How Many People Send an Interview Thank You Letter?

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Do you remember when you last wrote a letter to anybody? This does not include an email or a text message to someone. While letter writing is not as common as it used to be, it is still an essential part of the job interview process. Unfortunately, only about ten percent of people who are interviewed actually take the time to send an interview thank you letter. Employers notice, too.

Politeness Still Has Meaning

An interview thank you letter is polite. You are thanking the interviewer for their time, but there are additional reasons why you should write one. It also helps refresh the memory of the interviewer of your qualifications, skills, and experience. If you had a particularly strong interview, this letter could be the deciding factor between hiring you and another strong candidate.

Even though letter writing has gone somewhat out of fashion, it only takes a few moments of your time to compose this important document. There are, however, several things to remember when writing an interview thank you letter. You don’t want to do more harm than good!

When to Send This Letter

You should send a thank you letter within 24 hours of your interview. If you are sending it through email, make sure you have the correct spelling and email address of the person who interviewed you. There’s nothing worse than someone taking offense for a misspelled name. If you are considering sending it through the mail, get it out the same day as your interview. You can also drop it off in person, but make sure it is in an envelope that is properly addressed to the recipient.

What to Include:

Begin by thanking the interviewer for the opportunity to meet with them and discuss the job opening. Add a line or two about what you find positive about the company and why you feel you would be a good fit. Next, summarize your qualifications, skills, and experience. Make sure it’s concise, as you don’t need to include as much information as is in your resume. You want to highlight your strong points and help them remember your resume, cover letter, and interview.

End with a statement or two about how you look forward to hearing from them about their decision. Make sure you include your email address and phone number. You want to make it very easy for the company to contact you about the opening and you want to let them know that you are still interested in the job.

A Few Final Thoughts

An interview thank you letter, which not very common any longer, can often be the deciding factor in a close decision for who gets the job. It is a chance to remind the interviewer about why you would be a great choice to fill the position and it is polite to thank them for their time. Be sure to proofread carefully, as you do not want any spelling or grammar errors. This will help ensure their memory of you is one of professionalism, attention to detail, and enthusiasm.

Creating A Job Interview Thank You Letter

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If you think in terms of everyday living, the practice of saying thank you is a courtesy that everyone around the world is expected to observe. No matter whether you are in the world, every culture has developed the habit of saying thank you. Creating a job interview thank you letter is exactly the same. The practice of saying thank you definitely applies in this situation as well. Many people have the impression that once their job interview is over, they no longer need to do anything but wait for the call that will tell them whether or not they landed the job.

The truth, however, is that a follow-up is always necessary if you truly want to land the job. A good way to think of this would be if a friend approached you for a favor, you would definitely expect him to say thank you even if you were eventually unable to do that favor for him – at least you heard him out. The situation after a job interview is exactly the same – the least you could is thank your interviewer for having taken the time to meet you and hear you out.

Courtesy aside, a job interview thank you letter also serves a more practical purpose in terms of helping you land that job you want. The fact is that many employers view the thank you letter as a sign of a potential employee who is truly interested in landing a job. Their take on the situation is that an uninterested potential employee would never take the time and effort to write and send in a job interview thank you letter, but an enthusiastic potential employee would jump at any chance to communicate further with his potential employer and follow-up on his job interview.

Using The Job Interview Thank You Letter To Your Advantage

In fact, you can use the thank you letter to your advantage. It presents you with yet another avenue to sell yourself to your potential employer and ensure that you give them the best possible impression of you. What many people fail to realize is that the post job interview thank you letter is like the icing on the cake or the ribbon on the packaging. While you were having your job interview, you would undoubtedly have learnt a lot more about the company, the way in which it functions and exactly what it is looking for in an employee. You can use this to your advantage by reconciling that with your qualifications, achievements, and everything else about yourself, and including that in your thank you letter. This way, your employer will be more inclined to view you in the best possible light when comparing you against other potential employees.

Also, the job interview thank you letter is a great chance to include anything that you might have left out during your interview. There are sure to be things that you wanted to mention but failed to do so due to time constraints or the pressure of being in an important interview. Whatever the reason, sending in a thank you letter will allow you to slip in whatever it is that you wanted to say without the embarrassment of trying to call up your interviewer and explain that there was something you forgot to tell them.

