Why send a thank you note?
Sending thank you notes can be a very important part of your job-search strategy. Where interview techniques and styles have changed and will continue to change, one thing that stays the same is the courtesy behind sending a thank you letter. After attending an interview, you should get into the habit of always sending the interviewer a letter or an email. It shows the employer your continued interest as well as it being common courtesy.
Benefits of sending thank you notes
Using email is probably the most popular and efficient way of sending a thank you note. When using email apposed to sending a letter in the post, you have the ability to send the employer some useful links at the bottom of the email. You can take this as an opportunity to send them your online portfolio or a link to your LinkedIn profile. Therefore, allowing them to take another look at your skills and keep you in mind as a fresh candidate.
You should try and make sure to send a thank you within 24 hours of your interview. Depending on the stage of the hiring process, they may be trying to make the final decision, so make sure you have this ready and sent before they make their final decisions. It could be the tipping point between you or another candidate getting offered the role.
Sometimes you will have multiple interviewers…
When attending an interview, there may be multiple people conducting the interview, or the interviewers may swap over and come in to talk to you separately. It can be a good idea to either take note of their names or ask for a business card, it can be hard to remember everyone’s names, especially if you are worrying about the interview. By making sure you know who everyone is, you can send thank you notes to each person that you spoke to.
You can either send one message and make sure everyone is on the mailing list or send each person an individual message. If you opt for the latter, it is a good idea to change the message slightly, so they are not all getting the same message. Show them you are making the effort and you have thought about the email.
What to include?
In addition to thanking the interviewer, you may want to take this opportunity to reinforce the fact that you are still very much interested in the job position. Think of it as a follow up sales letter, never stop selling yourself to the employer.
You should recap the interview highlights. Review in short what you spoke about and reinsure them that you would be a good fit for the role. Keep yourself fresh in their mind and give them a reason to remember and consider you as a vital candidate.
Overall, you should start and finish with a thank you, share why you are still interested in the role and brush up on your qualifications one last time. It lets them know you would be a good fit to the business. However, make sure you are keeping the message short and concise. They have already seen your CV and interviewed you, so they have the information they want about you already, don’t take this as an opportunity to bombard them with information. 100 words or less should be enough.
Always
- Use a professional Subject Line
- Proof read and edit as needed
- Keep it brief and focus on the thank you
- Send it in good time
Try not to
- Be too casual
- Send anything unprofessional (Personal social media)
- Send grammatically incorrect emails
Thank you notes are a part of job seeking that is often forgotten about. There can be so much to think about before and after an interview that these follow up notes are not seen as important. However, they can be the thing that determines whether you get the role or not. It won’t ruin your efforts, so there is no harm in sending them. It shows the employer that you are a polite and considerate professional and allows you to show your continued interest. Try and remember to send thank you notes after your next interview and start to see the positive effects.