Tips for Thank You Letters for
Job Interviews
Send thank-you letters after being interviewed. Only about 5 percent of those looking for jobs perform this simple yet crucial ritual and it can often tip the scales in your favor.
- Send it within 24 hours of the interview. Thank you notes can differentiate you from the other candidates, proving that you're really interested in the position, and keeping your name in front of them.
- What about an e-mailed thank you?
Career experts are not in total agreement about the propriety of e-mailing a thank you, but the company's culture should guide you. If people in the company use e-mail heavily, your e-mailed thank you will seem right in step. It's also a fast solution if you know the company will be making its hiring decision quickly. Even if e-mail fits in with the company culture, it's a good idea to follow up your e-mailed thank you with a hard-copy version. - Should it be a typed business letter or a handwritten note?
Studies show it doesn't matter. The important thing is doing it. Tailor your letter to the culture of the company and the relationship you established with the person who interviewed you. If you feel the interviewer and the company call for a formal business letter, send that. If your rapport with the interviewer was more casual, requiring a more personal touch, send a handwritten note. This can be in a plain thank you card or on plain white stationery. - If you interview with several people, send a thank you to each one. You can make it similar to each person, but vary at least a sentence or two to individualize the letters in case your recipients compare notes.
- Spell-check, proofread, and have someone else read over your letter before you send it. Be sure to spell the recruiter's name correctly! Some candidates on the verge of being hired are suddenly discounted from consideration because they sent sloppy, poorly written thank-you letters, with typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
- Be careful about borrowing a letter from a book or web site. You can borrow the basic structure but not the entire letter. Personalize it. We know of one employer who instantly recognized that a thank-you letter he received had been taken word for word from a text he had seen before.
- Reiterate your interest in and qualifications for the job in your letter. “Thank you for meeting with me this morning about the sales position. Our conversation reinforced my strong interest in joining your team." Cite one or two examples of job duties that increased your interest or showed you what skills you could contribute.
- A thank-you note could make or break your chances of getting a job. One of our UCSC alumni told me that after he was hired for his first job out of college, his boss told him that he had wavered between him and another finalist for the position. Then the boss received the alumnus' thank you letter, and it made all the difference. The UCSC alumnus was hired.