Check Out the CareerRush Job Interview Thank You Letter Example

Sending A Job Interview Thank You Email

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It is accepted that job applicants are expected to send a thank you letter to their interviewers after having gone for their job interview. Earlier, it would have been inconceivable for an applicant to have done this by sending their interviewer an email. In this day and age however, with technology being integrated into almost every part of our lives, sending a job interview thank you email has become an accepted practice.

Post or Email? What are the Deciding Factors?

If you are having difficulty deciding whether to send your thank you letter via post or email, there are certain guidelines that can help you reach a decision. The first thing to consider is whether or not you have the luxury of time. If time is short and you think that your prospective employer will come to a decision regarding the job opening very soon, then you should definitely send a job interview thank you email instead of posting a letter. In such a situation, sending a letter by post might take too long and your prospective employer might reach a decision before even having received your thank you letter.

Even if time is not of the essence, however, you should also consider the personality of your interviewer and the company you are applying to. As a general guideline, large and formal companies will expect a thank you letter by post while smaller companies will be satisfied with a job interview thank you email. You should also assess the level of rapport you form with your interviewer during your interview. The more you connect with your interviewer, the less formal you have to be in your future communications with him or her, and the more a simple email conveying your thanks becomes appropriate.

How To Organize Your Email Message

As is evident from its name, a job interview thank you email must convey your sincere appreciation and gratitude towards your interviewer for taking the time to talk to you and get to know you. Letting your interviewer know that you are a courteous and polite individual with a firm grasp of social conventions such as sending thank you letters is the first step towards cementing your interviewer’s good impression of you.

Next, you should sit down and go over your interview in your mind in as much detail as possible. Try to remember every question that was asked and the answer that you gave. As you do so, you will probably realize that there were questions that you might have answered better or even entirely differently. Your job interview thank you email is a good place to remedy those little errors. Doing this will help to smooth out any rough edges on the picture that your interviewer would have formed of you.

Finally, let your interviewer know that you are still interested in the job and are enthusiastic about getting it. A line or two reiterating exactly why the job interests you and how your personality and characteristics make you suitable for the job is a great way to end your job interview thank you email. With an email like that, you are sure to leave a lasting impression on your interviewer, making it that much more likely that you will land your dream job.

Check Out the CareerRush Job Interview Thank You Letter Example!

How Important Is A Job Interview Thank You Letter?

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Sending in your job interview thank you letter is just like crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s – something is quite obviously missing without it. Most people harbor the misconception that the entire process of a job interview is limited to that short span of time that you are actually sitting in front of your interviewer. The truth however, is that what you do before and after your job interview can be just as important as the physical interview itself. In short, if you want a chance at getting that job, then you better send in that thank you letter.

Why bother with a Job Interview Thank You Letter?

A job interview thank you letter is the best way of informing your interviewer and prospective employers that you are still interested in applying for a job. Statistics indicate that quite a few job applicants actually go on to decline the job offer even after getting through the interview. Employers have therefore become wary of offering a job to an applicant who does not take the minimal effort required to send in a simple thank you letter after their job interview.

A simpler reason for sending in a job interview thank you letter is that even job interviewers like to feel appreciated. Interviewing job applicants is by no means an easy task, and it is often also a thankless one – successful job applicants quickly forget their interviewers and unsuccessful applicants often blame their failure on their interviewers. A thank you letter is a nice way of letting your interviewer know that you appreciate his or her taking the time to talk to you and find out whether you are a suitable candidate for the job.

Do’s And Don’ts When Writing A Thank You Letter

The most important thing to remember when writing a job interview thank you letter is that the interview process is not over yet! Your thank you letter is just as much a part of the interview process as the physical interview. Keeping this firmly in mind will help you maintain your focus as you write your thank you letter. It will also ensure that you keep the right tone of voice in your letter, as you must remember to use a fairly formal register.

Be positive in your letter, so as to reinforce good impressions your interviewer has formed of you and to ameliorate any bad impressions. To that end, you should sound enthusiastic and sincere in thanking your interviewer for taking time of their busy schedule to interview you. You should also reiterate key points such as what makes you keen to land this job and why you are particularly suited to it.

Finally, do your best to be different when writing your job interview thank you letter. Your interviewer will likely be receiving many tens or even hundreds of thank you letters, and will almost certainly not take the time to read all of them. Writing your thank you letter in such a way that it stands out from those other letters will help to ensure that your interviewer does actually read your letter. One easy way to keep your letter different is to not start with the words ‘thank you’. Be creative and think out of the box and your interviewer is sure to remember your job interview thank you letter in a positive light.

Check Out the CareerRush Free Interview Thank You Letter Sample!