Remember to say “Thank You”

Of all the things my mom taught me, I am especially grateful for having learned the art of a personalized, hand-written thank-you note. Mom never failed to send a thank-you note in response to every gift, kind gesture, or hospitality. Even if she’d thanked us verbally, she would still send a note.

Doesn’t it just make your day when you receive a thank-you note? To me, a written note takes gratitude to another level of thoughtfulness. Watching my mom send notes made me want to emulate this practice, and I enjoy writing notes to this day.

One really important time to send a thank-you note is after an interview. Of course, you have thanked the interviewer for their time when the interview ended, but you should still send a thank-you note.

It used to be that a hand-written note was the classiest approach. But email has transformed acceptable business correspondence practices. It’s totally acceptable – and preferable – to send thanks via email. The postal service takes too long to deliver things, and even once it arrives in the office, it may take even longer to end up in your interviewer’s hands.

To the nay-sayers who insist a written note is not necessary if you’ve already extended verbal thanks, I say this: You probably won’t be ruled out of consideration if you don’t send one, but it certainly cannot hurt to write one. Doing so demonstrates you care about the job opening, and conveys that you are a thoughtful and courteous individual. Plus, it could be the differentiating factor that the hiring manager remembers when they’re making their final decision. TL;DR – you have nothing to lose.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Email is for the olds. Can I text instead?” Here’s the deal: Email is still the essential tool for business communication. If you have been specifically invited to text the recruiter or hiring manager, It’s okay to send a brief note of thanks that way. But texting is still considered informal. For official business correspondence, such as anything during the interview process, the current best practice is to use email.

But what to say? I’ve got you covered! Click here to receive a customizable interview thank-you note template. Once you submit, you’ll receive a system email asking you to confirm your email; after you confirm, you’ll get another email from me with links to download the template in Word and PDF. If you don’t see these two emails, please check your am-spay older-fay (Pig Latin for that place emails go to die).

Got questions about thank-yous? Click “Contact” and shoot me a message to ask.