thank you note after a job interview is over.

Well, not the actual “thank you,” just the delivery system.

It’s critically important that you thank the interviewer for the opportunity, but it’s also critically important that you get it to him within 24 hours. And a handwritten, snail-mailed note just won’t do that. Send an email.

Many people still extol the virtues of the handwritten thank you note as a way to demonstrate your good manners and set yourself apart in the interview process. But while that’s nice, it’s not necessarily effective. A well-written thank you note already demonstrates your good manners and excellent communications skills. You don’t need to put a stamp on it to do that.

But there’s something else that comes into play here: As a recruiter, I know that many hiring decisions are made quickly. You can’t wait to send your thank you just in case this window of opportunity is one that will close quickly.

What should you make sure you include in your message?

In your thank you email, you should talk about how much you appreciated the opportunity to meet with them, how much you enjoyed learning more about the organization, how you think your x, y, and z skills will really help their company with a, b, and c issues, and how you’re looking forward to talking with them further about this process.

If you meet with 4 people, you need to send 4 thank you emails.

But here’s one note of caution: While I’m all for sending your note quickly, don’t go too far and try to send it with a text from your phone. There are too many opportunities for mistakes-and they have been made. Stick with your email-and spell check it.