Thank You. It’s one of the most powerful phrases in the English language. A forgotten thank you can breed cancer in a relationship, whether it be in your personal or professional life. On the flip side, a thank you can land you a career. You’d be surprised at how much weight an interview thank you e-mail holds with hiring managers.
It’s simple, but very much appreciated. After an interview, send a brief, thoughtful thank you letter to the person(s) who interviewed you, informing them of how much you appreciate the opportunity and re-stating, broadly, what you feel you could bring to the position. Here are some ideas about how to put the thank you e-mail together.
The Structure of an Interview Thank You Email
The Internet is filled with interview thank you e-mail templates. The team over at the Muse has one of the most effective thank you e-mail templates I’ve found during my search. Here’s the cliff notes version:
- Put “Thank You” as the subject
- Start the letter with “Dear [hiring manager’s name]”
- Thank him or her for considering you in the first sentence
- Convey your excitement for the opportunity to join said company
- Let the hiring manager know you will promptly give additional information if requested
If you hit on these five points and had a great interview, then there’s an extremely high chance you will make an impression on the hiring manager. There are a couple of important notes regarding these five points.
The first is to always keep the tone professional. This is particularly important when conveying excitement. Stay away from exclamation points. Even though exclamation points exist to convey excitement, they just look unprofessional. Take a look at these two sentences.
A. ” I am excited to learn more about the hiring process!”
B. ” I am absolutely thrilled to learn more about the hiring process.”
Which one looks more professional to you? (Hint: not A)
The second note regarding these five points is to make sure you add some (professional) personality. The worst interview thank you e-mail you can write is one which feels like it was simply reworded from a generic online sample. One great way to add personality is rehash what you think you’ll bring to the company. You can also rehash something specific from your interview to show you’re the type of person who retains information from important conversations.
Why the Interview Thank You E-mail Gets People Careers
I’m sure you’ve been wondering this since you read the title. There are a couple reasons why hiring managers love interview thank you e-mails.
The first reason is a thank you e-mail says to the hiring manager that the candidate is interested in the position. If a candidate doesn’t send a thank you e-mail, most hiring managers assume he or she is not interested in the position. This doesn’t mean a thank you e-mail guarantees you a call-back, but it does drastically improve your chances.
The second reason an interview thank you e-mail lands people careers is it proves a candidate knows how to communicate professionally through online correspondence, a skill needed in nearly every position these days.
When a job says they want excellent written communication skills, one of the things they mean is the ability to write a good e-mail. E-mails are the new office memo. No matter which industry you work in, a great deal of in-house communication is done online. Hiring managers figure you will be able to handle this with ease if you write them a killer thank you e-mail.
Have you been writing interview thank you e-mails? If you answered no and still haven’t found your dream job, then the thank you e-mail just might be the tweak you need to make to land a career.
